Palmiers, which you might know of as elephant ear cookies in English, definitely fit the bill for desserts that look and sound fancier than they are. These French cookies are really just made from rolled up pastry dough coated with sugar. Their crunchy texture and balanced flavor are so satisfying; they are buttery, not too sweet and not too heavy. In this recipe, the palmiers are coated with a pumpkin egg wash and filled with pumpkin-pie-spiced sugar.
What’s a Palmier Made Of, Anyway?
Palmiers are made of puff pastry and just a few other ingredients. Brushing the pastry with an egg wash helps the sugar stick to the dough and promotes browning in the cookies. In these, a bit of pumpkin puree is added to the egg wash. And the traditional filling of simple sugar is spiced up with pumpkin pie spice or a homemade blend of cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg. This is just one variation you can make to the basic palmier recipe; you can get creative with additions to the filling or egg wash. Ina Garten even has a savory palmier recipe with sun-dried tomatoes and basil!
Your Dough Options for These Cookies
The traditional French style of these cookies (petite palmiers) is made with puff pastry dough. In this recipe, you can choose to use store-bought frozen puff pastry dough or make an easy rough puff pastry dough. They turn out just as well with the rough puff, plus they’ll be fully homemade! For another pumpkin-filled pastry that uses store–bought croissants, check out my easy pumpkin croissants.
Bake Notes
- If you want to try your hand at making the dough yourself, I’ve got you covered with the easiest rough puff pastry recipe.
- To remove excess liquid from your pumpkin, you can strain it with a nut-milk bag or cheesecloth. This is optional. It will make the egg wash thicker, so you might have to use a knife and spread it in a thinner layer to cover all the dough. But it will make it easier to roll the pastry together if the filling is less liquidy.
- You can use regular granulated white sugar or turbinado sugar in place of demerara sugar. If you use granulated sugar, you won’t get that crunchy sugar coating on the edges of the cookies, but they’ll still be sweet enough!
Pumpkin Spice Palmiers
- Total Time: 40 minutes
Description
These easy pumpkin palmier cookies come together with just a handful on ingredients in only a few minutes.
Ingredients
1 portion easy rough puff pastry (see Bake Notes) or 1 sheet store-bought puff pastry, thawed
¾ cup demerara sugar
2.5 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
¼ teaspoon salt
1 egg
¼ cup pumpkin puree
Splash of milk
Instructions
- In a small bowl, mix together the demerara sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Set aside.
- In another small bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, egg, and milk until smooth and combined.
- On a piece of parchment paper, roll your pastry dough into a rectangle that’s about ¼ of an inch thick.
- Brush the top of the dough with the pumpkin egg wash.
- Sprinkle half of the sugar mixture over the dough, aiming to coat the entire surface area.
- Place another sheet of parchment paper on top of the dough, so it is sandwiched between the two sheets of parchment.
- Flip the parchment paper pastry sandwich over so that the side that is coated with the egg wash and sugar is on the bottom.
- Remove the top sheet of parchment. Spread the rest of the pumpkin egg wash on top of this side of the dough, and sprinkle with the rest of the sugar mixture.
- Roll one half of the dough (lengthwise) into a tight spiral until it reaches the midline of the dough. Roll the other side into a tight spiral to meet the first spiral. They should meet in the middle and be touching.
- Brush the rest of the pumpkin egg wash around the edges of the dough
- Lift one side of the parchment paper (lengthwise) and tuck it over and around the dough to further press the rolls together tightly without getting your hands dirty.
- Wrap the dough completely in the parchment paper and transfer it to the freeze for 20 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 375 F.
- Remove the dough from the freezer and unwrap it. Use a knife to trim off the edges so that they are both straight and even.
- Cut the dough into slices ½ to ¾ of an inch thick.
- Arrange the palmiers on a parchment lined baking sheet 1 inch apart from each other.
- Use your palm to press each cookie to flatten it slightly, further pressing it together to prevent it from spreading apart while baking.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
So good! Not too sweet! Just right!
Fun, pocket-sized croissant snacks for our dinner party
Awesome idea!
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