Elephant Ear Cookies or Palmier or Little Heart Sugar Cookies are the popular French sugar cookies prepared with puff pastry sheet and sugar.
Elephant Ear Cookies
Welcome to the 5th day of the ABC baking from around the world. Today I am going to share a very simple semi-homemade recipe which can be prepared quickly. It’s the elephant ear cookies or the palmier cookies or the little heart sugar cookies from the French cuisine. So many names huh?
All you need for this recipe is store bought puff pastry sheet and some sugar, some flour for dusting and water for brushing. With these four ingredients, you can prepare these layered, crunchy sugar cookies in a jiffy.
My Palmier Version
As all my bakings are eggless, I did not want to use the “eggless” phrase for the “E” recipe. This sugar cookie was on my list but was contemplating if I should post it under P as Palmier cookies or under E as Elephant Ear cookies. I finally decided to put in under E.
Little Heart Sugar Cookies
This is no secret recipe, and you can find tons of palmier cookie recipes with and without filling on the internet. I kept this recipe simple and went with just plain sugar. I know I am using the word “simple” again and again but couldn’t help it. Kiddo helped with this recipe from rolling the dough to folding and sprinkling and shaping. (Check the pictures below)
These days he wants to help me in my cooking, video shoot and photo shoot (at times I feel his pictures are better than mine) and what not? I am not sure how long this will last, but I am enjoying these moments and these moments will be treasured forever. I know that our folding technique is not perfect in this recipe, but still, I went ahead with the recipe and now recorded it here for the posterity. ;-)
Quick recap before the recipe:
- 2015 | Day 4 – Moong Dal Chaat
- 2016 | Day 5 – Ellu Urundai
- 2017 | Day 6 – E | Elephant Ear Cookies
And now, without any further ado, here is the E for Elephant Ear cookies from France.
Elephant Ear Cookies | Palmier | Little Heart Sugar Cookies Recipe
Ingredients:
- Puff Pastry – 1 sheet
- Sugar – ¼ cup
- Flour – 3 tbsps.
- Water – for brushing
Prep – Work:
- Defrost the puff pastry sheets and make sure they are in the room temperature. Please follow the instructions on the pastry sheet cover. I had to keep it outside for about 40 – 45 mts. So plan ahead for this recipe.
Steps:
- Spread about 2 tbsps. Of flour on 2 tbsps of sugar on a working area.
- Unfold the pastry sheet and roll it once. If the folded edges are crumbly, sprinkle some water and roll it with a rolling pin and smoothen it.
- Sprinkle sugar on top evenly and roll it again so that sugar is coated and pressed evenly.
Folding:
- Start folding the sides towards the center. You fold one side half way through the middle and another side half way through the middle.
- Now fold one-half over the other and form it like a log as shown in the picture.
- Cover this log with a cling wrap and refrigerate it for 30 minutes. This ensures sugar is pressed nicely and helps in caramelization.
Slicing and Shaping:
- After 30 minutes, remove the folded pastry log from the fridge and take off the cling wrap.
- Slice the pastry log into ½ inch slices and place the slices, cut side up.
- At this stage, sprinkle water and adjust the edges and form the heart/elephant ear shape and put them on the silicone mat. Sprinkle some sugar on top. (At this stage you can preheat the oven)
Baking:
- Preheat the oven to 400 deg F and bake these cookies for 20 minutes flipping them once at 10 minutes.
- Keep an eye on these after 10 minutes as they tend to brown up fast.
Elephant ear / Palmier cookies are ready.
Notes:
- Please make sure you are smoothening the puff pastry sheet as it ensures even slices and perfect shape.
- Adjust the sugar as per your preference.
- Colored sugar, cane sugar, demerara sugar can be used instead of plain white sugar.
- Before folding, you can spread Nutella or jam or another filling to make flavored palmier.
- After folding, if required reduce the oven temperature to 375 deg as these cookies tend to brown up fast.
Enjoying Elephant Ear Cookies? You will love these, too:
- Coconut Sweet Puffs
- Pesto Rolls
- Eggless Coffee Cup French Toast / Microwave French Toast
- Baked French Fries
- Yam Roast | Senai Varuval | Elephant Foot Yam Curry
Have you made made this recipe?
If you’ve made this Elephant Ears recipe, please share your photos with me on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or Twitter – I will be delighted to see your results!
📖 Recipe
Elephant Ear Cookies | Palmier | Little Heart Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 sheet Puff Pastry
- ¼ cup Sugar
- 3 tbsps Flour
- Water for brushing
Instructions
Prep – Work
- Defrost the puff pastry sheets and make sure they are in the room temperature. Please follow the instructions on the pastry sheet cover. I had to keep it outside for about 40 – 45 mts. So plan ahead for this recipe.
Steps
- Spread about 2 tbsps. Of flour on 2 tbsps of sugar on a working area.
- Unfold the pastry sheet and roll it once. If the folded edges are crumbly, sprinkle some water and roll it with a rolling pin and smoothen it.
- Sprinkle sugar on top evenly and roll it again so that sugar is coated and pressed evenly.
Folding
- Start folding the sides towards the center. You fold one side half way through the middle and another side half way through the middle.
- Now fold one-half over the other and form it like a log as shown in the picture.
- Cover this log with a cling wrap and refrigerate it for 30 minutes. This ensures sugar is pressed nicely and helps in caramelization.
Slicing and Shaping
- After 30 minutes, remove the folded pastry log from the fridge and take off the cling wrap.
- Slice the pastry log into ½ inch slices and place the slices, cut side up.
- At this stage, sprinkle water and adjust the edges and form the heart/elephant ear shape and put them on the silicone mat. Sprinkle some sugar on top. (At this stage you can preheat the oven)
Baking
- Preheat the oven to 400 deg F and bake these cookies for 20 minutes flipping them once at 10 minutes.
- Keep an eye on these after 10 minutes as they tend to brown up fast.
- Elephant ear / Palmier cookies are ready.
Notes
- Please make sure you are smoothening the puff pastry sheet as it ensures even slices and perfect shape.
- Adjust the sugar as per your preference.
- Colored sugar, cane sugar, demerara sugar can be used instead of plain white sugar.
- Before folding, you can spread Nutella or jam or another filling to make flavored palmier.
- After folding, if required reduce the oven temperature to 375 deg as these cookies tend to brown up fast.
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It varies depending upon the product types or brands.
Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 75.
Palmier are our family favourite. Nice reading about your kiddo helping you in clicks and cooking.
Thanks Sapana.
These are adorable!!
Thanks Karen.
Looks great Vidhya ?
Thanks pa
Little hearts looks super cute.. Im sure your kid would have enjoyed being a pert of this project!!
oh yeah absolutely. Thanks da
Super like, who will say now to this flaky palmiers, its our all time favourite here, my kids just love these cuties, obviously i bake them quite often with different fillings.
Same here. I got to try with different fillings now.. Thanks Priya.
I have a great fascination for these cookies..they are so light and airy and those little sugar granules , Beautifully baked .they tempt me….and yes, .it is lovely when our kids help us , it is so much fun for them as well as us.
Oh yeah very about kids help. Thanks a lot Vaishali.
I always loved the Britannia little hearts and have always wanted to bake this myself…I know this is such a simple one, yet because we don’t get readymade pastry sheets, will become a huge task if I attempt from scratch right..:)..guess kids love getting their hands into baking..mine are always underfoot and I sometimes let them do, when I feel it helps them stand still..:)
he he kids and baking helps at times but not always. Agree with you regarding this recipe. If not for puff pastry, this would have been really difficult.
Vishvak’s favorite. I tel him little heart biscuit.. if see this he would ask me .. cookies turned out nice
Thanks Vidya.
These cookies look so cute….didn’t know they were called elephant ears cookies. Great that your kiddo wants to be involved….seems quite skilled ?. And thanks for the idea..this seems like a good summer vacation project with the daughter!
he he thanks a lot Sowmya. Have fun this summer. :-)
Love this crispy and addictive palmiers.
Thanks :-)
Lovely palmiers there! I stopped making these as they are super duper addictive :)
ha ha yeah very true..Thanks Harini.
Lovely cookies! They took me right back to my school canteen when I first ate them… huge Elephant Ears. Years later came along the Brittannia Little Hearts :) these look great and simple indeed, will surely try them. Nothing like getting the kids involved in baking. Glad your kiddo took active part.
Thanks a lot Namratha.. Agree with you regarding kiddo baking. :-)
I can eat these pastries all day long. The first thing it reminded me was of the little hearts cookies that I used to love when back in India. Lovely step by step pictures to explain the recipe!
Same pinch.. love those britannia little hearts. Thanks a lot Sandhya.