Cinnamon Palmiers
Transform your kitchen into a French bakery with simple yet elegant heart-shaped palmiers—buttery, flaky pastries layered with caramelized sugar.
Palmiers, pronounced “pahl-me-ay” and affectionately known by various names like elephant ears, butterfly cookies, or French hearts, are a quintessential French pastry. They’re typically made from two simple ingredients: sugar (sometimes flavored with spices or citrus zest) and puff pastry, a dough celebrated for its many buttery layers. I first learned to make these treats in culinary school as a clever way to use up leftover puff pastry—one of many lessons in the zero-waste philosophy of professional restaurant kitchens. But with the convenience of good-quality store-bought puff pastry, readily available in the freezer section of most grocery stores, palmiers are incredibly easy to whip up at home just because.
The process is simple: sprinkle a generous amount of sugar over thawed puff pastry, roll, slice, and bake. Watch as they puff up into golden, caramelized spirals in the oven, their flaky layers unfurling into whimsical heart shapes—perfect for holiday cookie platters or as a delicious companion to your morning coffee.
Puff Pastry
You can use a sheet of puff pastry. These sheets conveniently come pre-rolled and make things really easy for you!
Pre rolled sheets come in different sizes. If your amount of puff pastry differs from the recipe, simply increase the fillings.
We actually used half a block of vegan puff pastry that we rolled out into a sheet. If using a frozen block, let it defrost overnight in the fridge.
Ingredients
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 (17.3-ounce) package (2 sheets) frozen puff pastry, thawed
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 400°F and set an oven rack in the middle position. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a small bowl, mix the granulated sugar, cinnamon, and salt.
Sprinkle a clean surface with 2 tablespoons of the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Unfold one of the puff pastry sheets over the sugared surface. Roll it out slightly to a 9x12-inch rectangle, doing your best to smooth out the creases.
Sprinkle ¼ cup of the cinnamon sugar mixture evenly over the pastry. Using the rolling pin, roll over the sugar mixture a few times to press into the pastry.
Roll the short sides of the dough toward center, so they meet in the middle. Flip the rolled pastry over and gently press together on the sides with your hands to form a compact roll about 2 inches in diameter. Repeat with the remaining pastry and cinnamon-sugar mixture.
Using a sharp knife and sawing motion, cut the rolls into about ½-inch slices. Place the slices on the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 2 inches apart. If the rolls unravel a bit in the process, just roll them back together. Keep any additional rolls chilled in the refrigerator until you're ready to bake them. Bake for 12 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and, using a metal spatula, carefully flip the palmiers over. Note that the caramelized sugar makes them extremely hot, so don't use your fingers to nudge them onto the spatula; use another utensil, such as a small spoon, if necessary. Place the pan back into the oven for another 5 to 6 minutes, until golden, puffed, and nicely caramelized on both sides.
Allow the palmiers to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining rolled dough. Store the cooled palmiers in an airtight container at room temperature. These treats are best enjoyed on the day they are baked but will keep for a few days.
Make-Ahead/Freezer-Friendly Instructions: Palmiers can be prepared up to the slicing stage a day in advance. Once sliced, arrange them on a baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until you're ready to bake. For freezing, prepare and slice the palmiers as per the recipe, then place the slices on a parchment-lined baking sheet without them touching. Freeze until firm, which should take a few hours. Once frozen, transfer the palmiers to a freezer-safe container, with layers separated by parchment paper, and freeze for up to 3 months. When you're ready to enjoy your palmiers, bake them straight from the freezer on a parchment-lined baking sheet, allowing a few extra minutes in the oven since they'll be baking from frozen.
Top Tips
The pastry should remain cold throughout the rolling and slicing process. If at any point it becomes too warm to easily work with, pop it in the fridge for a bit until cool.
If using a pastry block, get it out of the fridge around 15 minutes before rolling. That will make it easier to roll out.
When assembling don't roll out the pastry too thin, or press too hard, as this can lead to your palmiers not puffing up so well when cooking. A gentle pressure along the length of the dough is all that is needed.
If you are finding the rolled up dough tricky to slice, you can chill it in the fridge for at least an hour, or pop it in the freezer for around 15 minutes.
We don’t find chilling necessary with this cinnamon sugar filled version, but if you make palmiers with a more liquid filling, you’ll find chilling is essential for easy slicing.
