Palmiers and Rough Puff

 Okay! I'm lame.  I made this recipe the weekend of Father's Day back in June.  I have dragged my feet because I'm not sure I loved it.  I wanted to try my hand at rough puff pastry and so I dived in. The result were the Palmiers that I made.  My grandsons loved them. Me, I'm not so sure. But, I guess, I did it.

Honestly, they look picture perfect.  And they were pretty good. But I will begin with the rough puff pastry first because that's where these little goodies come from.

Rough puff pastry is a short cut recipe for puff pastry. To be frank, I have always wanted to try the delicious looking recipes that I've seen using puff pastry but I'm so stinkin cheap that I have never bought it. On the Great British Bake Off, they make rough puff all the time so how could I not try it.  The recipe I used came straight from the king himself, Paul Hollywood.

Rough puff is just a dough that you make with chunks of cold butter inside. The trick to getting the lamination of a puff pastry is the way you roll grated frozen butter into the dough. Before you start, grate the frozen butter and then put it back into the freezer while you bring the dough together.After mixing the dough together you roll it out into a rectangle on a lightly floured board. 

Once it's rolled to the size you want (I didn't measure but it's roughly 8 inches wide and 12 inches long) spread the bottom 2/3 with half the frozen butter. 

Fold the top third down and then fold the bottom up like folding a letter. Turn the dough 90 degrees with the folded side down and repeat the last process with the rest of the frozen dough. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before using.  I actually left mine overnight and I would not recommend it.  It was way to hard to work with the next day. 

Now.  Onto the Palmiers. How cute are these little classic French pastry cookies.  To be quite honest, you could make these so easily without doing the rough puff. Just go to the freezer section of your favorite grocery store and buy and package of frozen puff pastry.

Roll out the rough puff into a large thin rectangle.  Sprinkle with sugar or with a cinnamon/sugar mix.  I did both to give each flavor a try. I'm a cinnamon girl! YUM! Fold the top third down and then the bottom third up. Next fold the top into the middle and the bottom into the middle.  It's fun how it forms a little heart.

Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment (helps with the cleanup) Bake them in a hot oven- 400* for 6 minutes, flip them over and bake for another 3-5 minutes until they are golden brown. 

As they cool they get crispy/hard but they kind of fall apart as you eat them. Would I make them again? Probably! But I would loosen my purse strings and buy some frozen puff. Unless, of course, I can't stand it and have to try my hand at rough puff again.  Who knows???

Stay tuned. Because I have a really great Carrot Cake that I'm going to post. 

Rough Puff Pastry (Paul Hollywood)

300 g plain flour (all purpose)

pinch of salt

50 g butter, chilled and cut into cubes

120 g butter frozen and grated

Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl. Rub in the chilled butter using your fingers until the mixture is like bread crumbs.  Gradually add enough water to form a dough ( about 4-6 Tbls)

Roll the dough out into a rectangle on a lightly floured counter top.

Add half the grated frozen butter to the bottom 2/3 part of the dough (return the rest of the grated butter to the freezer). Fold down the top third to the center and then fold up the bottom third like folding a letter.

Turn the dough, seam side down and repeat, using the rest of the grated frozen butter.  Fold it the same.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.  Ready to use.

You can make any recipe using puff pastry with this rough puff dough. Good luck.