Classic French Palmiers Recipe (2024)

Palmiers are incredibly easy to make. With just two ingredients and about 10 minutes of baking time, you will have cookies to rival the fanciest of bakeries.

Use our Quick Puff Pastry Dough recipe to make entirely homemade palmiers.

Our family is absolutely addicted to the box of palmiers Costco sales. However, making them homemade is just so darn easy. Plus, the aroma that will fill your home is priceless.

What Are Palmiers?

Palmiers are classic french cookies. They are sweet and buttery and too easy to binge eat. Palmiers, which translates to “palm trees” in English, got their name due to the cookies resemblance of the palm leaf.

Pronounced “pal-mee-ei”, these elegant cookies have a delicate crisp to them and are so chock-full of butter that they melt in your mouth. Have yourself a proper English tea time by pairing them with a cup of earl grey (don’t forget to add half-and-half and a spoonful of honey).

What Are Palmiers Made Of?

Despite their impressive appearance, palmiers only require two simple ingredients — puff pastry and sugar. They are delicious in their simplicity, although you can spruce them up with spices and dried fruits. You can also skip the sugar altogether and make savory palmiers. Find a couple of my favorite variations to the palmier below:

• Add a tablespoon of cinnamon or nutmeg
• Add a half cup of chopped currants, cranberries or dates
• Omit the sugar and spread on a generous layer of poppy seed filling
• Omit the sugar and add replace with pesto or tapenade and a heaping pile of freshly grated parmesan cheese (serve as an appetizer or alongside a charcuterie plate)
• Craving baklava but don’t have the time or patience? Make a quick spin on the treat by adding chopped pistachios and a generous drizzle of honey

Tips for the Best Palmiers

• Dough: Make sure the dough you are working with is extra cold. When puff pastry gets warm, the butter melts and your cookies won’t have those beautiful, flaky layers.

Hot tip: If you’re working with frozen dough that needs to be thawed, make sure it sits out for no longer than 30 minutes. Once the dough is pliable, you will want to use it immediately as to prevent the butter from melting.

• Sugar: Use a high-quality, specialty coarse sugar (demerara works great) and be very generous with it. The texture of natural sugars will give your cookies a nice bite. Once you sprinkle the first layer of sugar onto the dough, press it in once or twice with a rolling pin.
• Baking: Once your cookies are rolled and cut, bake them right away to prevent the butter from melting at room temperature. Yes, they will melt in the oven, but you want to give your cold cookies a blast of heat versus allowing them to melt on your counter. Trust me, the texture difference is significant.
• Use High Temperature: Piggybacking off the previous tip, palmiers need to be baked quickly and at high temperature. Bake them at 450℉ for 6 minutes. Flip the cookies and bake for an additional 5 minutes, or until golden brown.

Freezing Palmiers

Palmiers are excellent cookies to be frozen and baked for later. However, you can only freeze them raw, not baked.

After cutting your cookies, line them on a baking sheet and freeze. Remove the frozen palmiers from the baking sheet and store in an airtight container or freezer bag. Bake at 450℉ for 7 minutes, flip them over and finish them off for another 6 minutes.

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