Palmiers

It's becoming something of a Christmas tradition that I make palmiers, French butterfly cookies, for The Gastronomer's family.  The recipe is from Ina Garten of the Food Network, and even though it is of the semi-homemade variety, with the primary ingredient being store-bought puff pastry, the cookies tend to be a hot commodity.  It's an extremely simple recipe, but the execution is a bit delicate--a ruler comes in handy for rolling the dough out to the proper size and folding it accurately, and the cooking times must be very precise because the palmiers brown rapidly.  I've developed a few tricks and tweaks to Garten's recipe to make them come out perfectly, including cutting the amount of sugar nearly in half, which is essential for pleasing my Vietnamese clientele who like desserts that are "not too sweet".  I also couldn't help noticing that some of Garten's measurements don't add up; for instance, clearly if you cut two 13-inch long logs into 3/8-inch slices, you'll end up with ~69 cookies, not 40-45.  1/2-inch slices are probably closer to what she intended--these are thinner than you might think.  One thing that is cool about this recipe (besides the revelation that if you bake puff pastry on its side, it magically grows into a butterfly) is that the sugar on each sides of the dough acts to both sweeten the cookies and keep the puff pastry from sticking to the counter and rolling pin.

Recipe adopted from Ina Garten.

• 1 1/8 cups granulated sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 sheets Pepperidge Farm puff pastry, defrosted

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Combine the sugar and kosher salt. Pour about 3/8 cup of the sugar/salt mixture onto a flat surface such as wooden board or clean countertop, and smooth it into an even rectangle slightly larger than a sheet of puff pastry. Unfold one sheet onto the sugar and pour 1/4 cup of the sugar mixture on top, spreading it evenly on the puff pastry.

With a rolling pin, roll the dough until it's 13 by 13-inches square and the sugar is pressed into the puff pastry on top and bottom. Fold the sides of the square towards the center so they 2/3 of the way towards the middle. Fold them again so the two folds meet exactly at the middle of the dough (I like to set a 12" ruler beside the dough for these steps to guide my folds--if you place the ruler so that the 6" mark lies at the center of the dough and the dough extends about 1/2" past each end of the ruler, then the first set of folds should go to about the 3 3/4" mark on one side and to about 8 1/4" on the other side). Then fold one half over the other half as though closing a book. You will have 6 layers.

Slice the dough into 1/2-inch slices and place the slices, cut side up, on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.  Bake the palmiers for 5 to 5.5 minutes, until the bottoms have just begun to brown.  Remove them from the oven and flip them over with a spatula.  At this stage, the puff pastry will have expanded laterally considerably, but the dough will still be malleable.  Reform the cookies back into tight butterfly shapes by gently pushing on the sides (I use a spatula in one hand and a butter knife in the other).  If you do this at the right time, they will retain their shape for the remainder of the cooking process (this step was pioneered by The Gastronomer).  Return the baking sheets to the oven and bake for 4 more minutes, until the tops are golden brown.  Cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet and then transfer to a baking rack.

While the first batch of cookies is baking, pour an additional 1/4 cup of sugar onto the working surface (you can re-use whatever sugar remains from the previous batch), and set the second sheet of puff pastry on top of it.  Spread the last 1/4 cup of sugar smoothly onto the top of this sheet, and repeat the rolling out, folding, and baking steps from above.  You can re-use the parchment paper for baking--knock off any pieces of burnt sugar first.

Yield: 48-52 cookies
Estimated Start-to-Finish Time: 35 minutes
Actual Start-to-Finish Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Mustard Batons

As a prequel to the Savannah banana pie that I served for dessert on The Gastronomer's recent birthday, I prepared a four-course meal from Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table.  Greenspan's cookbooks are an internet sensation, but I chose her book of French-inspired recipes for this important cooking project mostly because of how much I enjoyed beggar's linguine, the first recipe that The Gastronomer prepared from Around My French Table earlier this year. Mustard batons were an obvious choice for an appetizer because The Gastronomer had just made a large quantity of gourmet mustard from scratch.  Plus there is nothing that makes me feel more at home in the kitchen than a recipe that requires one to make precise measurements with a ruler.  This is also a perfect recipe to serve as a hors d'oeuvre preceding a multi-course meal because the batons can be prepared ahead of time and frozen, then baked at the last minute.

Although the recipe couldn't be simpler, I found forming the batons to be a little tricky because I had to roll the puff pastry very thin in order to make a rectangle of the suggested dimensions. This led to some breakage when folding the dough in half.  It didn't help that my puff pastry sheet had been hanging out in the freezer a year or so too long and had some crusty corners.  However, The Gastronomer believes there is nothing more noble than using up old ingredients rather than letting them go to waste, so I knew she would appreciate my efforts.  I threw away the bad parts and proceeded with a smaller batch of batons, and the results were quite appealing.  The Gastronomer loved them, although how could she have not when they were made with her mustard?

Recipe from Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan.

• 2 sheets frozen puff pastry (each about 8 1/2 ounces), thawed
• All-purpose flour, for rolling
• 1/2 cup Dijon mustard [or other mustard]
• 1 large egg
• Poppy seeds, for topping (optional)

Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.  Have a ruler and a pizza cutter (or sharp knife) at hand.

Working with one sheet of pastry at a time, roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface until you have a rectangle that's about 12 x 16 inches.  If necessary, turn the dough so that a short side of the rectangle is closest to you.  Measure the length so that you can find the middle, and spread 1/4 cup of the mustard over the lower half of the dough, stopping about 1/8 inch from the side and bottom edges.  Fold the top portion of the dough over the bottom and cut the pastry from top to bottom into strips about 1 inch wide, then cut the strips crosswise in half (if you prefer, you can leave the strips long).  Carefully transfer the batons to one of the baking sheets and chill or freeze them while you work on the second batch (you can make all the strips to this point and freeze them on baking sheets, then pack them airtight and keep them frozen for up to two months).

Lightly beat the egg with a splash of cold water and brush just the tops of the strips with this glaze.  If you'd like, sprinkle them with poppy seeds.  Bake the batons for 8 minutes.  Rotate the sheet from front to back and top to bottom and bake for another 7 to 8 minutes, or until the strips are puffed and golden brown.  Remove the baking sheets from the oven and let the batons rest for a couple of minutes before serving.

Yield: 40 batons
Estimated Start-to-Finish Time: Not Given
Actual Start-to-Finish Time: 45 minutes
Substitutions: I only made a half a batch (using a single sheet of puff pastry)--I recommend this if you're only serving a small number of people, since the batons are best when they're still warm and crisp from the oven.