Easy Palmiers (AKA Elephant Ear Cookies)

Elephant Ear Cookies taste amazing and look fancy yet are incredibly simple to make. French Palmiers Cookies are perfect for tea, holiday treats, or just because. This is one of my favorite puff pastry desserts.

When entering a bakery, I love that good "bakery smell." I know you know what I'm talking about because all bakeries have it and it is intoxicating.

I love walking in, taking a nice big breath and then looking around to decide what to get. Of course, my eyes and nose are bigger than my stomach and I always buy too much. However, the neighbors usually benefit here as I love to drop off treats.

My husband is usually with me for our bakery visits and we both have a hard time narrowing down what to get. One of his favorites are the palmiers cookies. Palmiers, also called elephant ears are light, golden puffed pastry rolled in cinnamon sugar and they are absolutely addictive.

The terrific thing about these puff pastry desserts is that they are easy to make at home and you only need three ingredients!

Ingredients Needed For Palmiers Cookies

• Puff Pastry - Look for puff pastry in the freezer sections of your grocery store.
• Sugar - I used white sugar. You could use brown sugar or a combination of white and brown for a richer flavor.
• Cinnamon - All you need is ground cinnamon. For a fun twist substitute pumpkin pie spice in place of the cinnamon.

How To Make Elephant Ear Cookies

All you have to do to have these light, airy sweets at home is simply roll out the puff pastry dough, sprinkle the cinnamon sugar on, roll it up, cut and bake. Here are the step-by-step instructions.

1. Mix together all of the sugar with the cinnamon. Cover your work surface with a large sheet of parchment or wax paper. Spread about a ¼ cup of the sugar mixture. Lay the first sheet of puff pastry dough down and roll to about 10x12. Then sprinkle another ¼ cup of the sugar mixture over the rolled dough. Repeat this process with the second sheet of dough.
2. Next, position your dough vertically and roll the left side up until you reach the center. Then roll the right side of the dough up to the center until the two sides touch. Press them together gently. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
3. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for an hour or until cold. (It can be made in advance and chilled overnight.)
4. Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Starting at one end, cut off ½ inch slices.
5. Place the slices on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Be sure to leave plenty of space because they puff up a lot during baking. Bake 10-15 minutes. Watch them after the 10 minute mark because they brown fast. Mine were done in 12 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on the baking pan for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

More Puff Pastry Desserts

• Strawberry Puff Pastry Tart
• Apple Galette with Ricotta and Almonds
• Caramel Nectarine Tart (or Peach Tart)
• Blueberry Galette Dessert from I Am Baker
• Mom's Cream Horn (Trubochki) Recipe from Natasha's Kitchen

Make these Elephant Ear Cookies for your family, friends and guests. Everyone will be delighted to eat these tasty Palmiers cookies.

If you like these puff pastry desserts, please leave a 5-star rating.

RECIPE

Print Recipe

5 from 4 votes

Palmiers AKA Elephant Ears

Simple and flavorful cinnamon sugar cookies.

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time15 minutes mins

Chilling Time1 hour hr

Course: cookies

Keyword: elephant ear cookies, palmiers cookies, puff pastry dessert

Servings: 12

Calories: 306kcal

Ingredients

• 2 sheets of frozen puff pastry dough 1 package, defrosted
• 1 c. sugar
• 3 tablespoon cinnamon

Instructions

• Mix together all of the sugar with the cinnamon.
• Cover your work surface with a large sheet of parchment or wax paper.
• Spread about a ¼ cup of the sugar mixture. Lay the first sheet of puff pastry dough down and roll to about 10x12. Then sprinkle another ¼ cup of the sugar mixture over the rolled dough. Repeat this process with the second sheet of dough.
• Next, position your dough vertically and roll the left side up until you reach the center. Then roll the right side of the dough up to the center until the two sides touch. Press them together gently. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
• Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for an hour or until cold. (It can be made in advance and chilled overnight.)
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
• Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Starting at one end, cut off ½ inch slices.
• Place the slices on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Be sure to leave plenty of space because they puff up a lot during baking.
• Bake 10-15 minutes ( watch them after the 10 minute mark because they brown fast) Mine were done in 12 minutes.
• Remove from oven and cool on the baking pan for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
• Store in an airtight container.

Notes

Note : This original post was by guest blogger, Kate from Food Babbles. The recipe and post has been updated by me.

Nutrition

Calories: 306kcal | Carbohydrates: 40g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Sodium: 102mg | Potassium: 34mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 20g | Vitamin A: 6IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 24mg | Iron: 1mg

Note : This original post and photos are by guest blogger, Kate from Food Babbles. The recipe and post has been updated by me.

First Published July 2011 ; Updated November 2021

Thanks for stopping by! Subscribe to Jersey Girl Cooks if you would like more recipes and cooking tips sent to your email. You can also order my Super Easy Cookbook for Beginners and follow me on social media - Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.