Wrong. Stupid confidence.
I swear this was doomed for the beginning. I first had to go buy puff pastry as I don't usually keep that in the house. So earlier in the week, I hit up a grocery store after work and grabbed a couple things, including a box from the freezer section that I "thought" was puff pastry.
I didn't notice until I got home, opened the box and took a look at the dough and thought to myself "this looks like strange puff pastry" that it's phyllo dough.
 |
| not puff pastry. |
The next day, after work again, I go look for puff pastry. Finally bought the right kind, the freezer section didn't foil me again. Get home, didn't defrost in time so I figured I'll tackle it the next night.
 |
| puff pastry |
Finally, I have my time to make the cookies, dough is defrosted, not to mention not phyllo dough, I have all my ingredients, looking good so far. Roll out the dough, make one set of cookies with brown sugar, make the next with a thin spread of orange marmalade. Roll them in to their little horn shapes, chill and then cut.
I started baking with the brown sugar cookies. Now the recipe said to bake them at 425, which I did, after about 5 minutes, the smoke started billowing out of my oven. Set off the smoke detector twice. The recipe said leave in for 18 to 20 minutes. I didn't know if my house was still going to be around in 20 minutes if I kept baking them.
I took them out after 18 minutes total baking. Completely burnt.
The top side of the cookies looked golden brown, crispy and delicious.
Bottom, black, gross, burnt, failures.
Best part ? I had another pan to bake. FML.
Midway through baking the burnt mess cookies, I put the other pan in the fridge that seemed to help a bit during cooking. Also I turned the heat down to 400 and only baked them for 14 minutes. These ones turned out perfect.
Crispy and buttery with a nice freshness from the orange marmalade. Much better than the burnt test run. My baking skills were redeemed.
I'd definitely try and make these again, with my newly learned adjustments. Or maybe I will learn that if it takes me 3 days to make something with "surprisingly simple" in the title, I should give up.
Petite Palmiers
[ adapted from the kitchn ]
1 box frozen puff pastry
1/4 cup butter, melted
approx. 1/4 cup brown sugar or marmalade
sugar for sprinkling
Unwrap puff pastry and let rest on a clean work surface, covered to thaw completely. Should be completely pliable but still cool to the touch.
Roll out dough to a large rectangle, keeping care that dough doesn't stick to the work surface. I dusted my counter lightly with flour. Sprinkle brown sugar over rectangle, covering it in a thick single layer. Roll over sugar with rolling pin to press into place. If using marmalade or jam. spread a thin layer over dough, covering all surfaces.
Tightly roll both ends of the dough inward, meeting at the middle. Wrap logs in plastic wrap and chill for 20 to 30 minutes.
Pre heat oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Unwrap dough and using a serrated knife, cut into 1/2 inch cookies. Place cookies onto prepared pan, about 2 inches apart, press cookies down lightly with the bottom of a cup.
Brush cookies with melted butter and sprinkle with more sugar if you want. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.
Let cool for 10 minutes before transferring to wire rack. Store in airtight container, cookies will be less crispy the next day, but still crazy delicious.
