Palmier pastry offers up a tasty treat

By Keighley's Mike Armstrong, an award-winning master baker with a big passion for baking...

WHEN was the last time you had a buttery puff pastry palmier filled with sticky jam and a soft cloud of whipped cream?

It's a crunchy explosion of butter and caramelised sugar when eaten.

Palmier, as you would expect, is from the French for palm tree, with the pastry getting its name from its resemblance to a palm leaf.

It has been given a variety of nicknames – elephant or pig's ears, glasses, shoe soles, butterfly wings, French hearts, to name but a few.

Although it's believed this pastry comes from France, it was adopted and modified from Baklava, from the Middle Eastern method of layering thin sheets of filo pastry together – being a very similar dough to croissants without the yeast.

A traditional palmier is made by rolling out puff pastry very thinly and sprinkling it with sugar or spices, like cinnamon or nutmeg. The pastry is then rolled up from both sides at once and sliced thin, forming the distinctive leaf-like shape.

Today, palmier are quite common to enjoy with tea and coffee for an afternoon treat with jam and cream, but due to the recipe's simplicity, there are many sweet and savoury variations to choose from. The only 'downside' is they all have to be eaten on the day you make them – so not a problem!

In the UK, once pastry making became a firmly established practice, many of our regional variations began to take shape. Savoury options like the Melton Mowbray pork pie and Cornish pasty gained notoriety as a worker's packed lunch for coal miners. The rise of the sweet tart provided more fodder for interpretation, with custard fillings often forming the base. The word custard itself derives from both the Anglo-Saxon word 'crustarde' (a tart or pie with a crust). One of the most famous versions is the Manchester tart, in which custard covers a layer of raspberry jam.

From a portable case to show-stopping centrepiece in just a few hundred years, the pasty has come on quite a journey from humble beginnings. It's hard to believe the Romans used to throw their pastry away!

RECIPE

STRAWBERRY AND CREAM PALMIER

Makes 8

Ingredients:

500g ready-made block butter puff pastry

Granulated sugar for sprinkling

125ml pot of double fresh cream

Good strawberry (or raspberry) jam

Icing sugar for dusting

Method:

1. Cut the pastry in half and roll out into two rectangles 55cm in length x 15cm width, using a little flour, then sprinkle over a little sugar and roll in lightly with the rolling pin.

2. Fold the left and right side about 1/4 towards the middle, then fold again leaving a little gap in the middle, fold in half again and gently roll the top flat.

3. Freeze the pastry for 20 minutes to make it easier to cut, then straighten the edges with a sharp knife.

4. Cut 1cm-wide strips and coat in sugar, placing on lined baking trays, allowing room to spread.

5. Bake your palmier biscuits in a preheated oven 200C/180C fan/Gas Mark 6 for 10-12 minutes, flip them over and bake for another 7-10 minutes till rich golden brown.

6. Transfer onto a cooling rack once baked, when cool sandwich together with jam and fresh cream then dust with icing sugar.

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