Friday Four – Cinnamon-Sugar Palmiers
Today’s Friday Four is a four ingredient recipe that I saw Martha Stewart show Al Roker how to make on The Today Show this week. Four simple ingredients –
- Puff Pastry Sheets (I LOVE these – don’t be surprised to see lots more of these!)
- Sugar
- Cinnamon
- Melted Chocolate
See – Simple!
Now, I am not Martha, but I wish I had just 1/10 the talent and know-how that this woman has. Yes, I know she has many, many, many people working for her coming up with beautiful decorating and delicious cooking ideas BUT this lady knows how to actually do it. You can tell by the way she holds a pastry bag or a glue gun or answers questions by the hosts who have no clue what they are doing. Martha knows her stuff. I would love to have a meal prepared by her (or her staff). Wouldn’t it be fun to just sit down at a beautifully decorated table and be served a full meal that you have no idea how it was made or how to pronounce half of the ingredients? Who cares! You’re eating a meal made by Martha (and/or her staff) Stewart.
So when I saw her teaching Al how to make these Cinnamon-sugar palmiers and she listed only four ingredients, I knew right away that I could easily share this recipe with you. BTW – did you know that palmier is a French pastry? I had to look that one up!
You start with your thawed puff pastry sheet. If you’ve never worked with them before, the first couple of times can be tricky. They need to thaw just to the point where they are easy to handle – about 40 minutes out of the freezer. Try working with them sooner and they will break in the folds, try working with them later and they may be hard to unfold. But don’t let this scare you away from working with them. Once you have them figured out, you’re on easy street baby!
Then add a little sugar and cinnamon. A fancy roll up method. (To see Martha show Al exactly how to do it, click here.) Some baking and cooling time. A little bit of chocolate drizzle and viola, you have a fancy french pastry. Don’t you feel so sophisticated just reading this? Just think how much MORE sophisticated you would feel if you made them. It would be like as if you took a French pastry class in Paris. At least that’s how I feel now that I know what a palmier is.

Cinnamon-Sugar Palmier
Yield: 2 1/2 - 3 dozen
Cook Time: 17 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes active time - 1 3/4 hour total plus cooling time
Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate or milk chocolate chips, melted
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. In a small bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon.
3. Sprinkle a work surface with ½ cup cinnamon-sugar and on it, roll out puff pastry into two 9-by-11-inch rectangles.
4. Sprinkle each rectangle with 3 tablespoons cinnamon-sugar and gently roll over dough to adhere. Working with 1 rectangle at a time and starting from a long edge, quickly but gently fold dough toward center 3 times in 1-inch increments. Gently flip over dough and repeat with other long edge (once baked, cookies will look like an S-shape).
5. Wrap dough in plastic and freeze until very firm but not frozen, 20 minutes.
6. Cut dough crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Dip both sides of each slice in remaining cinnamon-sugar. Place cookies, 2 inches apart, on a parchment lined or nonstick mat lined baking sheet.
7. Bake until deep golden on underside, 12 minutes. Carefully flip each cookie with a metal spatula and bake until crisp, about 5 minutes.
8. Transfer cookies to a wire rack set on wax paper or a nonstick mat and let cool completely.
9. With a fork, drizzle cookies with chocolate and let sit until chocolate is set, about 30 minutes.
10. Store in airtight containers, up to 1 day.
This recipe is from Martha Stewart, Everyday Food as seen on The Today Show
Kendra, your pictures are perfect, thanks for adding so many to them for each and every recipe. Besides the best part of a cookbook IS the photos :o)
Thank you! I have been looking for recipes for my cookie exchange next weekend and this one is perfect. Different and easy! I was disappointed that there was no recipe on the today show website. Thanks for posting.