If you watch the Food Network regularly, you’ve probably heard that the correct Italian pronunciation of bruschetta is “brusketta”. That’s all well and good, but most of us in the US pronounce it ‘brushetta’. And no matter how much you insist that it’s supposed to be brusketta, I’m going to consider you an insufferable know-it-all who needs to just go along with the flow. You can do as the Romans do when you’re in Rome; when you’re here, just say brushetta like the rest of us.
So how do you pronounce ‘palmiers’, anyway? The all-knowing Google says PALM-yeh, but I’m not sure if that’s the I’m-saying-it-the-French-way-even-though-we’re-not-in-France-and-no-one-here-talks-like-that way, or if Americans do actually say it like that. Maybe I don’t watch enough Food Network.
Fortunately, they’re easier to make than they are to figure out how to pronounce. All you do is roll out puff pastry, coat it in sugar and maybe spices, fold up the sides, slice, and bake. I actually did it before work, although I was late for work that day. But I’m late for work everyday, so I can’t blame the cookies.
My coworker described them as cinnamon rolls in cookie form, which is exactly what I was going for. Several people asked me what they were, to which I had no good answer. “Um…I don’t know how to pronounce it…some French word that means palm…” Someone please make me smarter. Palm-yay? Palm-yers?
One year ago: Pumpkin Cupcake Comparison
Two years ago: Pain Ordinaire
Printer Friendly Recipe
Palmiers (adapted from Ina Garten and About.com)
Makes about 30 cookies
1 cup sugar
pinch table salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon (optional; or other spices of your choice)
8 ounces puff pastry
1. Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats. Mix the sugar, cinnamon, and salt.
2. Spread an even coating of the sugar mixture onto a pastry cloth or clean section of countertop. Coat more sugar over the top of the dough. Roll the dough out to a 15- by 12-inch rectangle, adding more sugar as necessary to prevent sticking. Starting at each long end, tightly roll the edges toward the center until they meet. Slice the dough into 3/8-inch cookies, transferring them to the prepared pans. Leave plenty of space between the cookies.
3. Bake one sheet at a time for 10-12 minutes, until the cookies puff and turn golden brown. Immediately (before the molten sugar hardens and glues the cookies to the pan!) transfer them to a wire rack to cool.