I’d seen these on Annie’s blog a few weeks ago and made a mental note to give them a try sometime. See, I had a sheet of puff pastry that’s been sitting in my freezer for a while and my basil plant is completely overgrown so this recipe helped me to solve both of those problems. We were having a cookout this weekend so I decided to give the recipe a shot and serve these as appetizers.
I thought for sure I’d have trouble folding the puff pastry like the recipe recommends but it ended up being less difficult than I expected. I think a bigger problem was that my pesto was too watery. I made these at the last minute and was sort of rushed. As a result, my puff pastry was really wet and the palmiers were soggy and had trouble not flopping over on the cookie sheet as they baked. Additionally, there was a ton of liquid on the baking sheet as these cooked. So much in fact that I was worried these were never going to puff up or turn brown. In the end, they didn’t brown too much but they did puff up some so I took them out of the oven after about 8 minutes on each side.
These were yummy! Not terribly surprising since they’re made from puff pastry and it’s hard to go wrong with puff pastry. I was disappointed in their appearance but I think that was my fault so I’m looking forward to making them again with better pesto. I also think it would be fun to experiment with the filling as I suspect these would be good with other fillings besides pesto.
By Tracey
Pesto Palmiers
from Annie’s Eats
Ingredients:
- 1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese, optional
- ½-3/4 cup pesto
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp. water
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 F.
Lay puff pastry out onto parchment paper. Roll out into a 12×12” square. Lift up one side of the puff pastry, sprinkle grated Parmesan onto the parchment paper, and replace the puff pastry; repeat with the other side. Using a spatula, spread the pesto within ½ – inch of each side of the pastry. Using your spatula, make three indentations on the top edge of the dough at 3 inches, 6 inches and 9 inches to divide the sheet into quarters.
Fold the left and right edges of the puff pastry halfway to the center of the dough (to the closest quarter-mark indentation). Fold the sides to the middle again until they are almost touching. Fold the two halves together like a book. (I found these pictures helpful)
Cut into half-inch slices and place onto parchment-lined baking sheet. Whisk the egg and water together and brush over the palmiers. Bake for 8 minutes, flip and bake for 6-8 more minutes. Palmiers are best the day of baking.
