Holiday Palmiers
Recipe by: Lene Whitfield
Our Recipe Books•
Dec 1, 2025
These Holiday Palmiers are one of the easiest festive treats you can make — just puff pastry, sugar, and a few folds, and suddenly you have crisp, caramelized cookies that look like they came from a pastry shop. They’re light, sweet, and perfect with a cup of coffee or tucked onto a holiday dessert tray.
Because they come together so quickly, they’re an easy go-to recipe when you want something special without a lot of fuss — a beautiful little cookie that brings a bit of elegance to the season.
Our Recipe Books features a unique collection of authentic Texas home-cooking recipes straight from the heart of the Homestead Heritage community, where tradition and wholesome ingredients come together to create mouthwatering meals.
Ingredients (3)
Ingredients (3)
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 450°F. Line your baking sheet with parchment so cleanup is easy.
In a small bowl, stir together the sugar (2 cups) and salt (⅛ tsp). Sprinkle 1 cup of that mixture onto your countertop — this will act like your “flour” for rolling.
Lay one sheet of puff pastry (2 sheets)right on top of the sugar. Sprinkle another ½ cup of the sugar mixture over the top. Don’t be shy here — you want the whole surface covered so the sugar caramelizes beautifully.
Using a rolling pin, gently roll the pastry out to a 13x13-inch square, pressing the sugar into both sides as you go.
Fold the left and right sides of the square inward so they meet halfway toward the center.
Fold each side inward again so the two folded edges meet right in the middle.
Now fold one half over the other, just like closing a book. You’ll see the classic palmier shape starting to form.
Slice the folded dough into ⅜-inch pieces and lay them cut-side-up on your prepared baking sheet, leaving a little space between each one.
Repeat the process with the second puff pastry sheet.
Bake for 6 minutes, or until the bottoms are golden and caramelized. Flip each cookie carefully with a spatula, then bake for an additional 3–5 minutes, until both sides are crisp and caramelized.
Transfer the warm palmiers to a cooling rack. They’ll crisp up even more as they cool.
