Palmiers with a Bridestowe Bouquet Glaze
Sometimes called “Elephant Ears” for their distinctive shape, palmiers are an easy option to serve with an afternoon tea, or a light accompaniment with coffee after dinner. For serious dessert lovers, they are a decadent addition to an ice cream sundae.
Using our hand blended Bridestowe Bouquet tea, we created a fragrant glaze that includes flavours of ginger, rose and lavender to complement the raw sugar and crisp pastry of a classic palmier. The palmiers can be further sweetened with a touch of berry or apricot jam.
Ingredients
Glaze
1 cup strongly brewed Bridestowe Bouquet tea
1 1/2 cups caster sugar
Palmiers
2 sheets of puff pastry
1/4 cup granulated brown sugar
Raspberry or apricot jam or coulis (optional)
Method
Glaze
Brew 1 cup of strong Bridestowe Bouquet tea. If tea steeps for too long, it may become bitter, so use more tea to intensify the flavour – one heaped tablespoon will be enough.
In a saucepan, mix tea and caster sugar until sugar dissolves, and bring to a boil. Allow to cool and thicken – add more sugar and boil again if it doesn’t seem thick enough.
Palmiers
Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius.
Press two sheets of uncooked pastry together to make one thick sheet. Cut thin strips, no more than 5mm wide or the palmiers will be puffed up and doughy instead of crisp.
Sprinkle raw sugar on the surface you will be rolling the pastry on. One by one, lay the strips across, covering one side in raw sugar (this will be the outer edge of the palmier). If a sweeter taste is preferred, now is the time to place a small drop of jam or coulis on each end. Curl the ends inwards, spiralling the pastry into two loose nautilus shapes that meet in the middle. Place on baking sheet. Brush with glaze. Repeat to desired number – the two sheets pressed together will produce 15-20 small palmier.
Bake in oven for 8-12 minutes, until golden brown. Rotate halfway through.
The glaze can be made up to two days ahead, but the pastries are best served within a few hours, as they will not keep for more than a day.