NUTELLA PALMIERS

Puff pastry was a mystery to me until I watched The Great British Baking Show—and all the fancy things they were doing with it.  Not that I was about to spend time racing between fridge and rolling pin—trying to keep everything cold and still malleable.  Nope—not when Pepperidge Farm was waiting there in the grocer’s freezer.  After a couple of notable catastrophes (a 4” tall chicken pot pie crust, and a vol au vent that closed up on itself) I unlocked the key to success—roll out the defrosted pastry as thin as you can get it!  So, here’s a key to a very fast, and pretty fancy, dessert for the holidays.  This makes 12-15 palmiers.

You’ll need one sheet of defrosted puff pastry and a small jar of Nutella.

• Spread a little flour on your surface and roll out the pastry (I use a pastry cloth and a covered rolling pin) to about 12” X 16”
• With the 16” side facing you, spread Nutella evenly over the pastry, stopping just before each edge (you might not need the whole jar)
• Fold each of the long sides halfway over the Nutella, so the long edges meet in the center
• Then fold one long layered side on top of the other—you’ll have four layers of pastry enclosing the filling—about 16” X 4”
• Cut the folded pastry into ¾” slices and place them, so you can see the sliced layers facing up, on a parchment covered cookie sheet—give them room to spread as they bake
• Bake in a pre-heated 450’ oven for 5 minutes, then flip them and bake for about 5 more minutes until they puff up and turn golden

The Kitchen Hive