When I watched last week’s The Great British Bake Off it was patisserie week, so already I was a bit more interested than usual. After watching the whole show I realised I hadn’t attempted any of the recipes they featured. There’s no savarin here and no fondant fancies, but now there are palmiers. Maple & pecan palmiers to be exact.
Just before we get to the palmiers though, do they really eat fondant/French fancies in France? I mean religieuse would’ve been a better challenge, wouldn’t it? I’m terrified there’ll be a backlash now and fondant fancies are actually huge in France and I’ve just been unobservant, so if I have any French readers, do please let me know.
Back to the palmiers, my absolutely favourite Danish pastries are those little maple and pecan plaits you can get in the supermarket or a maple and pecan yumyum from Waitrose. I don’t think any of these are a particularly good example of a Danish pastry, but something about how mass produced they taste and look is for me part of the appeal. They’re just one of life’s guilty little pleasures.
These maple and pecan palmiers are my homage to these supermarket pastries, I know I’m probably not selling these very well, but they honestly taste absolutely delicious when made with homemade puff pastry. Palmiers were first made at the beginning of the 20th century, not a lot is known about the pastry, but their name comes from their distinctive shape which looks like the leaves of a palm tree, or elephant’s ears.
The palmiers are made from puff pastry, if you’re really pushed for time you can buy ready made puff pastry, but I made my own and it tastes so much better than the shop bought. The recipe I have linked to also makes twice the amount of pastry, so you can freeze half the batch of pastry and save it for danish pastries, mille-feuille or a St Honore.
When you make the palmiers it’s really important to chil them before you cut them. I didn’t chill the first batch I made and they uncurled quite a lot and the filling oozed out. So chill the rolled up palmier for at least 30 mins before you cut them and bake them.
Maple & Pecan Palmiers
Ingredients
- 1/2 quantity of Puff Pastry or 400g Ready Made Puff Pastry
- 100 g Pecans
- 65 g Dark Muscovado Sugar
- 3 Tbsp Maple Syrup
- 50 g Melted Butter
Instructions
- Take the pecans and blitz them in a food processor, mix them with the sugar, maple syrup and butter. When it is all combined put it to one side and allow it to cool a little.
- Lightly flour a surface and roll out your puff pastry to a rectangle that is approximately 35cm by 25cm.
- If you don't have straight edges, trim your pastry slightly so that you have a neat rectangle.
- Take the maple and pecan paste and spread it all over the pastry, you can go quite near the edges but leave a small gap.
- Roll the long edges of the into a tight log, meeting in the middle to create the palmier. Wrap the pastry in clingfilm and return it to the fridge for at least 30 mins to firm up before you cut them.
- Preheat the oven to 190C/170C Fan/gas 5 and line two baking trays with greaseproof paper.
- Using a sharp knife gently cut the log into 1cm slices and place them on the baking sheet.
- Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes until puffed up and golden.
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool before serving.
Tomorrow is the final of The Great British Bake off, who is your money on? It’s the end of an era, no more Mel, Sue, Paul or Mary on the BBC. I think the show might be better on Channel 4. I’ve been watching since the first ever series of GBBO when Edd Kimber won and I have to admit I loved it in the early days when it was on BBC2, the baking was more realistic and approachable and it was about doing one thing well, not a hundred different things and desperately trying to get them finished by the deadline.
I’ve followed a number of the winners and their careers, particularly the ones that have branched off into patisserie like John Whaite, but on the whole, the show has become a little tired to me.
Despite all that, I know I’ll be watching the next series. What about you? Who do you think will win and will you be watching the show when it moves to channel 4?
Thanks for reading.
Angela
Annaliese
These sound tasty! Agreed on supermarket pastries being so uniform and attractive…but homemade puff is indeed so much tastier! Question: have you even formed palmiers like stick figures prior to baking? I tried Jacquey Pfeiffers recipe and it really did not work. My puff was good-I did a test strip to verify-but man, the palmiers were a mess in the oven!
patisseriemakesperfect
Hi, I have never made palmiers in that shape at all, as far as I know they only come in the traditional palmier shape as that is where their name comes from. I don’t know Jacquey Pfeiffer, but I would stick to the original shape, as they taste delicious.
Thanks
Angela
Jodie Dodd
i was able to watch the GBBO each week this time (thanks to the internet!) and was so excited when I saw you had made these since I had just watched that episode! I really love how the palmier matches the cup handle in your pic. 🙂 I love Danish pastries but have never specifically had a palmier. I absolutely love maple but don’t really like nuts in my bakery – I don’t like the crunch with the soft dough. So strange and I know I’m really missing out on some great bakery.
I’m so sad about every one leaving GBBO. I just love Mel, Sue, Mary and Paul so I can’t really imagine it without them. We had a Christmas version episode here last year with Mary but with two American comedians and it just didn’t feel right. I don’t exactly understand how British TV works, I would assume similar to networks over here but I’m pretty sure only BBC shows are ever broadcast in America. Again, thank god for the internet! 🙂 xx
patisseriemakesperfect
Jodie I’m so pleased you were able to watch along too. The British Bake Off feels like such an institution now, it’s really gripped the nation. You could easily make these without the nuts and just the sugary, maple butter would be great.
The Christmas version with American comedians must be just for you guys, it’s shown on the BBC here, but hopefully when it switches channels next year you’ll still be able to get it as I think BBC America shows tv programmmes that are broadcast on other networks here. x
Luci @ Made By Luci
The GBBO always inspires me to bake too! These look fantastic, wish I could eat pecans now!
patisseriemakesperfect
It’s a great way to find out about dishes you’ve never heard of before, isn’t it Luci? I love it too. Thanks for the lovely words, this is such a good combination.
Jamie Gates
My daughters love the show! I am such a sucker for crispy palmiers. I love the flavor you chose.
patisseriemakesperfect
Thanks Jamie – I’m a big fan of the show too, I love it. So glad you like the palmiers.
Platter Talk
I never thought that palmiers good get any better but you proved me wrong with pecans and maple! Incredible.
patisseriemakesperfect
Oh wow thank you, yes this really works, it’s one of my favourite flavour combinations too!
Veena
Love maple and pecan together. such a lovely combination. Thanks
patisseriemakesperfect
You’re right, it’s the best combination, I love it in granola!
Garlic + Zest
I love palmiers and this combination sounds like a real winner! Pick me!
patisseriemakesperfect
They are so good, you’ll love them!
Hannah Hossack-Lodge (Domestic Gothess)
These look delicious Angela 🙂 I’m a big fan of maple pecan Danish pastries too, I’ve been meaning to make some for ages, I just have such a long list of things I want to make! I’m intrigued to see what channel 4 does with the Bakeoff, I just hope they don’t have too many ad breaks…
patisseriemakesperfect
Ah the maple pecan thing isn’t just me then! I do have a huge list of things I want to make too. Yes Bake Off on 4 will be interesting.
Lucy
They look and sound delicious Angela, I love those flavours! I thought the same about fondant fancies, not really Pâtisserie are they. Eclairs would have been good! Not sure I will watch when it goes to Channel 4 as dedicatedly as I seem to do now. Sad really.
patisseriemakesperfect
Lucy, I know exactly what you mean, it might be awful on channel 4, but I’m hoping it will have the shake-up it needs. Would be great if each week they pick a theme they have a guest judge who specialises in that area.
I’m glad you agree with me about the patisserie 🙂
Thanks for the kind comments Lucy. xx