When it comes to desserts, I’m often a believer that less is more. Sometimes you need just a few simple, quality ingredients to make a perfect, melt in your mouth dessert. That’s the case with these vegan puff pastry palmiers, also called elephant ears. They only have two ingredients, yet they’re a nearly perfect cookie. Vegan puff pastry palmiers are essentially just baked puff pastry coated in sugar. How good does that sound? Yet despite only having two ingredients, these elephant ears look and taste super fancy. They’re a great dessert to make when hosting a party, because you’ll impress everyone who eats them when you tell them that the palmiers are homemade!
Notes on Ingredients
Here are the ingredients you need to make this flaky, fluffy vegan puff pastry palmiers. Check out the recipe card at the bottom of the article for the exact amounts.
Vegan puff pastrySugar
How to Make Puff Pastry Palmiers
These elephant ears may only have two ingredients, but they have a lot more than two steps. Here’s how to make them.
Prep your counter. Start by sprinkling sugar across your countertop.Cover the dough with sugar. Place the puff pastry on top of the sugar, and sprinkle more sugar on top. Roll. Roll out the puff pastry dough into a rectangle that is about 9×15 inches, and roughly ¼-inch thick.
Add more sugar. Flip the puff pastry over, and sprinkle more sugar on the dough. Lightly run your rolling pin over the dough to press the sugar in. Clean it up. Use a knife to cut the edges off of the puff pastry, forming a perfect, clean rectangle. Draw a line. Without cutting through the puff pastry, use your knife to make a line down the center of the dough, lengthwise.
Fold one side. Fold one side of the dough in about ¼ of the way. Then fold it a second time.
Fold the other side. Repeat this process on the other side of the puff pastry. You’ll be left with a small valley between the two sides.
Fold in half. Now fold the dough in half down the line, creating a log of puff pastry. Chill. Wrap the puff pastry log in plastic wrap and put it in the freezer for 15-20 minutes. Prep a baking sheet. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Clean up the dough. Take the puff pastry log out of the freezer and cut off the ends so that the log is clean and flat. Cut the cookies. Slice cookies from the dough log that are a little bit less than ¼-inch thick. Put the cookies on the baking sheet. Place all of the cookies on the baking sheet, and spread them open a little bit to make a V shape. Leave at least 1 ½ inches between each elephant ear.
Add more sugar. Sprinkle sugar over the top of the palmiers. Chill. Put the baking sheet of vegan puff pastry palmiers in the freezer. Heat the oven. Turn your oven on to 450F. Bake. When the oven is up to temperature, remove the baking sheet from the freezer and place it straight in the oven. Bake the palmiers for 10 minutes, then flip them over and bake until golden and caramelized, about 5-8 minutes.
Tips for Success
Here are a few of my favorite tricks for making these vegan elephant ears.
Make your own puff pastry. It’s not always easy to find vegan puff pastry at the store. So I just make it! Making your own puff pastry is a little labor intensive, but it’s super rewarding, and makes a product that’s even better than what you could buy at the supermarket. For the best palmiers, make your own Vegan and Gluten Free Puff Pastry dough using my recipe.Keep the palmiers cold. When working with puff pastry you always want to keep the dough cold, as the vegan butter can quickly start to melt and ruin the texture. If you notice the puff pastry dough is starting to get a little warm and sticky, place the dough back in the fridge or freezer. Let it sit for a few minutes, then continue making the elephant ears. Let them chill. Once the vegan puff pastry palmiers have come out of the oven, resist the temptation to eat them immediately. Instead, place them on a wire rack, and let them cool to room temperature. This allows the cookies to firm up, at which point they’ll get extremely flaky.
How to Store Puff Pastry Palmiers
You can store these vegan treats in an airtight container on the counter for up to 3 days, or in the fridge for a week. If you want to reheat them to make them crispy, place them in a 325F oven for 5 minutes, or heat them in a toaster oven.
Can I Freeze This Recipe?
You can absolutely freeze these vegan elephant ears. Simply place them in an airtight container and freeze them for up to 3 months. Reheat by placing them in a 325F oven for 10 minutes.
More Vegan Cookie Recipes to Make
Here are a few more vegan cookie recipes for you to try making.
Rolled pumpkin spice cookiesButtery vegan spritz cookiesVegan chocolate chip cookiesVegan pumpkin cookiesOatmeal chocolate chip cookies
