FAN SHAPED COOKIES – Recipe by Piero Benigni – These cookies are tasting, crunchy and really easy to prepare even for those with little skill in the kitchen. Make them, you’ll surprise your beloved ones and friends! Moreover, they are a great gift when visiting someone.
Because of their shape, they are also called heart shaped or butterfly cookies. Palmiers too, since they recall the form of a palm leaf.
Ingredients for about 25 cookies
- 1 sheetpuff pastry
- 4 spoonssugar
Tools for the fan shaped cookies
- Oven
- Baking plate
- Baking paper
- Rolling pin
- Knife
Preparation
Getting ready
Unroll the puff pastry sheet leaving his baking paper below. Evenly spread with the hands 2 heaping tablespoons of sugar then gently press it down with the rolling pin. Turn puff pastry and paper upside down and gently remove the paper. Do the same, sugar and rolling pin, on this side.
Start folding the pastry by the short side. First fold up to the middle, then same for the second fold, then double fold and finally the last fold. The photo clearly shows the various steps. Cut the roll with a sharp knife just pressing down, avoid sliding it. If some cookies lose the proper form, put them back in shape.
Put the raw cookies in the pan on the baking paper with some distance between them, they will grow when cooking!
Cooking the fan shaped cookies
Put the pan in pre-heated oven, not fan-assisted, halfway up, temperature 390-400 °F (200 °C), heat above and below. If the oven is fan-assisted only, cook at 360-370 °F (180 °C). Cooking will last about 20 minutes, but after 15 start checking since every oven has his own way of cooking. The cooking is done when the cookies have a nice light-brown color.
Take the pan out from the oven and let the cookies cool down. They will be at their best after 1 hour or so. They last several days if kept in an airtight box, especially by wet weather. I suggest not to keep them in the fridge or freeze them.
NOTES
– If you want bigger cookies, make the folds by the long side and cut at about 3/8″ thickness or a little more, for about 12-15 pieces.
– You can give to these cookies a nice orange taste by doing so: after putting and rolling the sugar on the second side, spread evenly a couple of orange juice spoons then make the folds and cook as explained.