Welcome to Day 10 of
The Twelve Days of Holiday Treats!
Once again, this year, from December 1st-12th I’ll post a new holiday treat recipe every day – inspiration for your holiday entertaining!
The recipes I’m sharing are small-er batch (perfect for this year when many of us will still be attending/ hosting smaller gatherings) – each recipe makes 1-dozen or a few more smaller-sized treats that are simple to prepare and that use everyday ingredients and equipment so hopefully you’ll be able to whip up any of these on a whim. Check out the treats from 2019 and 2020 at the bottom of this post too for more inspiration!
Today’s treat is a French classic – pailles, a puff pastry cookie sandwiched with jam and dusted with icing sugar – simple ingredients transformed into something really special – along the lines of Palmier cookies.
This is actually less a recipe than instructions for how to assemble the cookies – you only need four ingredients – puff pastry, egg, sugar and jam but you WILL need a little but of patience and precision – and a tape measure and sharp knife!
1. Roll your puff pastry to a square of approximately 12 inches (30cm). Brush with some egg wash (egg whisked with a little heavy cream) and sprinkle with about 1/2 tablespoon of raw sugar.
2. Fold the puff pastry in half so you have a 6 inch x 12 inch (15 x 30cm) rectangle.
3. Brush the pastry with egg wash and sprinkle with raw sugar.
4. Fold the rectangle in halves lengthways so you have a 3 x 12 inch (7cm x 30cm) thin pastry rectangle.
5. Brush the pastry with egg wash and sprinkle with raw sugar, then place the pastry on a baking tray, cover lightly with parchment and freeze for 1 hour. After the strips have been in the freezer for about 30 minutes, pre-heat the oven to 375˚F.
6. Slice the pastry widthways into 1/2-inch (1cm strips) using a sharp knife.
7. Flip the strips onto their sides, cut side facing up and place them in groups of three, lightly touching each other, on a parchment-lined baking tray.
8. Bake at 375˚F for 30 minutes, flipping the cookies at the 15 minute mark.
9. Cool the cookies completely before cutting out a thin strip of parchment, placing it over the centre “layer” of pastry of half the cookies and sprinkling the rest of the cookie surface with icing sugar.
10. To fill the cookies, place about 1 teaspoon of jam in the centre of the cookies you haven’t dusted with icing sugar and smooth it to the edges with the back of a small spoon.
11. Top the jam-coated cookies with the icing sugar dusted cookies.
Easy-peasy, huh?
Pailles (Puff Pastry and Jam Cookies)
Pailles - Easy puff pastry and jam cookies.
Ingredients
- 1 sheet puff pastry (approx. 250g), rolled out to a 12 x 12-inch (30x30cm) square
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream
- approx. 1/4 cup raw sugar
- approx 3 tablespoons jam
Instructions
- Roll your puff pastry to a square of approximately 12 inches (30cm). Brush with some egg wash (whisk the large egg with a little heavy cream) and sprinkle with about 1/2 tablespoon of raw sugar.
- Fold the puff pastry in half so you have a 6 inch x 12 inch (15 x 30cm) rectangle.
- Brush the pastry with egg wash and sprinkle with more raw sugar.
- Fold the rectangle in halves lengthways so you have a 3 x 12 inch (7cm x 30cm) thin pastry rectangle.
- Brush the pastry with egg wash and sprinkle with more raw sugar, then place the pastry on a baking tray, cover lightly with parchment and freeze for 1 hour.
- After the strips have been in the freezer for about 30 minutes, pre-heat the oven to 375˚F.
- Slice the pastry widthways into 1/2-inch (1cm strips) using a sharp knife.
- Flip the strips onto their sides, cut side facing up and place them in groups of three, lightly touching each other, on a parchment-lined baking tray.
- Bake at 375˚F for 20-25 minutes, flipping the cookies at the 10 minute mark.
- Cool the cookies completely before cutting out a thin strip of parchment, placing it over the centre "layer" of pastry of half the cookies and sprinkling the rest of the cookie surface with icing sugar.
- To fill the cookies, place about 1 teaspoon of jam in the centre of the cookies you haven't dusted with icing sugar and smooth it to the edges with the back of a small spoon.
- Top the jam-coated cookies with the icing sugar dusted cookies.
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Check out 2021’s 12 Days of Holiday Treats:
Day 1: Speculoos financiers
Day 2: Chocolate Dipped Orange Sugar Cookies
Day 3: Madeleines à la Clémentine
Day 4: Chocolate Hazelnut Thumbprint Cookies
Day 5: Sunbutter and Jam Chocolate Cups
Day 6: Hot Chocolate and Marshmallow Cookies
Day 7: Linzer Cookies
Day 8: Chocolate-Hazelnut Sandwich Cookies
Day 9: Choc-Mint Thumbprint Cookies
Day 10: Pailles (Puff Pastry and Jam Cookies)
Day 11: Strawberry Santa Hats
Day 12: Mulled Wine Jam
Check out 2020’s 12 Days of Holiday Treats:
Day 1: Rice Krispie Wreaths
Day 2: Cranberry Cheesecake Bars
Day 3: Peppermint Bark
Day 4: Orangettes
Day 5: Rocky Road Chocolate Crackle Slice
Day 6: Candy Cane Sugar Cookies
Day 7: Orange Pim’s
Day 8: Mendiants
Day 9: Chewy Chocolate Mint Crackle Cookies
Day 10: Apricot, Coconut and Cranberry “truffles”
Day 11: Chocolate, Cherry and Almond Brownies
Day 12: Peppermint Hot Chocolate
Check out 2019’s 12 Days of Holiday Cookies:
Day 1: Easy Three Ingredient Shortbread
Day 2: Jam Drops
Day 3: Chocolate Caramel Slice
Day 4: Melting Moments
Day 5: White Christmas
Day 6: Langues de Chat
Day 7: Chocolate Coconut Slice
Day 8: Cornflake Biscuits
Day 9: Rocky Road
Day 10: Honey Joys
Day 11: Rum Ball Truffles
Day 12: Giant Florentine Cookie (to share)
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