Caramel Apple Palmiers
This is one of the easiest recipes and yet so, so yummy! When I have extra pie dough, I use it to make these sweet little cookies. A traditional Palmier uses only 2 ingredients, puff pastry and sugar, that’s it! I added some cinnamon, bits of apple and caramel sauce to pie crust to make these delightful Caramel Apple Palmiers. They take about 30 minutes to make and you won’t be able to stop eating them.
Palmier is the term for a French pastry made from puff pastry, thin sheets of flaky dough. It is typically rolled out and coated with sugar and then rolled up from both sides and sliced to form cookies in the shape of a palm leaf or a pig’s ear. They are quite simple to make even though they may appear difficult due to the shape.
Puff Pastry or Pie Crust?
I used pie crust dough for my cookies and rolled them in the same shape as a Palmier. I also added some caramel sauce and some diced apple before rolling them up. Once I cut them, I placed them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and baked them for 10 minutes on each side.
They came our ooey and gooey and sticky sweet. This is a great way to use store-bought pie crust if you have some leftover. And I love the fact that it makes about 12-14 cookies, just enough for a sweet bite-size treat or afternoon snack.
As for the filling, the flavor possibilities are endless. I used caramel and apple with a pinch of cinnamon. You could use crystalized ginger and peach jam, maple syrup and bacon bits, raspberry jam and chopped pecans, colored sugar and sprinkles…and on and on and on. As long as you keep the ingredients diced small enough and don’t fill your cookies too full, you can roll up whatever you like and experiment to your heart’s content.
Caramel Apple Palmiers
What’s needed? There’s only 5 ingredients in these little treats, 1 Pillsbury Pie Crust, sugar, cinnamon, a small Gala apple and caramel ice cream topping. These are all items I already had on hand. I simply added them to the top of the dough before rolling them up. Such a yummy combination of flavors, like taking a bite of an apple pie!
How to make Palmiers?
- In a small bowl, combine the sugar, cinnamon and apple bits. Stir until apples are coated.
- Remove the pie crust from the refrigerator and unwrap it. While the pie crust is cold, carefully unroll it and lay it flat on your work surface. With a sharp knife, trim off the rounded sides until it forms a square.
- Add the apple mixture to the dough and spread it to within 1/2 inch of the edges of the crust.
- Carefully roll one side of the dough as tightly as possible towards the center without tearing the crust. Roll the opposite side towards the center, so both rolls touch in the middle.
- Place the rolled up dough on a small baking sheet or paper plate and place it in the freezer for 30 minutes. This will make it easier to slice.
- Remove the rolls from the freezer and, using a sharp knife, slice 1/2-inch strips across the rolled dough. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper a few inches apart.
- Bake cookies at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Carefully turn cookies over. I used two forks to do this because a spatula was just too big and the cookies seemed to stick to it. Bake for an additional 8-10 minutes.
- Remove the baking sheet from the oven and allow cookies to cool completely. Some of the sugar and caramel will escape from each roll, this is fine. It allows the pie crust to absorb some of the excess while baking. Cookies will be caramelized and gooey.
Serve the cookies as dessert or for a midday snack with a cold glass of milk or a hot mug of tea. They are delicious. My husband can’t stop eating them!
Check out the recipe card with ingredient amounts and complete instructions. You’ll never have leftover pie crust again.
Caramel Apple Palmiers
Ingredients
- 1 Pillsbury pie crust
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 small Gala apple, finely diced
- 1/4 cup caramel topping
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine the sugar, cinnamon and apple bits. Stir until apples are coated.
- Remove the pie crust from the refrigerator and unwrap it. While the pie crust is cold, carefully unroll it and lay it flat on your work surface. With a sharp knife, trim off the rounded sides until it forms a square.
- Add the apple mixture to the dough and spread it to within 1/2 inch of the edges of the crust.
- Carefully roll one side of the dough as tightly as possible towards the center without tearing the crust. Roll the opposite side towards the center, so both rolls touch in the middle.
- Place the rolled up dough on a small baking sheet or paper plate and place it in the freezer for 30 minutes. This will make it easier to slice.
- Remove the rolls from the freezer and, using a sharp knife, slice 1/2-inch strips across the rolled dough. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper a few inches apart.
- Bake cookies at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Carefully turn cookies over. I used two forks to do this because a spatula was just too big and the cookies seemed to stick to it. Bake for an additional 8-10 minutes.
- Remove the baking sheet from the oven and allow cookies to cool completely. Some of the sugar and caramel will escape from each roll, this is fine. It allows the pie crust to absorb some of the excess while baking. Cookies will be caramelized and gooey.
