With only 3 ingredients these Christmas cinnamon palmiers just have to be the easiest Christmas cookies recipe ever! They have all that wonderful cinnamon flavour of Christmas and are super quick to make too.
It’s Christmas so there just has to be some baking, don’t you just love the smell of festive baking, all those fabulous spices making the kitchen smell amazing. I love getting crafty in the kitchen at Christmas so check out my Christmas section. These Christmas cinnamon palmiers are the latest addition to my Christmas cookies repertoire.
What are palmiers?
Palmiers are a French pastry, the name comes from feuille de palmier ‘palm tree leaf’ and they are usually made with puff style pastry similar to croissants but without all the work involved!
In Spain palmiers are called Palmeras and in Porto Rico, they are topped with honey. The Greek equivalent to a palmier would be (γυαλάκια) or Little Glasses.
In China they are known as butterfly pastries and in Mexico and Latin American countries palmiers are called orejas (ears). In fact, just about every country has its own version of this cookie.
Ingredients for Christmas Cinnamon Palmiers
Now I told you there weren’t many ingredients for this one. In fact, there are only 3!
You’ve no doubt already got the sugar on hand in the cupboard and I’ll just bet there’s a jar of cinnamon lurking somewhere in your kitchen.
The other ingredient, the main one is ready-rolled puff pastry that you can buy in any supermarket. I always keep some of this in my freezer so I can whip up a pie crust or other pastry any time I fancy.
Add extras
You could add some ground ginger to these Christmas palmiers for a bit of heat. Or why not add some grated orange zest for a fruity zing.
The complete list of ingredients and full instructions for making this recipe can be found on the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.
How to make Cinnamon Palmiers
This is a super easy two-step process.
Firstly unroll the ready-rolled pastry and keep it on the paper wrap that it comes in. This means you don’t even need to flour your work surface – result!
Sprinkle the pastry with cinnamon and sugar and make sure you get it all over the pastry and right to the edges.
To make sure the cinnamon and sugar stick to the pastry give the whole thing a quick once over with a rolling pin just to press them in a wee bit.
Now comes the fun bit. Start rolling up the palmiers from one long side of the pastry. Keep this nice and tight and roll the pastry to the centre.
Now turn the pastry round and roll the other side so that they both meet in the middle.
To hold all this together nicely roll up the paper tightly to pull them together and pop this in the fridge for half an hour to firm up.
Why do you chill the pastry?
This makes the palmiers much easier to cut and improves the texture and taste of the pastry too.
Step 2
After you have chilled your pastry in the fridge for half an hour and enjoyed a little sit-down and possibly a cup of coffee. Now it’s time to cut out those palmiers.
Unwrap the pastry and using a sharp knife cut the pastry into pieces about 1cm wide.
How to make cutting palmiers easier
Here’s a great trick to make cutting pastry easier. Simply dip your knife in flour first. This stops the knife from sticking to the pastry and dragging through as you cut. Cut a couple of palmiers then dip the knife in flour again.
Set the palmiers on a lined baking tray making sure they are well spaced as they are going to spread out as they bake.
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until they are golden and remove from oven and cool your cookies on a wire rack.
That’s it folks! It is so quick and easy to make these Christmas cinnamon palmiers cookies. Once you’ve made them once you will be making them time and again they’re just so quick and easy to make.
How many Christmas cookies does this make?
I got 26 Christmas cinnamon palmiers from this recipe, now that’s more than enough for us to eat and for me to box up as wee foodie gifts for Christmas. In fact, you will find this recipe in my new bookette/ebook just called Foodie Gifts For Christmas Book 1.
How long do palmiers keep
You can store your cinnamon palmiers in an airtight box for up to a week. You can freeze palmiers too for up to 3 months. Just remember to crisp them up in a moderate oven for a few minutes after defrosting them.
Types of palmiers
With this super simple palmiers cookies recipe you can step in all sorts of directions. These cookies are just so versatile and perfect for every occasion.
Sweet palmiers
Fill them with any type of jam, try Christmas mincemeat, or my gorgeous Christmas pudding marmalade, try them with a melted chocolate filling or marmalade/jelly. Add in some extra spices and you’re good to go.
Savoury palmiers
Sprinkle the pastry with parmesan cheese for a basic savoury palmier, add garlic to the mix and herbs too if you like. Spread them with pesto or use any other savoury spread. Here is my recipe for Pesto Pinwheels which are just a variation on the classic savoury palmiers. You can even make peanut butter palmiers!
Serving palmiers
Sweet palmiers are perfect with a cuppa at any time of day. Now any savoury palmier is just crying out for a nice glass of wine. This makes savoury palmiers the perfect addition to your party nibbles.
This recipe makes a great foodie gift, so why not check out my post on how to make Christmas hampers.
Looking for more super easy bakes for Christmas? Then check these out before you go;
Bouche de Noel (Christmas yule log cake)
Kourabiethes – Greek Christmas Biscuits
Super Easy Last-Minute Christmas Cake
Mini Mince Pies (using my vegetarian mincemeat)
Super Easy Homemade Christmas Cake
Finally, if you do try this recipe don’t forget to leave a comment/star rating below as I just love to hear from readers. Want more Larder Love? Then follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter and sign up for my newsletter too of course.
Christmas Cinnamon Palmiers Cookies
Ingredients
- 375 g puff pastry (ready rolled puff pastry)
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp granulated sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200C and line a baking sheet with baking parchment
- Unroll pastry and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar all over, use a rolling pin to press this into the pastry
- Roll up the long side of the rectangle to the centre, turn pastry and do the same on the other side. Roll in the pastry paper and set aside in fridge to chill for 30 minutes
- Remove paper and cut into 1cm pieces and pay out on baking tray well apart and bake for about 15 mins till golden
Thank you for this wonderful recipe! I have since prepared it (and this beautiful website) twice and shared it with many of my friends. Cheers!
Hi Kemmeo
So glad this recipe has been such a success for you.
K