Franglais: Ham and Cheese Palmiers

Ham and Cheese Palmiers

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I am Kerry.  I am twenty-eight.  I am an only child.  And I think palmiers may be the height of manipulation.

I don’t know if it’s just a stereotype, but this only child was physically unable to share until I was twenty years old, when my best friends staged a sharing intervention on me.  But there was always one naughty, calculated, devious exception to the rule.  One thing I would share: palmiers.

Palmiers, or elephant ears as we know them, are my mother’s favorite pastry.  I am convinced that the reason we call them elephant ears is because the original palmiers were always so big.  Bigger than my face big.  So when my mom would take me to the pastry shop and ask me what I wanted, I would smile angelically up at her and ask, saccharine notes dripping from my lips, “Would you share a palmier with me?”  She would start back in gleeful surprise, eyes opened wide at the shock of it all, her selfish little girl offering to share her favorite pastry.  But let’s be honest: I wanted the sugary, buttery, crispy thing anyway, and it was probably the only thing in the shop that I couldn’t finish by my little self.  Eating good, and looking good, all in one sweet move.

I found from then on that palmiers are the secret to social success.  I would share them with my mom, with my friends, with anyone who would have me.  No one ever complained.  And I suddenly looked sweet as the palmier itself.

It’s not easy to make the giant palmiers at home, but it is easy to make an equally sharable batch of smaller ones.  One of my favorite things to do is turn the tables and make savory palmiers, stuffed with tapenade or pesto or, in this case, the flavors of a croque monsieur: ham and cheese.  Just roll ham and Gruyère in puff pastry, and bake until crisp.  They are salty and buttery and smoky from ham and crispy cheese.  I serve them with Dijon mustard, and a stack of cornichons, for the perfect party starter.  See, they’re still the secret to social success, only at this size, you can have one all to yourself.