Broke Student Cooking: Prickly Pear Palmiers

Picnic and potluck season is upon us! Bring these unique prickly pear palmiers that are deceptively simple to the party and everyone will be begging for more.

Cooking Utensils

Parchment paper
Plastic wrap
Large cutting board
Bread knife
Spatula
Baking sheet

Additional items if not using puff pastry:

Food processor
Rolling pin

Ingredients

Prickly pear jam, or any other flavor jam/jelly
1/4 cup white granulated sugar
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, OR:
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
- 3 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks
- 3/4 cup sour cream

Instructions if using puff pastry

Unwrap puff pastry and lay out sheets on cutting board. Cover with cloth or paper towel and let thaw until soft to the touch but still cool.
Sprinkle sugar over puff pastry dough. Use either a rolling pin or clean hands to press sugar into dough.
Coat puff pastry sheet with thin layer of prickly pear jam, leaving about a ½ inch of the outer border bare.
Roll both sides of the pastry inward so that the ends meet in the middle, creating a cylinder or log. Wrap the log in plastic wrap and freeze for 45 minutes to an hour.
Preheat oven to 375º. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
With log still very cold, use bread knife to slice log into cookies about a ½ inch thick.
Place palmiers flat on baking sheet, leaving at least an inch between each one.
Bake for about 20 minutes, flipping palmiers with spatula after 15 minutes.
Let cool on sheet or rack until cool.

Instructions if making pastry

Combine salt and flour in food processor and pulse until combined. Add butter to processor and pulse until mixture looks like coarse bread crumbs. Then add sour cream and run processor until mixture is wet and thoroughly combined.
Empty food processor onto cutting board and roll out with rolling pin until pastry is square and not so thin that it has weak spots.
Wrap pastry square in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour.
Sprinkle sugar over puff pastry dough. Either use a rolling pin to press sugar into dough, or use clean hands to do so.
Coat puff pastry sheet with thin layer of prickly pear jam, leaving about a ½ inch of the outer border bare.
Roll both sides of the pastry inward so that the ends meet in the middle, creating a cylinder or log.
Wrap the log in plastic wrap and freeze for 45 minutes to an hour.
Preheat oven to 375* . Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
With log still very cold, use bread knife to slice log into cookies about a ½ inch thick.
Place palmiers flat on baking sheet, leaving at least an inch of room between each one.
Bake for about 20 minutes, flipping palmiers with spatula after 15 minutes.
Let cool on sheet or rack until cool.