I love puff pastry… the one that take up to 3 hours or more to make, but it’s so worth it once you taste the final product. But, when I said the ‘greatest invention’, I wasn’t thinking of puff pastry made from scratch. No, I was thinking of the “store bought” frozen, puff pastry. Now that’s genius. This time of year is way too crazy to spend hours in the kitchen.
I love that you can turn this seemingly ordinary frozen product into a yummy treat by adding just a few key ingredients. And is exactly what happened with this recipe.
With just a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, sugar, cinnamon, cardamom and a bit of salt, you can have the most scrumptious treat in no time. So simple… I promise, in less than half an hour you can be enjoying these beautiful cookies with your coffee or tea.
Important: I used this puff pastry, which is a little healthier than most and just as flavorful. But any store bought puff pastry should work too.
Cinnamon-Cardamom Elephant Ears
Recipe adapted from Ina Garten
Ingredients:
- 1 cup caster sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1 sheet puff pastry, defrosted
Preheat the oven to 450° F.
Mix 1/2 cup sugar and salt and pour over a cutting board or counter top.
Unfold one sheet of very cold puff pastry onto the sugar mixture.
In a medium bowl mix the remaining 1/2 cup sugar add 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon cardamom and sprinkle over the puff pastry. Make sure all the puff pastry is covered with the sugar mixture.
Using a rolling pin roll the dough and press sugar lightly and make a 13-inch square.
Fold each side of the square towards the center so they each go halfway to the middle, then fold them again so the two folds meet exactly at the middle of the dough.
Then fold one half over the other half as though closing a book. You should have 6 layers.
Using a serrated knife slice the dough into 3/8-inch slices and place the slices, cut side up, on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
Bake the cookies for 6 minutes, or until caramelized and brown on the bottom, then turn with a spatula and bake for another 3 to 5 minutes, until caramelized on the other side. Transfer to a baking rack to cool.
Makes 20 cookies
