Savory Palmiers with Sun Dried Tomatoes and Pesto

by Cristina on 27 December 2010 · 38 comments

in Appetizers & Condiments,Flavors of Italy

Savory Palmiers - with Sun Dried Tomatoes and Pesto

Sometimes appetizers are more like meals than small-bites before dinner. A glass of wine in hand, good company and conversation, paired with tasty bites is sometimes the meal for me and the meal becomes the appetizer. This scenario is especially true when the appetizers are chock-full of my favorite flavors. That’s the case with these savory palmiers I watched Ina Garten, of the Barefoot Contessa, make last week. I’ve been catching her show these days as I’m preparing dinner and, like her Cranberry Harvest Muffins with Figs I baked up earlier this month, she has been inspiring me to no end these days!

These palmiers were easy to assemble. The flavor combinations of the pesto, sun dried tomatoes, goat cheese and pine nuts – in addition to the delicate puffed pastry layers that lovingly wraps around these tasties, make it a sure crowd-pleasing appetizer. Don’t like goat cheese? Omit it or use feta if you prefer. My mind is swimming with the endless possibilities of flavor combinations. If you like the ingredients I mentioned…I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

The ingredient list is for use on two separate puff pastry sheets. When I rolled out my first pastry sheet and used half the ingredients from the original recipe, I thought to myself…that’s not going to be enough savory goodness in these rolls. The second sheet, I doubled the ingredients and it proved to be a good thing. It’s purely preference, so please adjust to your liking. Also, I omitted adding salt and instead added grinded Tellicherry peppercorns.

There’s some chilling time involved with these easy-to-do appetizers, so plan accordingly.

Teenie Notes

I doubled the ingredients for more filling in these palmiers (the doubled ingredient measurements are already reflected below).
Feta cheese would also be a great substitute for the goat cheese.
I’ve omitted using additional salt in these and added pepper instead. Depending on your preference you may want to add more salt, but I really didn’t think it was needed (personal health preference).
I baked up one roll of the palmiers right away and saved the other roll for another evening.
If you’re making these for a time sensitive occasion, allow enough time for the chilling process of about an hour.
If you haven’t made or shaped out palmiers before (as I had not), here’s a link to further clarify how Ina folded the puff pastry. Speed up the YouTube video to 2:58 if you don’t want to watch the whole episode which involves making pesto: Watch Ina fold puff pastry for palmiers.

Savory Palmiers – with Sun Dried Tomatoes and Pesto

source modified from Ina Garten – Barefoot Contessa

Makes 50-60 palmiers (this will vary depending how thick you cut the dough)

Savory Palmiers - with Sun Dried Tomatoes and Pesto

Ingredients

1 package of Pepperidge Farm puff pastry, defrosted (two sheets)

1/2 cup prepared pesto
1/2 cup finely chopped sundried tomatoes, drained
3/4 cup crumbled goat -OR- feta cheese
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts, pignolias

Tellicherry Peppercorns, grinded to taste

Directions

Roast the pine nuts
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place pine nuts on a baking sheet and roast in oven for 5-8 minutes -or- until very lightly browned, shaking the pan half way through roasting time to rotate the pine nuts for even browning. Remove from the oven immediately and let cool before using.

Assemble the Ingredients

Lightly flour a board or rolling mat, and rolling pin. Using one sheet of puff pastry, lightly roll the pastry to 9 1/2 x 11 1/2 inches. Spread half of the pesto evenly on the puff pastry, including along the edges of the long-side (the short ends will be snipped off, so there’s no need to spread the ingredients all the way to the edge of the short ends). Sprinkle with half of the goat cheese, half of the sundried tomatoes and half of the roasted pine nuts. Grind fresh Tellicherry peppercorns to taste.

Savory Palmiers - Prep

Working from the short ends, visualize four evenly sized sections. You will make two folds per side so that the sides meet up in the middle. Fold each end halfway to the center, then fold again towards the center for a total of 2 folds per each side. Fold one side over the other and press lightly. (Note: If you’re not familiar with folding dough for the palmier shape, view the link I’ve provided in the notes above for a video demonstration). Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Repeat the directions for the second sheet of puff pastry using the rest of the ingredients. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least another 45 minutes to an hour.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove the roll(s) from the refrigerator and, using a sharp serrated knife, gently cut the chilled rolls, using a back-and-forth, sawing motion, into 1/4-inch thick slices. As you’re slicing the dough, rotate the roll to help maintain the shape of the rolled dough.

Place the slices face up on parchment lined baking sheets about an 1 1/2 to 2-inches apart.

Bake 14 minutes -OR- until the puff pastry is a golden brown.

Serve warm and enjoy!

Savory Palmiers - with Sun Dried Tomatoes and Pesto