Elegant, Easy, Simply Irresistible – Gingerbread Palmier Christmas Cookies
There’s a moment every December when the kitchen asks—no, demands—ginger. Not the polite hint you tuck into a cup of tea, but the full, fragrant warmth of gingerbread: sugar, hot spice, a whisper of molasses. Gingerbread Palmiers answer that call with style. They’re the elegant cookie your holiday table didn’t know it needed.
Start with puff pastry, cold and obliging. Brush it with some delicious ginger molasses syrup, then shower it with a mixture of finely diced stem ginger, and enough cinnamon and ginger to announce themselves across the room.
Roll, chill, slice—simple motions that feel like wrapping presents—and soon you’ve got spirals that bake into caramelized curls of pastry and spice. They emerge crisp at the edges, tender at the center, tasting like gingerbread that went to finishing school.
Make them for the cookie swap, the tree-trimming, the neighbors who keep dropping by “just to say hello.” Make them because every Christmas needs at least one recipe with gingerbread flavors—and this one happens to be as easy as it is irresistible.
Equipment
- 2 small bowls
- cookie sheet lined with parchment paper
- Rolling Pin
- Pastry brush
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp dark unsulfured molasses
- 1 tbsp syrup from the stem ginger (substitute 15 ml honey with ¼ teaspoon of freshly grated ginger)
- 1 tbsp hot water
- 1 tbsp finely diced stem ginger (substitute candied or freshly grated ginger)
- 100 ml granulated sugar
- ¼ tsp Coarse salt
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground cardamon
- 1 sheet good-quality thawed frozen puff pastry
Instructions
- In a small bowl, stir together the molasses, ginger syrup, and 1 tbs of water. Add The molasses mixture should be about the consistency of a beaten egg so it easy to brush over the pastry. Add more water if needed.
- Whisk together the granulated sugar, salt, and spices in a bowl. Set aside a tbsp of the mixture for the tops of the cookies.
- Roll out the puff pastry to 30cm x 25cm (12 x 10 inches) on a clean, lightly floured work surface. Lightly brush the top of the puff pastry with the molasses syrup
- Spread half of the sugar mixture over a clean work surface the same size as your dough.TIP: You can do this on a sheet of parchment paper, which can be reused on your cookie sheet. Place the syrup side of the dough onto the sugar-spice mixture. With a rolling pin, lightly roll the pastry onto the sugar mixture, to coat the underside with the sugar and spices.
- Brush the top of the puff pastry generously with the rest of the molasses syrup. Sprinkle the remaining sugar-spice mixture, and the diced stem ginger over top as evenly as possible, gently patting into the dough.
- Roll both short edges inwards until they meet in the middle. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 220℃ /425℉.Cut dough crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Space 2 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle the reserved sugar spice mixture over the tops of the cookies.
- Bake 8 minutes. Flip, and return the pan to the oven for another 6 to 8 minutes, until the palmiers are golden, puffed, and caramelized on both sides. Let them cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Palmiers can be stored in an airtight container up to 3 days.