French Onion Palmiers: Vegan Holiday Appetizer

Frozen puff pastry! It’s amazing. It’s light. It’s flaky. It comes out of the oven all golden, crunchy, and fluffy. It’s so convenient. It’s in almost every grocery store freezer section. And one of the most surprising things about it? A lot of it out there is vegan!

Puff pastry is a classic French laminated dough, traditionally made with butter that’s been rolled into a thin sheet, and layered with a flour & water dough. Multiple layers of each are formed and rolled out, creating puffy flaky dough when baked. It is very labor intensive (it was labor intensive just to describe it), so luckily, it can be machine made, and frozen in grocery stores for easy purchase and home cooking. A lot of brands make their puff pastry with pressed oils instead of butter, which makes a lot of it vegan. Just be sure to read the packaging to be sure.

Used in both sweet and savory application, puff pastry is most commonly used for making croissants, strudel, Beef Wellington, and one of my favorite applications, palmiers. Palmiers are a classic small dessert, most commonly filled with cinnamon sugar, rolled from both ends like a scroll, and baked. Palmiers are also called Elephant Ears, and with their cute swirly shape, you can see why!

I was put in charge of making an appetizer for a holiday party, and I had a bunch of onions, and some puff pastry in my freezer. I had made French onion soup a week before, and had quite a few fixins left. I had also worked our Fun & Fancy Holiday Cookies class that week, where red & green holiday palmiers were made. So all of this is where my inspiration for French onion palmiers came about. I add two ingredients not traditional to French onion soup: brown sugar and soy sauce. French onion soup is traditionally made with beef stock, and a small amount of soy sauce and brown sugar help add some richness that would normally come from beef stock.

This recipe makes 12 palmiers and a lot of it can be done a day or two in advance.

French Onion Palmiers

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

3 large vidalia onions, small dice

3 tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp salt

3 sprigs of fresh thyme, or 1 tsp dried thyme

⅓ cup red wine

1 tbsp low sodium soy sauce

½ cup vegetable stock

1 sheet of puff pastry, thawed in the refrigerator (do not thaw on your counter, or it will be tougher to work with)

Salt & pepper, to taste

Optional addition: vegan parmesan cheese

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions, sugar, and salt. It may seem like a lot of onions, but they will cook down a lot. Stir occasionally, until caramelized, adjusting the heat as needed. This will take anywhere from 30-40 minutes, but low and slow is the way to go.

Once caramelized, add the thyme and cook for another minute. Deglaze the pan with wine, scraping the brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Reduce the wine until mostly evaporated. Add soy sauce and vegetable stock, and cook at medium heat until almost all of the liquid has evaporated. Remove from heat and let the mixture cool completely. (This whole thing can be done a day or two in advance).

Once your onion mixture is cooled, roll your puff pastry on your counter into a rectangle, about 13-15 inches. (If your puff pastry already comes in a rectangle, you can skip this step.)

Spread your onion mixture in a thin, even layer over the puff pastry. You may not need all of your onion mixture, but make sure to only use a thin, even layer (this would be a great time to add your vegan cheese).

To roll your palmiers, roll one end halfway into the center, then roll the other half into the center. Take the entire roll, and place into the freezer for at least an hour. This will make it easier to slice cleanly (This part can also be done a day or two in advance).

Use this time to preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Remove from the freezer, and using a serrated knife, cut the roll in half, then in half again, then into thirds. This will yield 12 palmiers. Place onto a parchment lined sheet pan, and place palmiers on, leaving 1 inch of space in between. Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes, or until golden brown and puffed.

French onion palmiers are a rich, flaky, sweet, salty, well balanced, perfect sophisticated appetizer for your holiday party needs. Palmiers can really be filled with anything sweet or savory, from peanut butter and jelly, to sun dried tomatoes and pesto. The vegan possibilities are endless. Learn more amazing vegan cuisine in our upcoming Vegan Voyage: Italian Trattoria class in January.

If you are interested in the Red & Green Elephant Ears I mentioned earlier, check out The Chopping Block's new 12 Days of Holiday Cookies download. It's 12 of our favorite holiday cookie recipes plus lots of tips and tricks on baking and decorating from our resident cookie pro, Chef Erin Patsiopoulos.