Easy Elephant Ears Cookies

Easy elephant ears cookies, also known as French palmiers, are the four-ingredient bakery showstopper that looks complicated and is genuinely not. Sheet of thawed puff pastry, an egg wash, sugar, and a quick dip in melted chocolate. That’s the whole list.

The rolling technique creates the trademark heart-and-elephant-ear shape: each long side of the pastry rolls toward the center until the two rolls meet, then the whole thing gets sliced into pinwheels.

As they bake, the buttery puff pastry layers separate into hundreds of crackling leaves while the sugar caramelizes into a glassy crust. A chocolate dip on the bottom turns these from breakfast pastries into proper cookies.

Pro Tips

• Keep the puff pastry cold. Warm dough collapses and won’t get the dramatic puff in the oven.
• Press the rolls together firmly with egg wash so they don’t unfurl during baking.
• Cut slices with a sharp knife in a clean downward press to keep the spiral intact.
• Watch closely at the 14 minute mark. They go from pale to perfect to burnt fast.

Variations

• Sprinkle the pastry with cinnamon-sugar instead of plain sugar for a churro-like flavor.
• Drizzle with white chocolate alongside the semi-sweet for a striped finish.
• Sprinkle finely chopped toasted almonds or pistachios over the chocolate dip while still wet.