Traditional in Spain and France (and elsewhere), these easy cookies are made with frozen puff pastry (or make your own!).
Ingredients
1 square frozen puff pastry (see note for details *)
1/4 to 1/3 cup granulated sugar, to taste (see note for variations **)
1 large egg, beaten
Directions
- Pre-heat oven to 350 F and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll out the sheet of puff pastry so that it lays flat. Evenly sprinkle the sugar over the pastry. Roll up each end from the exterior to the center, so that when sliced, the cookies will resemble the heart shape in the photo (see note***). If your pastry is very soft, at this point, freeze it whole for 10-15 minutes so that it will harden up enough to make even slices. Slice into slices around 1/4 inch to 1cm thick (your yield and baking time will depend on the thickness of these slices). Place each slice on prepared baking sheet and brush lightly with the beaten egg. Bake for 10 to 20 minutes, depending on how thick you have made the slices. Remove when golden.
Notes
- * Frozen puff pastry generally comes in a box of two sheets, each sheet being from 7 ounces (200g) to 8.6 ounces (245g). This recipe uses one of those sheets. If you find frozen puff pastry that comes in a different format, you can weigh out your puff pastry to about that amount, and it should roll out to a 10-inch (25cm) square. By far THE BEST will be an all-butter puff pastry.
- Of course, you can use your own homemade puff pastry as well! If you do this, you should weigh about about 7 to 8.5 ounces (200g to 245g) of dough and roll that amount into a 10-inch (25cm) square.
- ** Variations: In Puerto Rico, they use honey instead of sugar. In Spain, sometimes they add coconut or chocolate with the sugar. If you use cinnnamon sugar and just roll it into a circle instead of a heart, you have made an Arlette.
- Other names: Arlettes (with cinnamon sugar and rolled into a circle), Orejas (Mexico and other Latin American countries), γυαλάκια (Greece), Schweineohren (Germany), Prussiens (Switzerland), Coeurs de France (Switzerland), Little Hearts (UK), Sweet Hearts (UK)and Genji Pie or 源氏パイ (Japan), and Elephants Ears.
- *** If the geometry of this is confusing, see the excellent photos on this French-language blog.