Authentic Palets de Dames Recipe
Nord, France
JUMP TO RECIPE
We strongly advise you to read the cooking tips before jumping to the recipe though
Introduction & history
The preparation starts by creaming butter and sugar, then once pale and fluffy, adding the eggs one by one, followed by flour and rum-soaked currants. The soft, buttery cookie dough then needs to be well-chilled before it is scooped out and baked. Once baked, palets de dames can be either dipped flat bottom down into the icing — usually a mixture of powdered sugar, egg whites, vanilla, and a few drops of lemon juice — while some find it much easier to use an off-set spatula and frost the rounded cookie tops by hand.
Cooking tips
-
method
In most recipes, currants are added to the batter but traditionally are only placed on top of cookies before baking. However, palets de dames are also often prepared plain, but currants can also be both in the batter and on top of cookies. For best results, some chefs advise that the dough must be chilled before being baked, a step you can skip if you’re pressed for time. To help make the cookies ... Read more -
variations
More often than not, palets de dames have no icing at all. Nevertheless, when they do, traditionally, it is a glaze made only with icing sugar and a few drops of lemon juice that sometimes also includes milk. Another popular option is to glaze the cookies with apricot jam before applying the icing. Before applying the glaze, cookies must be completely cooled, and you have to allow the icing to set ... Read more -
storage
The cookies are best when eaten the day they are prepared and should be served with coffee or tea. If you have any leftovers, store them in an airtight, preferably iron container, and they will keep for a few days.
Recipe variations
-
Palets de Lille by Dorie Greenspan
Ready in 2h 25minIn Lille, palets de dames can be found in all sizes in every pâtisserie, and they are traditionally glazed with plain confectioners’ sugar icing. To make them even more appealing, you can try adding food coloring to the icing or speckling the still-wet glaze with sanding sugar. This recipe was adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Baking Chez Moi.
Palets de Lille by Dorie Greenspan
PREP 15min
COOK 10min
RESTING 2h
READY IN 2h 25min
In Lille, palets de dames can be found in all sizes in every pâtisserie, and they are traditionally glazed with plain confectioners’ sugar icing. To make them even more appealing, you can try adding food coloring to the icing or speckling the still-wet glaze with sanding sugar. This recipe was adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Baking Chez Moi.
Ingredients
Palets de Lille
128g (4.5 oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
132g (4.65 oz) sugar
pinch of salt
2 eggs, at room temperature
1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
170g (6 oz) all-purpose flour
ICING
120g (4.2 oz) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 1/2 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp lemon juice
Preparation
Palets de Lille
Beat the butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add the sugar and salt and beat for another 2 to 3 minutes, until the mixture is again smooth and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each egg goes in.
Beat in the vanilla extract. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour in 3 additions, mixing only until it disappears after each addition. You’ll have a very soft dough that might look more like a cake batter than a cookie dough.
Scrape the dough into a bowl, press a piece of plastic film against the surface to create an airtight seal, and chill the dough for at least 1 hour, or until it is firm.
Preheat the oven to 400°F/200° and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
Use a spoon to scoop out two rounded teaspoonfuls of dough for each cookie, and roll the dough gently between your palms to form balls.
Place the balls of dough about 2 inches (5 cm) apart on the baking sheet and bake for 7 to 9 minutes, or until the cookies are set and just slightly brown around the edges. When baked, allow the cookies to cool at room temperature.
Mix the confectioners' sugar with milk and lemon juice to make the icing. Stir with a whisk or fork until you have a smooth icing that forms a ribbon when the whisk or fork is lifted.
One by one, dip the cookies flat side into the icing, then lift the cookie up and give it a little twirl, so that the excess icing falls back into the bowl. Put the cookie icing side up on a rack and let the icing dry and firm at room temperature. Once the icing is dry, the cookies can be put in a covered container; they’ll keep for up to 3 days at room temperature.
Other authentic recipes
Rating And Comments
Rate It
Wanna try?
Add To List