Palmiers with orange zest (and a little dark chocolate)

It must be the thought of upcoming Valentine's Day that had me thinking about and making a batch of palmiers recently.  I haven't made them in years but there was already puff pastry in the freezer so I went with it.  I always called these "butterfly cookies" when I was younger but whether you more likely know them as palmiers or elephant ears, I love these cookies for their signature heart-shape.  I'm a sucker for all the frilly pink and red heart-shaped things we're seeing right now.

Supposing, like me, you don't feel the compulsion to make puff pastry from scratch and simply head to the freezer section of the supermarket, palmiers are truly easy to make.  At its barest, it only takes two ingredients: puff pastry and sugar.  That got me thinking about adding a little twist, layering on a different flavor for a change...

My mind naturally went to chocolate and I considered using a combination of cocoa powder with sugar to roll the puff pastry in but I wasn't sure how the cookies would look after baking.  I switched gears and got to thinking about fresh flavors and something to maybe offset or brighten up all the sweetness and richness of these cookies.  I went with orange zest (it seems to be the answer to lots of things).  I simply zested an orange right into the sugar and rubbed the two together to release the flavors and essential oils from the zest before using the mixture to roll the puff pastry and shape them into these palmiers.

I ended up with palmiers infused with a gentle but clear presence of orange flavor.  Of course, I couldn't completely shake my need for chocolate.  You know orange goes so well with chocolate.  So I did the natural thing and drizzled a few of my orange palmiers with bittersweet chocolate.  The light drizzle of chocolate seems to bring out the orange flavor even more.

Somehow, palmiers seem to simultaneously call for a cup of hot tea or a cold bowl of ice cream to go along with it.  I'm game with whichever option you choose to go with.