Elephant Ears

More About This Recipe

• No, I am not about to encourage you to dice up some poor elephant’s ear and eat it. Or deep fry it. Or turn it into a fantabulous taco. What do you think this is? Taste for Adventure? (Wink, wink!)
  
  Elephant Ears are cookies. Sometimes big ones, but I make little ones, perfect for little hands … or the side of a teacup.
  
  The first time I made Elephant Ears, I had never heard them called by that name before. I knew these crispy, slightly sweet cookies as palmiers (which is a pretty word, but one that I am not certain how to pronounce). When I took the batch to work to share them with my coworkers, one came bounding up loudly proclaiming, “Oooh! Elephant ears!”
  
  Whatever you call them, these delicate, crunchy cookies are a wonderful, but not too sweet, treat for whenever.
  
  And since they are a cinch to make -- about 30 minutes from start to finish -- you can whip ‘em up whenever the desire strikes you.
  
  This recipe for Elephant Ears fills them with turbinado sugar and cinnamon -- a delicious combination.
  
  Now, I love them plain, but they are also really, really good dipped in chocolate. Simply melt a little good-quality dark or milk chocolate and dip one end of the cookies in. Then, let them cool/dry on waxed paper for about an hour before enjoying.
  
  And if you want to make them even more special, try sprinkling the cookies with chopped walnuts right after dipping them.
  
  Do all cookies need to be super sweet? Or do you like them only lightly sweetened sometimes too?
  
  Sarah W. Caron (aka scaron) is a food writer, editor and blogger who writes about family-friendly foods and raising a healthy family at Sarah’s Cucina Bella.