Papillons (French Butterfly Cookies)

These papillons, or French butterfly cookies, are made with just two ingredients: store-bought puff pastry and sugar. They get their charming shape from a series of folds. but don't worry, they are incredibly easy to make—if you can fold a letter, you can whip these up. Sugar is both sprinkled onto the dough throughout the folding process and pressed onto the cookies once they've been cut, resulting in a gorgeous caramelized color and flavor. Serve these flaky, sweet treats with coffee or tea, or tuck them into bowls of ice cream or sorbet for an effortless yet elegant dessert.

Papillons vs. Palmiers

These butterfly cookies look and taste similar to palmiers, another easy French treat made with puff pastry. The sharing process is where they differ. To make palmiers, the short sides of puff pastry are rolled tightly toward the center to form a scroll shape before being sliced. Papillons, on the other hand, are folded a few times before being sliced, resulting in cookies that fan out—much like butterfly wings—when baked.

Tips for Working With Puff Pastry

Buy all-butter if possible: Most puff pastry sold in grocery stores is made with vegetable oil or shortening, but it's worth seeking out an all-butter option if you can. Since this recipe calls for so few ingredients, the flavor of the pastry will shine through prominently, and one made with butter will result in the best-tasting cookies.

Thaw properly: Puff pastry is sold frozen and needs to be thawed before using. If time allows, it's best to defrost puff pastry overnight in the refrigerator, but you can also thaw it at room temperature for about an hour. Just be sure not to let it soften up too much (more on that below).

Keep it cold: The longer puff pastry sits out and warms up, the softer, stickier, and more difficult to work with it becomes. Try to work as quickly as possible—especially if it's hot in your kitchen—and keep unused sheets in the refrigerator right up until you need them. If the dough becomes too soft or challenging to work with at any point during the process, pop it in the refrigerator for a few minutes to firm back up.

How to Make Papillons Ahead

The sugared and folded pastry can be wrapped and refrigerated for up to one day before slicing and baking. (In fact, you'll get cleaner slices with dough that's been chilled overnight, so we recommend starting the process the day before if time allows.)