I grew up near a very authentic french pastry shop in Providence -- interestingly enough, it was named the French Pastry Shop -- that baked the best palmiers I've still ever had. Too many palmiers lack crunch.

If I'm going to eat so much butter and sugar at one shot, what I'm eating better be really good.

So, where in Northern Virginia (hopefully) or DC can I find really good palmiers?

Actually made a batch of these tonight. Very crunchy with the requisite amount of butter and sugar. I have not found any in the area that were very good so I would be curious to hear too.

I have had the palmiers at both Randolph's and Heidelberg. I prefer the Randolph version - it tends to be a bit more consistent in its flakiness and crunch, but the other is ok. Have you tried either of these?

Try Randolph's on Lee Highway in Arlington (next door to Arrowine) or Patisserie Poupon on Wisconsin in upper Georgetown. They are the most authentic French bakeries, IMHO, and both use only butter to bake with.

Thanks -- I can definitely pop over to Randolph's and check out their palmiers. I will report back!

I paid a visit to Pastries by Randolph today. While their stuff is gorgeous, they don't make palmiers

I soothed my dissappointment with a delicious cherry hamantash , and the palmier search will continue.

Was at Pentagon Row earlier today and saw the Sweet Surrender Bakery & Pastry Shop. Remembering this thread I stopped in to see if they had any palmiers. They did and I bought one. Crunchy and not too sweet. You might want to check them out. They are around the corner from the Sur la Table on the way to the back parking lot.

Sweet Surrender also has decent biscotti...

Thanks for the tip! I don't get over that way too often but the next time I'm anywhere close I will pop in.

When I was up in Leesburg recently I spotted a place called European Gourmet Bakery. It's in a strip mall (of course) near the outlets. I was not in a position to stop in but next time I'm up there I'll check the place out.

Chef Amernick has added minipalmiers to the cookie plate at Palena. They are light, delicate and perfectly sweetend. I am normally not a huge fan of palmiers but this smaller sized version was deliciously perfect.