[chef] Sync a directory from chef server to node

[jfotop < >]

I am almost sure that I have seen this question here again, but I can't find
it. If that's the case, then I'm sorry for duplicating this issue.
Well, what I want to do is quite simple: Create a directory structure on a 
node
based on a directory in the cookbook I use with the same file permissions. 

I tried using remote_directory resource, but empty directories where not
created and also the file permissions where not as the original. 
I also thought about creating a tar archive and untarring it on the node 
(after
copying it), but I want the resource to be idempotent.
Any other resource or cookbook that does anything like this?