Pistachio Bostock Recipe

This pistachio bostock recipe is a pistachio twist on the classic French almond bostock.

Bostock is a French treat designed to use stale leftover brioche – soaking a thick slice of it in a simple sugar syrup, smothering it with almond frangipane and baking the whole thing. It's almost like an almond croissant, but with brioche instead of the croissant.

It's a super simple dish, and my pistachio bostock uses ground pistachios instead of ground almonds to make the frangipane. The result is a rich pistachio cream that bakes up puffy, crisp on the outside and a little gooey and soft on the inside, and super buttery.

You can also flavour the syrup with a little vanilla extract or orange blossom water, but I've kept it as simple as possible for my pistachio bostock, letting the flavour of the pistachios be the star of the show.

The original bostock is just one layer of bread. My original plan was to use one very thick slice, but I couldn't find an unsliced loaf, with every shop being out of stock of them. But there was plenty of pre-sliced stuff, so I ended up compromising and making a 'bostock sandwich' by layering two slices together. This turned out to be a very good thing, because it meant I could fit even more pistachio frangipane into my pistachio bostock.

Ready? Let's go.

(Makes one pistachio bostock.)

Ingredients:

25g caster sugar
25ml water
2 slices of brioche (preferably a little stale)
30g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
30g caster sugar
Pinch of salt
1/2 a beaten egg
70g ground pistachios
A handful of chopped/slivered pistachios
Pistachio cream (for drizzling, optional)

Method:

1. To make the syrup, place the sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Once it's boiling, boil for three minutes, then take it off the heat and leave to cool a little (for about five minutes).

2. Place the brioche slices on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper, brush the syrup over your brioche slices and set aside to soak in.

3. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180°C. To make the pistachio frangipane, beat the butter, sugar and salt together in a bowl until smooth and fluffy, beat in the egg, then stir in the ground pistachios. Place in a piping bag with the tip snipped off.

4. Spread half of your pistachio bostock filling on top of one slice of brioche, and place the other slice on top (syrup side up) to create a sandwich.

5. Using the back of a spoon, press down the centre of your sandwich to create a well/shallow bowl.

6. Spoon the rest of the pistachio frangipane on top of the sandwich, spread lightly, and sprinkle over some chopped or slivered pistachios.

7. Bake for 15–20 minutes, depending on how gooey or crunchy you like your frangipane.

8. Cool on a wire rack and drizzle with a little pistachio cream before serving.

Enjoy, and have fun.