Passionfruit Almond Bostock!

What are bostocks? They look everything opposite of glamorous. Remember one of my favorite local bakeries, Gayle's? That's where I first set eyes on these mysterious pastries. They were 1/2 off in the day old pile! Can you believe it!? I snagged them up out of blind faith that anything from this bakery is delicious (and because they were 1/2 off! Duh inner cheap Asian). Thankfully, I was right, Gayle's never lets me down, they were delicious!
 

After I returned home from my victorious bargain find, I did a little research to see what they were but soon forgot about them completely until recently when I went to visit the Gayle's website and my eyes landed on the words bostock, suddenly every memory came flooding back and I wanted some! So what are they? Well according to a few web sources (Flo Braker of SFGate, Chad Robertson of Foodthinkers, and Sarah Jampel of Food52): Bostock is a simple French pastry, made with day-old bread (usually brioche or similar dense bread), brushed with a flavored syrup, topped with an almond cream and sliced almonds, and baked until golden. It is as simple and delicious as it sounds.

It's a pretty versatile piece of work. Enjoy it with a cup of hot coffee in the morning, snack on it in the afternoon with some fresh fruit, or have it as a dessert after a hardy meal with a dollop of whip cream. Whichever way you want it, it's all good! 

I had some passionfruit sitting around at home so I decided to make that my syrup of choice, but any syrup will do just fine. Yum.  
 

Passionfruit Almond Bostocks
bostock based on Atelier Christine and syrup based on PBS Foods 

Ingredients:

• 1 loaf Brioche bread, cut slices 3/4" to 1" thick (I used Trader Joe's Brioche buns, $2.99 for 4 buns)
• sliced toasted almonds for topping (optional) 

For almond cream:

• 6 tbsp butter, room temperature
• 2/3 cup of sugar
• 3/4 cup of almond meal
• 2 tbsp of flour
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp Grand Marnier
• 1/2 - 1 tsp almond extract 

For passionfruit syrup:

• 2/3 cup of sugar
• 2/3 cup of water
• few drops of lemon juice
• 3 passionfruits (they are considered ripe when they're all shriveled like a raisin) 
• 1/2 tsp orange extract (or orange zest)
• 1-2 tbsp amaretto      

Procedures: 
To make almond cream:

1. Cream together butter and sugar then mix in almond meal, flour, and cornstarch until well combine and then add in egg. Mix together and then add in almond extract and Grand Marnier. Set aside in fridge to chill while you make the syrup.

 For syrup:

1. Combine sugar, water, and lemon juice in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Stir occasionally for 5 minutes while still boiling
2. Add in the passionfruit (including the seeds), lower heat to a simmer cook for an addtional 1-2 minutes then add in orange extract and amaretto
3. Remove from heat and let it cool for a few minutes

To assemble/bake:  

1. Take a slice of brioche bread, brush with a layer of syrup (let its get saturated a little), then spread 2-3 tbsp of almond cream on top, sprinkle on sliced almonds. ** Make sure to leave about 1/4" between the almond cream and edge of the bread if you don't want it to bake over
2. Bake in the oven at 350F for 12-20 minutes or until the cream is golden brown and fluffy.