A recipe for Fig Leaf Frangipane Bostock

& my June round-up

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Fig Leaf Bostock

One of my go-to bakeries in Brussels (Goods) recently started selling their Fig Leaf Almond Croissants (see below) again which is all I needed to know that fig leaf season has officially begun and to hightail it there the moment I could to get myself one of my all-time favourite pastries. The only issue is that said bakery is only open Thursday through Sunday and only half of those days overlap with my pre-work nursery run (when I can easily justify a little fig leaf almond croissant motivated detour on the way to the office).

The Fig Leaf Almond Croissant from Goods Bakery in Brussels

So that only left me with the option of making my own fig leaf pastries. As much as I like almond croissants, they can of course be very rich. Plus I have always been a fan of bostock - in fact they are my go-to pastry to make at home given how easy they are to prepare and what a crowdpleaser they tend to be (you bet we included bostocks when Kaja and I did the Brunch supperclubs!). So I settled on making Fig Leaf Frangipane Bostocks. Well, actually, I far from “settled” because these are incredibly delicious, especially thanks to the addition of fig leaf powder to the frangipane. So I hope you give these a try!

If you are not familiar with fig leaves and their flavour, the closest comparison I can think of is a subtle vanilla or coconut flavour with a hint of matcha and some fruity (figgy?) undertones. In short, extremely delicious. So much so, I have been playing with them in desserts for years and years. In fact, it was 10 years ago that I first pitched my recipe for fig leaf Panna Cotta to the Guardian as part of a reader recipe swap. Alas, my recipe did not get selected - I think in part because back then fig leaf was still seen as a somewhat obscure ingredient and flavour. Thankfully that is changing and I see more and more restaurants and bakeries offer fig leaf flavoured desserts and pastries. And if you want to start playing around with fig leaves yourself, these fig leaf frangipane bostocks are a great starting point.

How do I get my hands on some fig leaves? It obviously helps to have friends or family with a tree in their garden where you can grab a few leaves here and there. Alternatively, try and seek out a fig tree on a quiet street to minimise the risk of picking fig leaves that have been exposed to toxic fumes from passing traffic. The good news is that dried fig leaves last for ages so bear this in mind if you are planning a holiday somewhere warm like Greece or Italy as you could always bring some fig leaves back in your suitcase (I have done this multiple times on various trips to Italy).

Also, I cannot talk about figs or fig leaves without mentioning this excellent New Yorker Article “Love the Fig” from 2016 about how fascinating figs are as a plant and which I periodically come back to to read again and again.

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June Round-Up

Before we got to the recipe, below is my June round-up of all the things I enjoyed reading, eating, cooking, baking and drinking last month.

Reading

I seem to be going through a phase of reading listicles-come books: after hugely enjoying Kate Lebo’s “The Book of Difficult Fruit” (a genius title if you ask me) I have now picked up M.F.K. Fisher’s “An Alphabet for Gourmets”. Just like with Kate Lebo’s book, it has been really fun to read through the extremely arbitrary and subjective pairing of essays to letters of the alphabet, even if Kate Lebo’s book is ingredient-led and Fisher’s is more about different culinary or culinary-adjacent concepts.

I have also had fun clicking my way through the various ingredients listed in the new Ottolenghi Foodipedia - the perfect place to learn more about ingredients like black limes, gochujang, labneh, pomegranate molasses, za’atar etc. and their uses and look at some recipe suggestions.

I also really enjoyed David Leite’s Substack “14 Telltale Signs a Recipe Sucks”. A somewhat divisive posts with some folks lamenting the fact that David was maybe a bit too demanding in asking recipe writers to specify the exact shade of Pantone brown to strive for (““Sauté til golden brown.” Great, but what shade of golden brown? Tawny? Straw? Pancake? The pale dirt of the Alentejan plains of Portugal?”). But small details aside I thought it was a useful list not just for spotting subpar recipes before you waste your ingredients on a dish that will likely not work but also as a checklist for recipe writers like myself when editing our own recipes.

Eating / Baking / Cooking

Aside from devouring my fair share of Fig leaf Croissants from Goods this past month now that summer has finally arrived in Brussels, I have been enjoying bowl after bowl of watermelon salad. And I think I have cracked the formula for watermelon salad success: aside from perfectly ripe, sweet and crunchy watermelon, you need some sort of salty cheese (think feta, halloumi, manouri or ricotta salata, for example), and something spicy - pickled jalapeños work, so do Salsa Macha or Chili Crisp, Shishimi Togarashi, Piment d’Espelette or Aleppo Chili to name just a few (maybe even Yuzu Kosho?). That plus some good olive oil and sea salt and you are good to go (although some fresh parsley or coriander wouldn’t hurt either).

Before temperatures warmed up we also enjoyed one of my all time favourite dishes - Hainanese chicken (essentially poached chicken served with garlicky rice cooked in both chicken fat and the chicken poaching liquid plus various dips on the side). And as I just discovered (and could have realised myself ages ago), you can easily make Hainanese chicken using just chicken legs - perfect for a speedy weeknight dinner and great if you don’t have that many mouths to feed on the given day.

When dessert hasn’t involved more watermelon or lots of ripe stone fruits, there have also been many many slices of preserved lemon and labneh Swiss roll while I worked on getting the recipe just right.

Drinking

Sometime around May each year I make the switch from white Americanos to iced coffee - typically a shot of espresso poured over ice with a generous glug of oat milk. If I am particularly organised, I will make my own cold brew and top my iced coffee with some homemade horchata (see here for my favourite horchata recipe). High on my list of things to try this year is making my own mahleb syrup - inspired by the iced cold brew latte with mahleb syrup I enjoyed from bakery Khobz here in Brussels last summer.

Aside from iced coffee I have been cooling down with the odd soft drink. While I am usually not a fan of overly sugary drinks, San Pellegrino’s Pompelmo always hits the spot. It isn’t too sweet and a tiny bit bitter which makes it extra refreshing if you ask me.

What have you been reading / eating / baking / cooking and/or drinking lately that you enjoyed?

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Fig Leaf Bostock ready to hit the oven

Fig Leaf Bostock

Note: It is handy to have friends or family with a fig tree in their garden where you can pick your own fig leaves with wild abandon to make your own fig leave powder. Alternatively, pick a tree on a quiet side street to minimise the risk of picking fig leaves that have been exposed to toxic fumes from passing traffic. The bostocks should keep for a few days at least but after a couple of days will benefit from a 30 second blast in the microwave or a few minutes in a hot oven to revive them.

Makes 4 pastries

Ingredients

for the sugar syrup

50g sugar
50ml water

for the fig leaf frangipane

50g butter (if you are not using a food processor to make your frangipane, this should be nice and soft)
50g sugar
50g ground almonds
Generous pinch of salt
1 egg
1 tbsp fig leaf powder*
4 tbsp slivered almonds

4 thick slices of brioche, pain de mie, milk bread/shokupan or similar enriched white bread

*To get approx. 1 tbsp of fig leaf powder you’ll need to start with about 3 large fig leaves. Once dried to a crisp (e.g. in a hot oven or a dry frying pan or simply left out on the counter top for a few days), remove the stems and any tough ribs and process the fig leaves to a fine powder in a food processor. Sift to remove any larger pieces that didn’t break down.

Directions

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a small saucepan bring the sugar and water to a boil just long enough for the sugar to dissolve completely. Set aside.

For the frangipane add the butter, sugar, ground almonds, salt, egg and fig leaf powder to the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine. If your butter is fridge cold you might need to pulse a few more times until the mixture is homogeneous. Alternatively, add all ingredients to a medium-sized bowl and use a handheld whisk to combine.

Place the four slices of bread on the baking sheet. Liberally brush each slice with the sugar syrup. Cover with a layer of frangipane and scatter about 1 tbsp of slivered almonds over each slice.

Bake for ca. 20 minutes or until the frangipane is nicely puffed up and starting to turn golden brown around the edges. Dust generously with icing sugar and serve immediately.

Fig Leaf Bostock