You could say that the grapefruit is the annoying older cousin of the orange. It tends to be overpowering, but paired with the right flavours, it’s an absolute winner. Check these out: grapefruit zest buns filled with hazelnut cream, and topped with candied nuts and a little squiggle of citrus glaze.
Hazelnut and grapefruit buns
Prep 40 min, plus proving
Cook 1 hr 15 min
Makes 12
For the buns
500g strong white flour, plus extra for dusting
1 tsp fine sea salt
50g caster sugar
Zest of 3 grapefruit
270ml whole milk
60g unsalted butter, melted
15g fresh yeast
1 large egg, beaten
For the filling
250g mascarpone
250g full-fat cream cheese
75g icing sugar, sifted
100g hazelnut spread
1 tsp vanilla extract
100ml double cream
For the candied hazelnuts
250g hazelnuts
100g caster sugar
30g butter
For the glaze
30ml liquid glucose
30ml grapefruit juice
225g icing sugar
Sift the flour into a large bowl with the salt and sugar, then add the zest. In a separate bowl, mix the milk, butter and yeast until the yeast has dissolved, then add to the dry ingredients and mix with your hands to form a dough.
On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough until smooth. Pop it back in the bowl, cover and leave to prove until doubled in size.
Next, make the candied hazelnuts. Put the nuts, sugar and butter in a saucepan over a medium heat. Cook for roughly five minutes, stirring constantly, until the sugar has melted and the hazelnuts are well coated.
Tip the hazelnuts on to a sheet of baking paper and separate with a spatula. Leave to cool, then put them in a zip-lock bag, smash into smallish pieces with a rolling pin, and transfer to a bowl.
Line two trays with baking paper and divide the dough into 12 tight balls. Roll each one into roughly 8cm logs, transfer to the trays, leaving space between them, loosely cover and prove for another hour, or until doubled in size.
Mix all the filling ingredients well until soft peaks form, then put in the fridge until needed.
Heat the oven to 190C (180C fan)/gas 6. Brush each bun with the beaten egg and bake for 14-15 minutes, until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
For the glaze, put the glucose and grapefruit juice into a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, and mix until the glucose has melted. Sift in the icing sugar and stir until smooth. Remove the bowl from the pan.
Fold half the crushed nuts into the cream and put in a piping bag. Split the buns lengthways, pipe a generous amount of cream into each one, top with some crushed hazelnuts and finish with the glaze.
