I have always been a grapefruit lover. I'm sure my initial introduction to grapefruit was partially influenced by the fact that my mom! let me! sprinkle sugar! on my breakfast!, but it stuck with me. I plan on coercing my someday-children into an early grapefruit adoration the same way.
Unfortunately my someday-children won't be able to witness a true grapefruit enthusiast in action in their early days of grapefruit consumption. My grandfather could eat a grapefruit like I'd never seen and likely will never see again. A product of his wartime and Depression-era generation, Grandpa was very mindful of waste, and cleaned out every grapefruit half he ate (one half every morning) down to the rind. Every shred of flesh was meticulously scraped away with a ridged grapefruit spoon and consumed, his clean rind shells never failing to fascinate (I liked to turn them inside out like rubber poppers when nobody was watching). To this day, I can't eat more than the inner sections, juice, and whatever I can scrape away of the edges without puckering as the flesh becomes more and more tart - and all of that after a teaspoon of sugar, still.
Either I picked up the wrong bag of grapefruit last week (I wanted the red Rio Star and got the pink instead) or grapefruit season is already over. While they're not my favorite, I decided to take a page from Grandpa and use what I had. I thought scones from Joy the Baker would be a good place to start.
You will need:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
1 Ruby Red grapefruit (or in my case, an unwanted pink grapefruit), zested and segmented
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside (note: I thought I could just spray a sheet pan, but they stuck a little..parchment would be best).
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
Zest the grapefruit and combined zest and granulated sugar on a clean cutting board. Rub together the zest and sugar with the back of a spoon or a plastic bench knife. The sugar will be a pale orange color and smell of grapefruit. Measure 2 tablespoons of the grapefruit sugar and whisk into the dry ingredients. Save the remaining grapefruit sugar for topping the scones just before baking.
Segment the grapefruit next. Slice off the bottom and top of the grapefruit, then use a sharp knife to cut away the peel and pith of the grapefruit, exposing the pink grapefruit flesh. Remove the inner core membrane from the peeled fruit, then use your fingers to peel away the white membranes surrounding each segment. Set segments aside.
Dice cold butter into small chunks and add to the dry ingredients. Using your fingers or a pastry knife, break the butter down into the flour mixture until butter chunks resemble a coarse meal (like biscuit dough). Add the honey, yogurt and grapefruit segments. Toss together with a fork until all of the dry ingredients are moistened by the yogurt and honey.
Turn the scone dough out onto a lightly floured pastry mat. Pat into an 8 inch circle, about 1 inch thick. Use a knife to cut the dough into six scone triangles - first cutting a cross, then an X. Place on the prepared baking sheet. Lightly brush the tops of the scones with milk or buttermilk, and sprinkle generously with grapefruit sugar.
Bake for 15 to 17 minutes, until golden brown on top and firm but soft in the center. Allow to cool on the pan for 10 minutes before serving.
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