Pistachio, Rose and Strawberry Buns

A breakfast of golden buns filled with pale green pistachio butter and perfumed with rose water has got to put you in a good mood for the rest of the day. It won't matter if the guy at the grocery store is rude to you, or somebody cuts you off in traffic, or you stub your toe on the furniture, you are going to float through the day ahead on an invisible magic carpet after eating one of these perfect little pillows and sipping a glass of mint tea... Promise.


NOTE: Begin this recipe a day ahead.


Pistachio, Rose and Strawberry Buns
sightly adapted from here
Makes 8

For the Dough:
70g unsalted butter, diced and at room temperature
20g fresh yeast (or 1 1/2 teaspoons instant dry yeast)
1 egg
30g caster sugar
100ml buttermilk
300g baker's flour
Pinch of salt

For the Pistachio Butter:
80g pistachios
80g unsalted butter, at room temperature
80g caster sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon plain flour

For the Rose Syrup:
100g caster sugar
100ml water
1 tablespoon rose water

8 teaspoons strawberry jam

Make the Dough:
Put all the dough ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook and mix on low for about 5 minutes. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours.

Make the Pistachio Butter:
Put the pistachios in a small food processor and blitzed until they are a fine meal. Add the butter, sugar, egg and flour and process until they form a thick paste. Set aside,

Make the Rose Syrup:
Put the sugar and water into a small saucepan and bring to boil over high heat. Boil briefly, just until the sugar dissolves and set a side to cool. Once cool, add the rose water. Set aside.

Make the Buns:
Take the dough out of the refrigerator and roll it our into a 40cm x 20cm rectangle. Use a pizza cutter to cut the dough in half lengthways, then in quarters across the width. You should end up with eight 10cm x 10cm squares.

Grease 8 cups of a muffin tin and line them with a square of dough, pushing the dough down firmly into the edges and leaving the corners of the dough overhanging. Fill each with the pistachio butter and dollop a teaspoonful of strawberry jam on top of each one. Fold the corners over the filling. Put them back in the refrigerator to proof overnight.

The next morning, take the buns out of the refrigerator and leave them to come to room temperature (30 - 40 minutes). Preheat the oven to 200C.

Bake for 10 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 180C and turn the pan around. Bake for a further 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and brush generously with the rose syrup. Allow to cool in the pan slightly before serving.