Crumpets

             This is a picture of my first batch of crumpets that I have ever made.  My 11 year old made the request during school.  We had recently finished studying The UK, and crumpets had apparently been on her mind ever since.

             Crumpets kind of look like English muffins in that they are both round, but that is pretty much where the similarities end.  First of all English Muffins are an American invention created by a British immigrant to the US, Samuel Bath Thomas.     Where English Muffins had nooks and crannies on the inside, crumpets have there's on the outside, and crumpets are a little thinner as well.  There is a lot less liquid required for English muffins as well.  Crumpets are made with more of a batter rather than a dough.  Now my crumpets while tasting scrumptious to be sure, did not possess many of those nooks and crannies on the outside.  My guess would be that I may have put too much batter in the rings, so that when I turned them the batter on top wasn't cooked enough, thus leading to the flatter look.  If any of you crumpet specialists have any suggestions after reading my whole recipe on how to keep those nooks on top, please let me know.



            I will reiterate that these tasted delicious toasted with jam, so please try.  They are crispy on the outside, and kind of have a pancake like middle.  My kids and husband loved these.

           They may make a fancy breakfast offering for guests staying over for the holidays.  You may be compelled to even speak in a British accent when serving them. 

            My suggestion may be just use less batter in the rings.  I used biscuit cutters that were 3 inches in diameter to form them.  When I make another batch I will update this post.  Right now, I've got plenty in my freezer, which lets you know they are freezable and toast up nicely afterwards.

Ingredients  (adapted from food.com)  This made 24 crumpets

1. 3 1/2 Cups all purpose flour
2. 1/2 tsp salt
3. 1 tsp sugar
4. 2 tsp active dry yeast
5. 1/2 tsp baking soda
6. 1 1/2 Cups warm milk( I used skim)
7. 1 1/2 Cups warm water

First mix all of the dry ingredients in a bowl.

Then make a well in the middle and add the warm milk and water.

Stir well, then cover and let sit for an hour.  The batter should double.

Heat up a pan on medium low heat.  Grease crumpet rings, or biscuit rings, or round cookie cutters.  Place them in the pan and let them heat up for a minute.

Then pour the batter in the forms.  I poured(used a ladle) batter about 3/4 of the way up.  I suggest ladling in half-way or less than all the way up the forms.

You should see lots of bubbles forming on top.  After about 3 minutes the batter will have start to set.  You should be able to remove the rings with tongs.  They should come off easily.

The batter should look mostly dry when turning.  As you can see, the nooks are present.  Flip them over and let the topside, which is now the bottom-side, cook just a little.  This is where mine lost their nooks.  My guess is that since there was too much batter in the rings, the batter couldn't set enough on top enough.  When they were flipped, the batter on top just collapsed a bit wiping out the nooks.  I needed to flip them when I did because I didn't want the bottoms burning.

Remove them from the pan after about 30 seconds.  They were mostly cooked prior to flipping.

Even without all of the nooks, these were great.  I will definitely be making them again with the adjustments suggestions I made during the cooking process.

I sliced them in half for my kids and placed jam on them.  Traditionally, you place butter, jam, or clotted cream on top without slicing.