One of our favourite quotes from episode one of My Open Kitchen came from Tamsin Carvan’s interview; “I would happily go out and eat a crumpet,” says Tamsin, “if it was served in a beautiful setting where I was made to feel part of something special, and felt really well looked after.”
I love LOVE love this quote and completely agree – a crumpet served with true hospitality will always trump the fanciest of foods served without love or warmth. And if you are inspired now to make and share crumpets this weekend – here’s a recipe below. Have a great weekend everyone, Sophie and Skye x
Crumpets with salted honey butter
Serves 4-6
Prep 20 mins
Cook 10 mins
The crumpets are great fun to make, but if pressed for time, grab a packet of ready made ones and just make the salted honey butter, which is a breeze, and is pretty fantastic spread over a good many things. Try a good smear of the stuff over a humble piece of toast, a halved apple, pear or piece of stonefruit before baking in a hot oven until collapsed or a slice of fruit cake.
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3 tablespoons full-flavoured honey
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
For the crumpets
400mls milk
20g butter, plus extra for cooking
2 tsp caster sugar
1/2 tsp dried yeast
2 2/3 cups plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
For the honey butter, place all ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and fluffy. Adjust the salt to taste. Spoon into a bowl and set aside while making the crumpets.
Place the butter and milk in a saucepan and cook on low until butter melts. Let cool until lukewarm, then add the sugar and yeast and stir to combine. Set aside for five minutes. Place the flour in a large bowl, make a well in the centre and add the yeast mixture, stirring to combine. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit in a nice warm place for two hours. Dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in 25mls warm water and add this to the batter. Cover and set aside for a further 30 minutes.
The batter is now ready to cook.
Option 1 – Using scone or biscuit cutters…
If you have them, lightly grease two or three scone or biscuit cutters (about 5cm in diameter). Melt a little butter in a saucepan on medium-high and place the round cutters in the pan, fill each about 1cm with the batter. Let cook for two minutes, or until bubbles appear all over the surface. Gently turn the crumpets and release them by running a knife around the edges of each cutter. Cook for another minute on that side and set aside to keep warm while you repeat the process a couple of times (add more butter if necessary).
Option 2 – Not using scone or biscuit cutters
This path will result in crumpets that taste just as good but may look more like extra bubbly pikelets than crumpets, (it is much easier). Pour a couple of tablespoons f the mixture into the hot, buttered pan. Cook until bubbles appear on the surface then flip and cook for a further couple of minutes. Keep warm in a tea towel while you cook the remaining mixture (add more butter if necessary).