What are English Crumpets?

There’s often a fight over what food items are called – but what are English crumpets?  Even in England this can create new discussions as the regional variations of naming come into play.

You will find English crumpets in every supermarket – and the packet will say crumpets.  In the main they are round, about 4″ wide and nearly ½” deep.  Crumpets can be made at home, if you wish, but it’s just as easy to buy them ready made.  To be honest, they’re a bit of a faff that require some pre-planning!

Crumpets are made from a simple, fairly thick, batter, consisting of flour, yeast, sugar, milk and bicarbonate of soda.  Once combined (except the bicarb, that’s added later), the ingredients need a serious amount of beating to get the air into the mix that will produce the bubbles that make the holes.  The mix then needs standing aside for up to an hour, followed by adding in the bicarb and resting it again!  I told you it was faff.  You then need to use crumpet rings in your pan – to give you the correct shape and to guide the shape of the crumpets as they cook.

The crumpet batter is dropped into the crumpet rings on a hot pan or onto a griddle plate, then left – the heat coming up from the bottom makes the holes appear at the top as the batter bubbles up and the bubbles burst.  Having made the batter they take about 5 minutes in the pan.  Serve immediately.

Can You Freeze Crumpets?

Yes.  To freeze crumpets you can just throw the whole/sealed packet in the freezer.  There’s no prep required at all.  When you take them out  you might have to use a knife to prise them apart.

Or, you can wrap them in pairs and freeze them in foil wraps, or any freezer bag.  Whether you freeze the whole packet or split the crumpets up, it really just depends on your own preference.  If I’ve opened a packet of crumpets then I’ll always seal them with a food clip – I just chuck the whole packet, with the clip still on, into the freezer if I don’t think I’ll get through the packet before their Best Before date.

You don’t need to defrost crumpets before toasting them – they’re so small they can just be defrosted from frozen in the toaster or toaster oven.  You can even microwave crumpets to defrost them and there’s no need to toast them at all (if you want a food cheat!).

Typically, crumpets are eaten as a snack meal – they’re definitely top comfort food!

How Do You Cook Crumpets?

Crumpets in packets are sold ready cooked and edible.  It is usual to toast them until they’re hot.  We toast them simply to increase the enjoyment.  Toasting crumpets does two things: the crumpets get hot  + the base crisps up.  Biting into a hot/toasted crumpet is 100x better than any other way of eating them.

What Do You Put on Crumpets?

Crumpets are best served dripping with butter!  But you can put anything on top of them – I often use jam, or even peanut butter.  Just put your favourite toast topping on them!  They’re also great with mashed banana 🙂

Crumpets as Mini Pizza Bases

Crumpets make a great food cheat for a pizza base for snacking.  Simply top the (cold) crumpets with the toppings of your choice and toast them in an oven or under a grill.

The food cheat here is: it’s much easier to buy crumpets at a shop – and chuck them into the freezer once you get home 🙂