Crumpets

These little crumpets (or drop scones, as Rachel Allen calls them) are just lovely.  They are just slightly sweet, and a wonderful vehicle for jam, butter, or lemon curd.  They are excellent for soothing the mid-morning munchies or as an afternoon snack, hot and fresh from the pan.  They also toast up well the next day, so if you manage to have any left, no need to fret.  My husband and I are in perfect agreement that they fall someplace between a pancake and an English muffin, if you can imagine that.  The other fabulous thing about these is that they are fabulously low in effort.  I did the whole thing right in a large measuring cup, and so did not hear any complaints from the dishwashing staff around here.

I adapted this recipe from a lovely, lovely little book...Rachel Allen's Favorite Food at Home.  I adapted it in that I broke every baking rule possible and mixed the ingredients in backwards.  Yup.  Started with the liquid.  And I wound up with a delicious puffy little crumpet, just as I was hoping.  When you look at the ingredients, you will see how close this is to being a pancake!  And when I googled the recipe, I saw a lot of pancake-looking crumpets.  And while I'm sure that they are lovely, I was really after a puffy little crumpet, and very happy to end up with that. 

I've already got a yankering to make these again, and play around with the recipe a lot.  Seems to me like whole-wheat flour and raisins would be a welcome addition...what do you think?  Also, I went along and did as Rachel said and make crumpets with a tablespoon each of dough, but I confess I am curious to give a whirl at more of an English-muffin sized crumpet next time.  

One more thing, and then I'll stop rambling...this batter would be fun to whip up with kids, if you've got any around.  Wait till you see that good strong quick rise from all the baking powder!  If you've not got any kids around, you can be impressed and interested nonetheless, just like me.  I won't tell.

Crumpets
yields 10-12 "silver dollar" sized crumpets
adapted from Favorite Food at Home, by Rachel Allen

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp superfine sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk (skim works fine)
cooking spray

Directions:
1. In a large measuring cup, measure out the milk.  Crack the egg right into the measuring cup, and whisk it in.
2. Start heating a non-stick griddle over medium heat.
3. Add into the measuring cup the salt and sugar, then the flour and baking powder.  Stir the whole thing together well, but do not over-mix.
4. Spray the griddle with a little cooking spray.  For each crumpet, drop about a tablespoon of batter on the hot pan, keeping the crumpets far enough apart that they don't stick together.  (They do not spread too much, however.)  Cook each crumpet for about two minutes, until bubbles appear and pop, and it is golden on the bottom side.  Flip, and then give it two minutes on the second side.
5. Serve warm with butter, jam, lemon curd, or your favorite toppings.