Things I Miss About the UK No 3: Crumpets

Yep, I think my body is thinking this should be autumn. But I'm in the tropics, so it's not!

Here's another autumn / winter warmer - the humble crumpet! (Toasted hot, and buttered of course!) If you haven't tried one before, it is a neutrally-flavoured cross between maybe a bun and a pancake, with a 'honeycomb' type interior texture a bit like the Pernakan cake kueh ambon.

You must toast crumpets to eat them, and then you would normally let butter or jam, or butter and jam, melt into the holey crumpet structure. After toasting, the underside should get a bit crispy, but the interior remains dense, soft and slightly chewy.
Yum!

My memory of crumpets: family Sunday lunch, followed by a long walk across the fields until it started to get dark (around 3.30-4pm in winter). Heading home, having hot tea and crumpets in the kitchen, leaving the whistling wind, cold and dark outside.

I have not seen any crumpets in Singapore shops - they might sell them at an inflated price at somewhere like M&S. Re-creating the proper setting might prove a bit more difficult, however!


(ps I believe that there is a slightly different recipe for crumpets in Scotland.)