Pierre’s Crumpets
I went for elevenses today; real elevenses – not reheated coffee with coffee skin and stale peanut butter toast. Pierre made me crumpets. I know! For real! Crumpets! Only the very best butter transport system ever created!
OK, they might not have been exclusively for me. He was testing them for what I hope will be a book someday. (Just now it’s an idea. A really great idea that I must keep to myself like a juicy secret.)
Crumpets are made out of a wet, yeasty batter – thicker than pancake batter but thinner than bread dough – cooked in a hot skillet in crumpet rings (or cookie cutters, or cleaned-out tuna tins opened on both ends) until they’re set enough to flip and cook until crusty gold on the other side. Why pancakes and waffles are so commonly made on Sunday mornings but crumpets aren’t I have no idea. It’s totally unfair. Maybe I’ll go to the UK and ask them. Over crumpets.
The recipe isn’t quite done yet. Pierre deemed the batter too sticky. They were quite fabulous, even without the holey moon-surface typical of a true crumpet.
This recipe, from Tea and Crumpets by Margaret Johnson, looks promising. I am such a huge fan of crumpets – with butter and honey, or Lyle’s Golden Syrup – now that the seed has been planted I’ll have to give them a whirl one weekend.
These were washed down with tea, and adorned with marmalade, jelly and lemon curd. Also – macarons made by Candace, evidence of new skill honed by their macaron class in Paris last month. Chocolate and cherry. Spiffy, non?
I move that we bring back elevenses. Anyone second the motion?
I second it. Just as long as we can get it into the schools ;D.
That is a fantastic idea! (As is the book idea if it is what I think it is.) Lucky you!
Real crumpets? Fresh not out of a package? Wow. I third it…especially if there are crumpets involved. I also like Winne the Pooh’s word for it – a “smackerel.”
I imagine the school’s have caught on to elevenses – we pack them lunch and two snacks… one of which is in the am… maybe not quite at 11 though 🙂
Oh, you have my curiosity about this secret book…but yes, 11am and I’m there!
Ooh me too, me too. Just a little smackerel of something a la Pooh:)
Elevenses and afternoon siestas both need to make comebacks or at least make it to the New World!
Yes! I need more elevenses in my life. And crumpets. Definitely. Have a great weekend, Julie.
Am going to make these for a friend arriving from Nova Scotia today. We shall have it tomorrow for second breakfast!
BTW- You can put photos of Pierre’s torso on your blog ANYTIME. 😉
I second that motion to move back to elevenses with crumpets or as we Northern British call pikelets.
I’m in! Let’s start a movement.
Instead of smackerels, we simply say “smacks” at our house. Can’t remember why. Definitely not from Pooh.
Where is Pierre’s handsome face????
YES! Elevensies!!!! Afternoon siestas are right on the mark Amber. I second both ideas.
All the best bears had elevenses, so why shouldn’t we?
Not to get all practical and boring, but as the daughter of a bodybuilder and personal trainer (yes, that has resulted in quite a few therapy sessions), I should mention that, health-wise, it’s been proven that many small meals are much better for you than two or three giant meals.
So hooray for elevenses!
I LOVE elevenses. I used to have them all the time when I was pregnant. That and breakfast, second breakfast, elevenses… well let’s just say I was basically a hobbit, sans hairy feet (although my belly was big, so maybe?). I still have elvenses on the weekends, now with the products of the pregnancies!
Bellini Valli, where I grew up pikeletes were very different from crumpets. Pikeletes were essentially tiny sweet pancakes, served whole, eaten cold with jam and whipped cream. A good pikelet was only one or two bites. Crumpets, although also cooked on a stove top, were a yeast batter, and were served warm, split open so that the bubbles inside made a craggy surface to melt and soak up butter and golden syrup or honey. They were cooked in a crumpet ring and the same size as the ones you see in the stores here.
So… you’re all saying that my ratings will go way up with more photos of Pierre on my blog??
Ooh – you just tweaked a childhood memory – Sitting around the cottage breakfast table with my brothers, gorging on hot, toasted crumpets, dripping with melted butter and Lyle’s Golden Syrup, after a morning of water skiing…
No, YOU shut up. I can’t remember that last time a cute guy in a casual button down blue shirt made ME crumpets. Maybe because, oh right, it’s NEVER happened!
Did I mention his girlfriend was there too?
(I meant SHUT UP as in GET OUT… tone doesn’t translate so well in comments sections…)
Elevenses and tea time should both be part of mainstream life, in the schools, at the workplace, everywhere! We also all need summer off and a week around Christmas/solstice.
Pierre works out.
+1 for a week off around Christmas/Solstice. I don’t think anything productive really gets done in that week anyway(loads of potlucks and whatnot, and not a lot of meetings since anyone with clout was on vacation).
that’s funny… I have to admit I think I noticed the cook a little more than I did the crumpets….. and was trying to figure out if you were in his kitchen or he in yours and where Mike was…. j/k. funny that others mentioned it too.
I thought crumpets came out of a package, too. I love the idea of trying to make them! I just never thought of it before. Duh.
Do you know that poeple are more productive in the workplace, and children learn more in school, if there is a mid-morning and mid-afternoon break and snack.
Several years ago when visiting Seattle there was a little cafe near Pike Place where the speciality was crumpets, sorry the name escapes me but I’ve been love with them ever since. They served them with butter all melted in the little holes and homemade jam.
Yea for elevensies. I will read the post in more detail once I am home. I have been stuck for over a week in Foothils H.with a great view of Stars activity. I will dream of crumpets. Home ina few more days.
-D
I am in the process of tweaking my favorite crumpet recipe; I’m using a mixture of 2/3 rice flour and 1/3 spelt flour as wheat flour does bad things to my digestion. Are there enough people in Toronto who want FRESH crumpets (as opposed to rubber from the store) for me to open a shop? How much would you pay for 4 fresh (and I mean just off the griddle!) crumpets?