Homemade Crumpets with Roasted Garlic, Honey, Orange Shrimp
The Great British Bake Off Bakealong is on kind of a Summer vacation. We are still being given a challenge every week by our fearless leader Laura from Little House Big Alaska but I have to admit that I haven’t been as invested for any number of reasons. Mostly going back East to visit family which had me missing three weeks in a row. But I’m back with this week’s challenge – Crumpets! If you are like me, crumpets were an unknown beyond the famous “tea and crumpets” phrase that anyone who has ever watched a British movie knows.
So, what exactly is a crumpet? According to the dictionary it is “a thick, flat, savory cake with a soft, porous texture, made from a yeast mixture cooked on a griddle and eaten toasted and buttered.” So, what exactly is a crumpet? It’s kind of a cross between an English muffin and a pancake. They are most often served at breakfast or brunch but I’ve got a recipe below that turns this convention on its head – I made a dinner recipe using crumpets!
There are two recipes in this post; the first is for the crumpets and then for the shrimp. Both have recipes cards.
The crumpet recipe is from King Arthur Flour
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Homemade Crumpets
Makes 18 – 20
- 1 1/2 cups (340g) lukewarm water
- 1 cup (227g) lukewarm milk
- 2 tablespoons (28g) melted butter
- 3 1/2 cups (418g) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour (I use organic)
- 2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
- Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl, and beat vigorously for 2 minutes. A stand or hand mixer, set on high speed, work well here.
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- Cover the bowl, and let the batter rest at room temperature for 1 hour. It will expand and become bubbly. Towards the end of the rest, preheat griddle to medium-low, about 325°F. If you don’t have an electric griddle, preheat a frying pan; it shouldn’t be as hot as the temperature you use to cook pancakes. I used a cast iron griddle
- Lightly grease the griddle or frying pan, and place well-greased 3 3/4″ English muffin rings in the pan, as many as will fit. (If you don’t have English muffin rings, use well-cleaned tuna cans, from which you’ve removed the top and bottom.)
- Pour sticky batter by the scant 1/4-cupful into each ring; a muffin scoop works well here.
- After about 4 minutes, use a pair of tongs to slip the rings off. Cook the crumpets for a total of about 10 minutes on the first side, until their tops are riddled with small bubbles/holes. They should be starting to look a bit dry around the edges. Their bottoms will be a mottled, light-golden brown. Note: They probably won’t be as full of holes as store-bought crumpets; that’s OK.
How Were the Homemade Crumpets?
Tasty. And different. It’s hard to describe how they taste but they are very good. The normal way to serve them is hot from the griddle with lots of butter and jam or honey. I decided to be contrary, but that’s how I roll.
Homemade Crumpets for Dinner? YES!
As I mentioned above I made a Crumpet dinner. It all came together so well – as I said to a friend, sometimes magic happens. It did with this meal.
Roasted Garlic, Orange Honey Shrimp on Homemade Crumpets
Serves 2
- 12 extra large shrimp, peeled and de-veined
- 2 TBS unsalted butter
- 2 large cloves roasted garlic
- 1 TBS fresh orange juice
- 1 TBS Grand Manier (or sherry)
- 1 TBS fresh oregano, roughly chopped
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 1/2 TBS honey
- sprinkling of oregano flowers (optional)
- 2 crumpets, split and warmed
- Melt the butter in a saute pan over medium low heat.
- Add the roasted garlic gloves, mashing them into the butter to mix.
- Cut the shrimps in half and add to the pan. Stir to coat. Keep the heat on the low side to cook the shrimp slowly.
- Add the Grand Marnier and orange juice. Sprinkle the sea salt and stir.
- When the shrimp are just about done stir in the oregano and finish cooking. Remove from heat.
- Stir in the honey.
- To serve, cut each crumpet in half. Place the crumpet on the plate and top with half of the shrimp mixture. Sprinkle with the oregano flowers if using.
How Was the Roasted Garlic, Honey, Orange Shrimp on Crumpets?
Oh my blessed word! When I walked into the kitchen tonight I had no clue what I was going to cook and this is what popped out of my head. I had the roasted garlic leftover from the focaccia bread I had made the other day and as I had noted then I am overrun with oregano. The garlic went in first and I build from there but the oregano was truly a last minute ingredient but it really pulled it all together. Plus, the little purple flowers make it so pretty. I served it with a fresh from the garden salad and it was a perfect dinner for a hot summer night.
