Crumpets on a Snowy Day

Last week one morning, after an unseasonably warm day, I woke up to this.



Yup, snow first time this year in Tokyo at the end of February. The weather has gone haywire! The snow brought back memories of winters in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I know, it’s not even on the same order of magnitude, but somehow it reminded me of it. And with that, a craving for crumpets, something I discovered while there. I don’t think most American have had crumpets, but somehow the Kroger in Ann Arbor carried them, in plain and blueberry. I think it was all the little holes on the surface that first drew me to the crumpets. I just love them, for how they make the crumpets look the way they do, and for sucking in all the butter and jam that you spread on top.

The more I thought about it, the more I found myself craving for some warm crumpets with tea. Since I’d never seen crumpets sold anywhere in Tokyo, the only way to quench this craving was to make it myself. I wasn’t going to go out in this miserable weather so might as well occupy myself with something.

I searched the internet and found this recipe. Everything was measured in cups and teaspoons, with no grams or milliliter to convert. I declared it a winner.

One little problem though, I don’t own any crumpet rings. Some digging in my pantry later, I came up with two heart-shaped pancake rings and the brass oak leaf cookie cutter I bought while in the States for Christmas. Hmmm, crumpets shaped like hearts and oak leaves, I like it! I had to give up on the oak leaf crumpet idea, however, because the cookie cutter leaked batter everywhere.



I settled on the two rings and slowly churned out crumpets two by two, over a 160C griddle. It seemed like it took forever, but it was worth it. At precisely four o’clock in the afternoon, I had myself a cup of tea and some crumpets with butter and marmalade.
(Had some extra batter so I made a mini heart crumpet with a cookie cutter, and used an even smaller cutter to make a butter heart, for kawaii factor)



The verdict: my batter was very thin following the recipe (I blame it on the low gluten flour again) so I had to adjust by adding flour, but in the end, it was probably still not thick enough. As a result, my crumpets were a lot moister inside than they should be, even after toasting, and they didn’t have nearly as many holes. They taste really good though, with a nice crusty crunch. Even Jason liked it. My friend Anna, who had never had a crumpet before, said it reminded her of pancakes. Yeah, I think the center was too moist. Will remember not to add all the water next time.