The Crumpet Shop

When I was in Seattle, I stayed at a hostel near Pike Place Market, a hub for fresh food and produce, famous restaurants overlooking a beautiful sea scape that faces the snow-capped Olympic mountains. Seeing as I was only there for a few days, I made myself a promise to try as many things as I could, which meant eating at a different restaurant every meal. Across the street from my hostel, there was a cute cafe called "The Crumpet Shop". I'm usually not a huge fan of (Golden) crumpets, but it was raining that day and the smell of freshly ground coffee was very enticing.

The cafe/dining area itself isn't very large, a huge area of floor space is occupied by the large industrial oven used to mass produce crumpets.

The glass divider allows all the customers to watch as they make individual orders according to the customer's preferences.

The cafe was really cozy and full of regular customers. I kind of felt like one of them (although I think my camera gave it away...)

I ended up ordering a fresh crumpet topped with stewed raspberries and cream cheese, which was by far the most amazing thing I'd eaten in Seattle.

Stewed Raspberry and Cream Cheese Crumpet

It was so good that I ended up going back there for breakfast the next day... and the next.

Maple Butter, Roasted Walnuts and Cream Cheese Crumpet

I just couldn't believe I'd never eaten a real crumpet before this.

The Crumpet Shop
(206) 682-1598

1503 1st Avenue  Seattle,
WA 98101, United States

Ratings:

Atmosphere: 8
Service: N/A
Food: 8
Price/ Value: 9

Overall:8



A few days ago my sister bought a packet of Golden Crumpets. I won't complain about it, but it just doesn't compare to what I had in Seattle.
So after a bit of research and a LOT of tweaking around, I managed to develop a pretty good recipe for soft, slightly bready, slightly chewy and fluffy crumpets.

You will need:

Crumpet:
7g Dry Yeast
2C Lukewarm Milk (divided into 2)
2tsp Sugar
2C Plain Flour
1tsp Cream of Tartar
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Baking Soda

1. Before you start, lightly grease 4 metal round moulds.
2. For the crumpet, dissolve the yeast and sugar in 1C of lukewarm milk and let it stand for 15 minutes in a warm place until foamy.
3. Sift the flour and cream of tartar together and combine with the yeast mixture.
4. Mix with a whisk until all lumps have been removed, then beat for 2 minutes. Cover and let it rest in a warm area for 2 hours.

 

     5.  Add a pinch of salt to the mixture and beat for a minute. Then cover and rest for 15 minutes.
     6.  Dissolve the baking soda into the remainder of the milk and mix well into the batter.
     7.  Place rings on an oiled pan and pour about 1/3C of the mixture into each ring. (Adjust according to the size of your mould and the desired thickness approx 1cm of your crumpets.)

     8.  Cook over low heat until the top of the crumpet has set, about 5 minutes, then remove mould and cook the reverse side for 1 minute (if desired).

 
Topping:
Anything you like, but I used
100g Cream Cheese
1/4C Confectioner's Sugar
1 Tbs Butter
Crushed Frozen Raspberries

1. Beat butter and cream cheese in an electric mixer until soft and fluffy.
2. Add confectioner's sugar and continue to beat until evenly combined.
3. Serve on hot crumpet and sprinkle on crushed raspberries.

Ok so it's no where near as good as the ones in Seattle. But definitely a lot better than store bought :)
Enjoy!