Cheese Crumpets from The Great Mouse Detective

I really hate to start this entry off with a definition in relation to cheese crumpets. But, I’m going to do it anyway: 

A crumpet is a small griddle cake made from an unsweetened batter of water or milk, flour and yeast, eaten in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, and some areas of the Commonwealth.

Now, let’s take a look at the cheese crumpet that Olivia offers to Toby in the Great Mouse Detective:

That is not a crumpet. That is a muffin. Of course, we’ve covered this topic before with the porridge that is obviously congee from Mulan. Disney clearly has trouble with “ethnic” food and how to best present it for American audiences. Crumpets sound like an extremely British food, so it makes sense that Mrs. Judson would be making them in one the most British of Disney films. However, as mentioned above, Olivia doesn’t have a bloody crumpet; she has a muffin. So I guess that means I’m going to have to make them both. 

Ingredients

Cheese Muffins

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 3 cups shredded cheese (I used cheddar)
• 1 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup butter

Cheese Crumpets

• 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 cup warm milk
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Directions

Cheese Muffins

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Allow egg and milk to come up to room temperature. Mix dry ingredients and set aside. Shred cheese,  do NOT use pre-grated cheese because it’s gross and also grating cheese is really not that hard. Add cheese to the dry ingredients. In another bowl, mix together egg, milk, and melted butter. Pour wet mixture into dry mixture and stir to combine. Pour batter into lined muffin tins. Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown on top.

Cheese Crumpets

Combine milk, sugar and yeast and stir gently and let them sit around 5-10 minutes until bubbles form. Next, using a stand mixer, slowly add the flour and beat on medium speed until the batter is smooth and stretchy. Remove bowl and cover with plastic wrap, allow to proof for at least 1 hour. Combine water and baking soda. Once batter has doubled in size, add water mixture and set aside for another 30 minutes.

Note: you will need crumpet molds for this. Oil up your crumpet molds and heat a skillet over low heat. Place crumpet molds in the skillet and add enough batter to fill a little less than half way. Air bubbles will start to form after a few minutes, but these will take about 8-10 minutes to fully cook. Go slow and adjust heat depending on your stove top and pan. Turn crumpets over to cook for another 1-2 minutes. Place several slices of cheese on top of fresh crumpet and heat in pan for an additional minute until cheese is melted.

So I have discovered that I don’t have much patience for crumpet making. First, you have to go through so much work just to get the batter. THEN you have to deal with cooking them in a skillet. Usually if I’m cooking food in a skillet something is happening. The bacon needs flipping, the stir fry needs mixing – you get the idea. Once the batter is in the crumpet mold and it’s heating up you should not fuss with it at all. I was basically just standing there waiting for crumpet bubbles to form and I was super bored. Plus, crumpets aren’t really that good to begin with, I’m much more of an English muffin person.

Speaking of muffins, those cheese muffins (aka cheese crumpets from the movie, yes I’m not letting that go) were legit delicious. I will be making those again since they’re so simple to make. That batter took about 10 minutes to assemble and put in the muffin pan. Then it baked up real nice and that was it. Did this little honey-bunny enjoy her tasty treat? Yes, yes I did.

Comulence: Cheese Muffins: 8 Slimy, Contemptible Sewer Rats out of 10 / Cheese Crumpets: 5 Slimy, Contemptible Sewer Rats out of 10

Cheese Crumpets from: The Great Mouse Detective