Easy South African Crumpets Recipe

No baked or pan-cooked treat epitomized Sunday afternoon quite like crumpets. These small, fluffy pancakes are easy to make and require minimal ingredients, simply combine flour, baking powder, eggs and milk. Cook on the pan and enjoy with jam and butter. In worse case end-of-month scenario, Amma simply made them with milk and self-rising flour. Other forms of Amma‘s pancakes included sour dosa and fried ones which often served as a substitute for bread.

I made these South African crumpets to go with strawberry jam, which my son made at preschool this week (by make I mean helped cut strawberries), none the less it was one of my proudest moments yet.

Crumpets vs Flapjacks 

There is much debate about the difference between flapjacks and crumpets. From childhood, I know that the small pancakes made with baking powder were referred to as crumpets, and larger ones, were flapjacks.

How to Make South African Crumpets

Unlike English or American crumpets which use yeast in the batter, South African crumpets use baking powder as a rising agent. Crumpets are best made using self rising flour or flour with baking powder, this gives the crumpet their soft, fluffy texture. For an egg less version, omit the eggs and use milk and baking powder combined with flour. If you are using eggs, combine with castor sugar until fluffy, this results in a smooth crumpet batter.

The consistency of crumpet batter is thick yet runny, and can be poured onto the pan. Some prefer crumpet rings to achieve a uniform shape. In my opinion the only tools needed when making crumpets are a spoon for pouring the batter onto the pan and a spatula for turning.

To cook perfect crumpets, make sure the pan is warm. If you use a good no stick pan, you require minimal butter for greasing the pan.

How to Serve Crumpets

Gluten-Free Pancakes

Try my homemade oat flour pancakes using ground oats and bananas for a guilt-free Sunday treat.

Easy South African Crumpets Recipe

Easy South African Crumpets Recipe

4 from 19 votes

Recipe by Ms Pillay Course: Breakfast, TeaDifficulty: Easy

18

crumpets

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

15

minutes

Calories

282

kcal

Total time

25

minutes

South African crumpets are small, soft pancake-like treats to enjoy at any time of the day. This recipe yields 18 small crumpets. A single serving is 6 small crumpets.

Cook Mode

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Ingredients

US Metric

• 1 cup 125 g flour + 1 teaspoon baking powder or 1 cup self-rising flour

• 1 teaspoon 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

• 2 2 eggs

• 1/2 cup 118.29 ml milk

• 1/4 cup 50 g castor sugar or fine sugar

• 1/4 teaspoon 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

• Heat a non-stick pan on medium heat. (This may vary depending on your stove. I use a gas cooker and medium works just right for me). You can apply butter to the pan before pouring the crumpet batter. I find a non-stick pan does not require any butter and cooks with an even colour.
• Combine egg, sugar and vanilla essence.
• Sift in flour and salt.
• Add milk. Combine the ingredients to form a smooth batter.
• Use a large serving spoon to spoon onto the pan. The size of the spoon used will determine the size of the crumpet. For larger crumpets add more batter.
  
• Cook for two to three minutes on each side. When you notice bubbles on one side turn and cook the reverse side. Enjoy warm with butter and jam.

Recipe Video

Notes

• There are two methods for making this crumpet recipe. The first is to combine the dry ingredients first as listed in the recipe instructions. Alternatively, use the method shown in the recipe video. Combine wet ingredients first then slowly sift in the flour. The second method yields a smoother crumpet batter with fewer lumps. Sifting the four also helps avoid a lumpy crumpet batter.

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