12 easy crumpet topping recipe ideas!

I'm not a recipe blog, but this is oddly important. There were a few silver linings I managed to embrace in 2020, like making a pond and watching it develop. But, on a baseline day to day level, lockdown meant I discovered the Joy of Crumpet.

You may already enjoy a crumpet, but lockdown gave me a profound appreciation of a food which is easy and quick to prepare, can be sweet or savoury (in the same meal sometimes), is warm but it's not a problem if you let it go cold, can be breakfast or lunch or snack... Crumpets were a real comfort, and probabaly helped me avoid skipping meals, or eating pure junk.

It turned out lots of folks on Perfidious Jewellery's social media also found joy in crumpet, offering ideas and thoughts whenever I shared a snap of my meal. It was delightful the reactions my crumpets provoked. So here are 12 of my favourite crumpet topping and recipe suggestions for you to try out - including the French Toast Crumpets!

Crumpet recipe basics

All the recipes below (apart from French Toast) assume you're using a grill, and have already toasted your crumpet's bum (the bottom), flipped it, and grilled the top to whatever your desired level of warm/crispy is, and are then ready to top them.

These recipes all assume quantities for 2 crumpets, so scale up for more!

Crumpet topping and recipe ideas

Breakfast Pizza Crumpets
Finely chop one piece of cooked bacon and one fresh tomato, mix together with grated cheese,  (mixing the cheese in helps glue things to the crumpet!) layer over toasted crumpets, heat under grill for cheese to melt. Want more of a meal? Add baked beans.

Banana Fibre Crumpet Combo
Spread crumpets with Nutella, sprinkle a half teaspoon of chia seeds across two toasted ​crumpets, top with sliced banana. Depending on the size of your banana, and how thick you like it, you may have some banana left over on the side. Heat under grill if you wish, I prefer my banana cold!

Sausage Crumpets
Works best with either a good flavoured sausage, or adding a little pepper to taste. Spread a layer of very thinly sliced cheese on your toasted ​crumpets, chop a cooked sausage lengthways into thirds, and then each third into half (one sausage is now 6 sections) Place sausage atop the cheese, top sausage with a second layer of thinly sliced cheese. Heat under grill for cheese to melt, to serve dribble with sauce of choice. Want more of a meal? Add baked beans.

Banana Mash Crumpets
Use a fork to mash a banana, mix in a quarter teaspoon of ground cinnamon, spread on top of toasted ​crumpets and heat under grill. Feeling lavish? Grate dark chocolate on top before grilling.

Meaty Pizza Crumpets
Spread a small amount of tomato puree onto toasted crumpets, sprinle with oregano. Mix finely chopped salami, fresh tomato and grated cheese together (mixing the cheese in helps glue things to the crumpet!) top crumpets, heat under grill for cheese to melt. Want more of a meal? Add a side salad.

Italian Veggie Pizza Crumpets
​Spread a small amount of pesto onto toasted crumpets, top with chopped fresh tomato and grated cheese mixed together (mixing the cheese in helps glue things to the crumpet!) heat under grill for cheese to melt. You can pretty much put olives, chopped red pepper, whatever onto these! Want more of a meal? Add a side salad.

Burn's Night Crumpet
Break down cooked haggis with a fork, mix in mashed potato, spread on toasted ​crumpets, heat under grill. If very decadent, mix in whiskey sauce. How much haggis and mash to use? Depends on what you have leftover, and how thick you want it! If you really want to pile it on, heat the mix in the mircowave, then top the crumpets.

Posh Goats Cheese crumpets
​Spread a layer of caramelised onion chutney on toasted crumpets, top with chunks of goats cheese, and rocket. Heat under grill for cheese to get a slight brown tinge to the edges of the cheese. Add fresh ground black pepper to taste.

Cheese and Onion Crumpet
Mix grated cheese with finely chopped red onion (quantity to your taste), top toasted crumpets, heat under grill for cheese to melt.

Posh Cheese and Onion Crumpet
Spread a layer of caramelised onion chutney on toasted crumpets, top with thinly sliced brie, heat under grill for cheese to melt. Melted brie on crumpets, is by the by, a fave of mine.

The Cheeseboard Crumpet
Uh, kinda easy, but great as a different way to use leftover cheese from Christmas - On different areas of toasted ​crumpet, place different cheeses, heat under grill for cheese to melt. Feel like you should be finshing a 5 course dinner.

French Toast Crumpets

French toast eggy crumpets were a blinder to discover, but some recipes don't half seem to over complicate them!
​
Whisk together an egg, 25 ml milk, half teaspoon gound cinnamon, 1 teaspoon icing sugar.

Place 2 untoasted crumpets in a shallow bowl, or a small tuppaware pot, the key is for them to not have too much dead space around them, they should be in good contact with the egg mix when it's poured over them. Pour it on, squidge the crumpets down a bit like they're sponges soaking up a spill, leave about 3 minutes, then turn, squidge and let the other side of the crumpets soak for about 3 minutes. 

While they soak, melt a little butter in a frying pan over a medium heat (not needed if you have a really good non stick pan!) Once hot pop in the crumpets, base first. Allow a little time for the egg mix to cook, then start to spoon the leftover egg mix into the holes on top. If your crumpets wee out the spooned in egg mix, wait for it to cook and seal, and add more egg mix. After 2 or 3 minutes, turn and fry the top for a few minutes. ​

Serve with a light dusting of more icing sugar, and your coice of fresh fruit, sauce, yoghurt... I tend to add sliced banana and maple syrup, and wonder why this isn't a breakfast option in more cafes or hotels!

Just spread it on...

I feel like these deserve a mention, as although they aren't recipes, they're certainly ​an ingredient I reccommend getting hold of and spreading on to your fluffy hot crumpets.

Joyful and Mellow Irish Crean Spread.
Sarah's Ginger Curd.
Nutella
Pate - well posh crumpets, much nicer than on toast.

Got any suggestions?

Thank you for coming to the TED talk I never expected to be about crumpets...

Seriously, I'm sharing this because SO many people were interested in what I was doing with my comfort food, and had so many suggestions of their own. From lashings of peanut butter, through to baked beans and Worcestershire sauce, the responses to each crumpet post sparked fond memories or "Oh, I must try that" for people. Let me know if you try any of the above, and leave your suggestions below!