Do you know how hard this was for me??
I seriously couldn't make up my mind! Did I want to make lembas (shortbread, lol) from The Lord of the Rings? Corn fritters from the Little House books? An Indian dish mentioned in Bend It Like Beckham? Delmonico potatoes as mentioned in The Alienist? I had too many options.
I considered a post of drinks from movies like The Big Lebowski or Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I very nearly made a potato dish of Julia Child's, because I loved Julie and Julia. Then my darling nieces came along and asked me to make them a favorite treat-crumpets. As I was waiting for the yeast to proof, I remembered that they were mentioned in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone! Harry and Ron toasted them over the fire in the Gryffindor common room during Christmas break (Sorcerer's Stone replaces "crumpets" with "english muffins").
Ingredients:
One strip (3 packets) of active dry yeast (or 2 T, 3/4 t. yeast)
3/4 c warm water
3 t sugar
1 c warm milk
3 eggs
3 c all-purpose flour
1 t salt
Butter, for frying
In a glass bowl, mix the yeast, water, and sugar together. Let the yeast proof (get foamy) for 5-10 minutes. Gradually whisk the milk, eggs, flour, and salt into the yeast mixture, until blended and smooth. Cover with a towel, allow to rise for approximately 30 minutes. Check at 20 minutes, and add more time as needed. Your bowl will be nearly full once the batter has fully risen.
Once it has risen, heat a skillet or griddle and melt enough butter to grease the surface. Measure out the batter onto the griddle using a 1/4 c measuring cup. Fry them like pancakes-allow bubbles to form on the surface, and let the surface start to "dry up" before flipping them. Serve them with butter, jam, syrup, peanut butter, Nutella...you get the idea. ;-)
Also, these freeze really well! Flash freeze them on a tray or plate for 30 minutes, then store them in a freezer bag. Simply pop them in the toaster when you want one!
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