Air-Fryer Crumpet Garlic Bread

This is the kind of recipe that sounds like a TikTok prank and turns out to be one of the better garlic-bread inventions of the decade. Take a baguette. Split it lengthwise. Slather both cut faces with garlic butter. Now press crumpets (yes, crumpets — the spongy British griddle cakes with the characteristic holes on top) onto the buttered bread, holes facing up. Brush more garlic butter into the crumpet holes. Top with mozzarella, parmesan, and a herb-flecked cheddar. Air-fry until the cheese melts down into every crumpet hole and the bread underneath is properly toasted.

The result is structurally absurd and practically genius. The crumpets act as cheese cups — the holes catch the melted cheese and create hundreds of cheese-stretch moments per slice. The garlic butter soaks into both the crumpet and the bread. The whole thing is more texture and more flavour than standard garlic bread.

The photo shows the finished loaf in a foil packet on the bench: the cheese a deep amber, garlic butter pooled at the edges, herb flecks visible across the top, the surface slightly crispy where the cheese caught direct heat. A pull-apart structural marvel.