Live webchat and baking session with Dan Lepard, Fri 8 Jan, 12-2pm

[GeraldineMumsnet]

We've got a Mumsnet first this Friday - award-winning baker and food writer Dan Lepard is our guest for a bake day and live webchat. Should be just the thing to counter wintry gloom and warm up your kitchen.

Dan's involved with the World Marmalade Festival, which promotes all thing marmalade-y and supports the charity Hospice at Home. So he has chosen Ponymum's muffin recipe and given it a citrus-y twist. Full details, ingredients, plus all Dan's variations on the recipe are here.

Please choose the version that tickles your tastebuds and join us to bake along with Dan on Friday. He'll be online from noon.

While your (and our) culinary creations are cooking, Dan will answer questions and swap tips about baking, bread making, marmalade making and the like.

Once your muffins/pudding/traybake are out of the oven, please share a picture of the finished result on your profile. We'll put up pix of our efforts here.

And, of course, if you can't make it on Friday but have a question you'd like to ask Dan, please post here.

Thanks Dan! Though when I posted it I had no idea it was going to get this much attention!

I'm looking forward eating to warm muffins looking out at the falling snow.

Bluesky, fivefour and cmotdibbler,
Sones, you asked about getting light scones.

The tricks are:

1. keep the dough very soft and sticky with milk, don't make it too dry. It sould flow very slightly when scraped out onto the floured bench.

1. Use a mixture of bicarb soda and cream of tartar, rather than baking powder, 2:1 as specified on the container. Most of the great scone makers I know swear by this combo rather than baking powder.

1. Bake them in a really hot oven, about 220C (200C fan) for about 15 minutes rather that lower for longer. This will make them 'jump' in the oven.

I have an extra light scone recipe coming up in the Guardian later next month.

Is there anything that I can use instead of cream cheese for the creamy icing? Just realised that I have none. Have butter and icing sugar.

Mme Lindt, I was going to try the marmalade glaze which I think is icing sugar and marmalade - can Dan give us some pointers on how best to do please?

Just noticed the soufflé answer, thank you. Will look out for that.

thanks for scone advice Dan, that is exactly what mine lack in the oven, the "JUMP".

Snigger - lol at your AIBU post.

giannah (Fri 08-Jan-10 12:49:56), you asked about double-gold winners from the Marmalade Festival going on sale at Fortnum & Mason. This will be possible, but only from the Artisan Producers category - sorry if this disappoints you, but I'm not sure many home marmalade makers would want to turn their kitchens over to making marmalade on even a small commercial scale!

I'm with snigger, I've got my cuppa and looking at all the other delicious cakey recipes on Dan's site, so many new ideas to try.

Mine seem to be cooking slowly and also don't seem to have risen much. I'll blame the oven. And maybe the fact that I didn't have SF flour so instead guessed how much baking powder to add instead. Smell nice though.

We've caved in and about to start scoffing the muffins

Hi dundeemarmalade (Thu 07-Jan-10 23:07:56)

You asked whether all pith needs to be removed when making marmalade, or if chopping the fruit finely is okay.

You are both right, but for different reasons and according to who you ask. The WI, who are the Valhalla gods when it comes to defining what is and isn't true Seville orange marmalade, insist (to me at least) that a true Seville marmalade should be glisteningly clear with very few thin and tender shreds of peel suspended through it. To achieve this all the pith must be removed, then (this is what I do) tie the finely chopped zest in a small pouch of muslin and place it in a saucepan with the roughly chopped pith. Barely cover with water, add the juice of a lemon, and simmer for at least two hours until utterly soft. Strain the liquid through muslin without pressing, return with the untied zest to the pan with the sugar and boil to 104C and hold it there until the setting point is reached. This will produce the clearest set.

However, if you just chop the Seville oranges finely, cover with water and cook until tender, add the sugar and bring to the boil, scoop the pips off - they rather helpfully float to the top - then boil to 104C and hold it there until the setting point is reached, this will produce a lovely preserve. Is it still marmalade? I think it is.

Sourdough bread: look through my website forum at danlepard.com/forum and at thefreshloaf.com and sourdough.com but I will look at writing an easier how-two somewhere.

StarlightMcKenzie (Fri 08-Jan-10 08:32:25)

A muffin recipe that doesn't require a muffin tray? You're in luck, but it's the papers rather than the recipe that are the secret. Go to Clas Ohlson and get their paper American muffin cases (£1.39 for 24):
www.clasohlson.co.uk/Product/Product.aspx?id=54806604

LOL at Gerry's Will power
One of mine won't make the glaze, as DS 21months keeps pointing to the cooling rack and saying "mummy! cake! down!" and when I said it was too hot, he said "blow it mummy!"

Icing/glazing - Dan's going to make and shout out instructions for me to post to speed things up.

EVye,

With your ingredients, this is what I'd make:

Chocolate chip marshmallow pancakes.

350ml milk, plus a little more
50g sugar
4 large eggs
125g plain flour
50g melted butter, plus extra butter for the pan
Chocolate chips and mini marshmallows

Beat the milk, sugar and eggs together, then beat in the milk and melted butter. Leave for 30 minutes then heat a frying pan with enough extra butter to barely cover the bottom with a thin layer of oil. Spoon some of the batter into the pan and swirl it around. Place the pan back on the heat, and when the top is barely cooked sprinkle on a spoonful of the chocolate chips and the marshmallows. Let it cook for 30 seconds then fold the pancake into four and leave it on a warm plate while you cook the rest. Serve warm, with ice-cream even better.

dundeemarmalade Thu 07-Jan-10 23:07:56 you asked about a newsletter you edit, I'll talk to you later about this and see what can be done.

Sound divine. Thank you so much for answering. Will save recipe and try later when I have recovered from trying to make the MN Easy Biscuits recipes with DDs. In the oven now and I am feeling a little feint.

So Dan's taking 150g icing sugar - sieve is best for getting rid of lumps, but can use a mixer.

He's adding about 50g of marmalade and beating them together to a paste.

Also adding about 1tsp of water - only need a v little amount of water.

As you keep mixing, the sugar dissolves and starts to get runny.

Just finding a plate so we can show off the finished product.

Dan says better to ice them directly on the plate and trick with icing is teaspoon and small knife.

He's putting 1 tsp on top of each muffin and spreading with knife.

DS decided he did not want any icing on his and has tried one.

Definitely put too much orange peel in, they are very zingy. If I make a really sweet icing, then that should balance it out a bit perhaps.

Did not have a muffin tin so used paper cases, maybe that is why they did not rise so well.

Now he's putting a tiny blob of marmalade on top of each one ("like a jewel")

For a glaze, do exactly the same thing but put the icing on hot muffins (ie straight out of oven) and it will melt.

If the muffins have cooled down, heat the icing up gently in a saucepan and brush that over the top.

LOL at bundt in Carrie's cupboards but no plates

have just had one of mine now that they have cooled slightly .... delicious. The butter and philly are softening a bit before I mix up the icing.

hi dan
just a quickie
am making ponymums muffins with my 2 yr old didn't realise there was a webchat about them - spooky.

50 mins at 180 deg -is that right? other muffin recipes say 20/25 mins....

sorry about typing said 2 yr old and baby on knee while i 1 finger type

I am soooo hungry now after reading this, and drooling over recipes on Dan's site, and I have no muffins . Perhaps I will brave a walk to the shop for eggs.