One of the most joyous things about Christmas is all of the festive recipe givings that come along with it. You’ll be hard pressed to find a cafe, restaurant or supermarket not providing sweet and savoury treats for the festive season.
But one fan has taken it a step further and recreated one of the most popular Christmas treats around: the Greggs Festive Bake. Nutritionist Molly Cunningham has shown how you can make the popular bake healthy, boasting 65g of protein.
What’s even better is that the recipe can be made in a slow cooker, so you can leave it to cook away while you’re busy dealing with other Christmas prep.
This year’s festive offerings at Greggs include the Festive Bake, packed full of chicken, sage and onion stuffing and sweetcure bacon in a creamy sage and cranberry sauce; the Christmas Lunch Baguette, Spicy Veg Bake Pie, Vegan Turkey-Free Baguette, and Festive Soup. Molly’s Christmassy pie embodies all of the festive goodness of the main star of the Greggs menu.
However, if you’re not satisfied with just one measly bake, Molly has made it into a massive feast for everyone to share and enjoy. Earlier this year, she wrote: “Yesterday the festive bakes were back at Greggs so I had to pick one up for Liam as they’re his favourite! I wanted to create a bigger version we could enjoy for dinner to get us feeling festive!”
Molly explained: “The Greggs Festive Bake was finally back yesterday, so to celebrate, I decided to create a giant version completely in the slow cooker. I tried to keep in all the flavours and consistency of a normal Festive Bake with the addition of a sneaky vegetable and over 50 grams of protein.”
Greggs fans were amazed by Molly’s creation, with one person saying: “I urge everyone to make this I made it last Sunday and it served me Sunday and my lunches until Thursday it was yummmmmy.”
Rachael wrote: “Made this last night!! YUMMM! And easy to do. I swapped the pastry for a hotpot style slice potato top, will be making again!”
A third commented: “My husband is going to LOVE this,” while @emmybeany said: “I’ve made this today. It was delicious and I’ll be making it again for sure.”
Another agreed: “10/10! I can’t believe how amazing this is! It’s going to feed both me and @thewitchtree for three days, and tastes absolutely out of this world! I can’t wait to make it again.”
So if you’re a Greggs lover and want to recreate its iconic Christmas bakes, this is what you’ll need.
Greggs Inspired Festive Bake Pie
Ingredients
- 2 large chicken breast
- 4 bacon medallions
- 100g dry stuffing mix
- 1 large leek, chopped
- 2 tbsp garlic granules
- 2 tbsp mixed herbs, plus extra to sprinkle on top of pastry
- 260ml chicken stock
- Water
- Puff pastry
- 2 tbsp crème fraiche
- Cranberry sauce
Method
Dice your chicken and add this to the slow cooker with your bacon, dry stuffing mix, leeks, garlic granules, mixed herbs and chicken stock and mix well.
Leave on high for three hours or low for six to seven. Try to stir halfway through to prevent the stuffing from clumping. If your stuffing mix starts to become really thick, just add a little bit of water and give it a stir to loosen, but not too much as you will be adding the crème fraiche after and don’t want a loose consistency.
When it is ready to serve, stir through your light crème fraiche and add in around six little teaspoons of cranberry sauce and distribute it evenly.
Use the slow cooker lid to cut around the pastry and add this on top of your slow cooker, brush with some egg wash and some mixed herbs
Pop it in the oven at 200 degrees for around 20 minutes or until golden brown. Serve and enjoy!