IT'S not every day a chef from a three Michelin Star restaurant pops in for tea and a mince pie.
But for Kristian Collins the dream became reality after he successfully bid for The Fat Duck's head creative chef, James "Jocky" Petrie, to make him some luxurious mince pies.
He won the experience through The Mince Pie Project, a 72-hour eBay bidding war to try and get one of 100 top chefs to cook a batch of 50 mince pies for Christmas.
Kristian, who works in financial services in London, will not disclose how much he paid for the pies, but said it was worth it as all the money goes to charities Crisis and Galvin's Chance.
Kristian got the chance to show off on Christmas Day when he baked the remaining pies for 13 of his loved ones.
"The mix is prepared and they just take 30 minutes in the oven, it is a very simple process," said Kristian, 26, from Witham. "They tasted very special indeed, with their brandy sugar coating sprinkled over the top.
"This was my job this Christmas, we were very lucky to have a Michelin dessert this year."
Out of the 100 chefs, Jocky, the TV sidekick of Heston Blumenthal, was the only one who offered, as part of the bid, to come to the house and cook them fresh.
"I couldn't believe that no more people were outbidding me, I knew that this was an amazing experience," said Kristian.
"I'm actually so glad that not many people spotted it, I didn't really want to spend any more money on just 50 mince pies."
Jocky drove the one-and-a-half hour journey from The Fat Duck, in Bray, Berkshire, to Witham to make the pies on the same day as his restaurant's Christmas Party.
He brought round three piping bags of pre-made mince mix, and the pastry already cut out in the pastry tin.
Jocky's recipe was a 72-hour braised British Wagyu short rib and Christmas spiced duck confit infused with a blend of cinnamon, mace, clove, pickled Meyer lemon and soaked prunes on a bed of sweet pastry dusted with brandy sugar.
Together they made 30, and left the rest of the mixture to make into fresh mince pies on Christmas Day.
"The 30 mince pies were polished off within half an hour," said Kristian.
"There were about 13 people round, my parents, my wife, my wife's parents, friends, I think Jocky was slightly overwhelmed by the audience.
"He is a great man, he left enough mix for about another 75 mince pies, and even left my mum some cooking tins, which I don't know how pleased Heston will be about.
"But this is all about the Christmas spirit and raising money for good causes.
"We opened some Champagne when he came over as well to really make it a special pre-Christmas occasion."
