Christmas Muffin (Greggs)

Hurrah, another festive treat to tick off my 'wish I'd tried in 2015' list -one of the last I might add! The Greggs Christmas muffin just didn't make it to my mouth last year, but I've often wondered if it was as good as it looked. I owe a big thank you to Dan on Twitter for alerting me to their return, and of course I didn't hesitate to buy one as soon as I spotted them peering at me so longingly from behind heir £1 sign in Greggs.

"Who doesn't love cake and custard?! That's why we've combined the two for you. A mixed spice and sweet mincemeat muffin, filled with a custard style filling and topped with a fondant icing and sugar decoration."

This year the high street bakers have apparently improved the recipe, and they certainly looked the part with their rosy red wrapper and sweet gold star atop snowy white icing. The sweet festive scent also gave the impression that I was in for a treat, and I carefully carried it to uni with me so that I could enjoy it on my late evening return home.

As a side note, anyone who follows me on Twitter and saw my muffin post last night may have read about my grumpiness caused by the train being on time for once (a strange sounding complaint, but I explained why in the comment). I really hoped that appearances wouldn't let me down with this train dessert as they had in the past with the utterly disappointing apple crumble doughnut.

I went to slice my muffin in half but it totally fell apart -this is one cake not made for eating on the go! I then started to wonder what had happened to the custard that was supposed to fill the muffin. Sure there was a little pocket of it at the very bottom, but not anywhere near enough to to enjoy cake and custard together in every bite as hoped.

Not wanting to give up on the Christmas muffin before I'd tasted it, I picked up the largest chunk and dug in. The cake was wonderfully soft and the spices were mellow, reminding me of carrot cake -without the carrot of course! The flavour was delicious and I really enjoyed it, although I'd argue about whether or not it was 'mincemeat' considering that there were only two raisins (or sultanas, I can't tell the difference) in the entire muffin. As for the custard, it was the same delicious innards used in Greggs' Caramel Custard doughnut, which actually made my heart sink a little because it was so good and I JUST WANTED MORE OF IT.

I really hope that I got a bit of a duff muffin, and that others contain both more fruit and custard filling. The flavour and texture of the cake was delicious but it was ruined by the lack of proportions. That said I would like to try it warmed up with a big mug of tea. Please let me know if you've tried Greggs Christmas muffin yet and whether you've had a similar or entirely different experience!

7/10