Chicken pie will be creamy and 'impressive' with Mary Berry's delicious recipe

With the temperature continuing to drop all over the country, it could be wise to barricade yourself indoors and whip up a hearty, warming pie that'll fill you right up. Your loved ones will be absolutely delighted - particularly if you rustle up Mary Berry's scrumptious chicken and bacon pie, which feeds six hungry mouths, reports LiverpoolEcho.

On the BBC Food website, where Mary's recipe was first featured, she explained: "This creamy chicken and bacon pie topped with an impressive pastry lattice makes a wonderful centrepiece for a special family meal. If you want to keep things simple, just top with a sheet of puff pastry and trim."

For this dish you'll require a 1.75 litre shallow, wide-based ovenproof dish, roughly 25cm across. The meal requires up to an hour of preparation time and up to two hours of cooking.

To start, heat the oven to 160C/140C Fan/Gas 3.

Place six skinless chicken legs, four chopped celery sticks and four roughly sliced bay leaves into a large ovenproof saucepan, add 200ml white wine and 300ml chicken stock and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat, cover with a lid and pop into the oven for 30-40 minutes, or until the chicken legs are thoroughly cooked and tender. Leave aside to cool down.

Once cooled, strip the meat from the chicken bones. The bones can be kept and used for making stock.

Tear the meat into bite-sized chunks before placing into a bowl. Strain the stock, keeping the celery and discarding the bay leaves, and measure out the liquid.

You should have about 750ml; if not, top up to this amount with a bit more stock or white wine.

Heat a large frying pan and fry 250g smoked back bacon (cut into small pieces) on a medium-high heat for three minutes. Add a large, roughly chopped onion, cover with a lid and fry for an additional 10 minutes until the onion is softened.

Add 50g butter, stir until it's melted, and then sprinkle in 60g plain flour to create a roux. Gradually pour the reserved liquid into the roux, whisking as you go, and stir over a high heat until it thickens to a smooth sauce consistency.

Season with a bit of salt and pepper, add the reserved celery, two tablespoons of full-fat creme fraiche and one tablespoon of grainy mustard and mix together before adding the chicken pieces. Spoon the filling into the ovenproof dish and level the top.

Allow it to cool and then chill, covered, in the fridge for 30 minutes.

In the meantime, prepare two 375g packets of ready-rolled, all-butter puff pastry. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out each of the pastry sheets to about 3mm thick.

Cut each piece into long, thick ribbons, about 3cm wide. You will need to make enough to cover the top of the dish, approximately 16 in total.

Interweave the ribbons on a sheet of baking paper until you've created a pastry top large enough to cover your pie. Allow it to chill in the fridge for 15 minutes to firm up, or if time permits, freeze until solid.

Remove the filling from the fridge and brush the dish's edges with a bit of beaten egg. Gently slide the pastry lattice off the baking paper and place it atop the chilled filling.

Trim any excess pastry around the edge and lightly press to seal.

Turn up the oven temperature to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6. Brush the pastry with additional beaten egg and bake for 30 minutes until the pastry is golden, cooked through, and the chicken is bubbling. Serve while hot.