Mince pie reviews

seanoconn

Somewhat of a late starter this year with only 3 pies consumed.

Sainsbury’s taste the difference all butter pastry. Decent short pastry, good level of moist fruity filling, no weird aftertaste.

4 out of 5 ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️

ugo.santalucia

Waitrose Heston Blumenthal Night Before Christmas mince pies... not enough filling and a strong aftertaste of caraway seeds, which I do find a bit odd...

2 out of 5

vincesummerskRoxcBTr

Iceland ones, quite tasty, pastry has a bit of crunch to it and no palm oil in them!

surrey_commuter

I am a simple person when it comes to mince pies so my favourite is Waitrose Essential short crust.
Their major failing in that they go soggy when heated

4 out of 5

veronese68

Now this is a useful thread, well done Seano.
I also just had a Sainsbury's Taste the Difference mince pie, but with a dollop of Waitrose clementine and Cointreau cream. I think the pie was alright, but hard to tell with the cream on top. I'll have to have another later without the cream for research purposes.
Waitrose Eseential sounds good SC

seanoconn

30 seconds max in the microwave (or the filling may burn) served with extra thick brandy cream 😋

rick_chasey

veronese68 said:

Now this is a useful thread, well done Seano.
I also just had a Sainsbury's Taste the Difference mince pie, but with a dollop of Waitrose clementine and Cointreau cream. I think the pie was alright, but hard to tell with the cream on top. I'll have to have another later without the cream for research purposes.
Waitrose Eseential sounds good SC

Suggest making your own version by just necking some cointreau after every mince pie.

seanoconn

rick_chasey said:

veronese68 said:

Now this is a useful thread, well done Seano.
I also just had a Sainsbury's Taste the Difference mince pie, but with a dollop of Waitrose clementine and Cointreau cream. I think the pie was alright, but hard to tell with the cream on top. I'll have to have another later without the cream for research purposes.
Waitrose Eseential sounds good SC

Suggest making your own version by just necking some cointreau after every mince pie.

With some lime and tequila 👍

seanoconn

Might be onto something here. Margarita mince pies! Which way is Dragons Den?

surrey_commuter

seanoconn said:

30 seconds max in the microwave (or the filling may burn) served with extra thick brandy cream 😋

I will give it a go with the microwave

rjsterry

Do knock up a prototype batch and let us know 😋

pinno

Lidl deluxe mince pies: 4.5/5.
Lidl plain bog standard mince pies: 2.5/5
M&S: Pastry is good, filling is good but oddly, a bit salty! 2/5.

I would have rated them a 4 but given the salt and the cost above the Lidl one's, nope.

You can always heat them up and serve with cream/vanilla ice cream and mitigate the flaws but you want something that is essentially good before having to embellish them to mask whatever.

2-3 mins in a 160 deg oven. Microwaves alter the texture of pastry.

veronese68

Does my sense of service to the hive mind have no limits. Purely out of concern for furthering the knowledge of fellow forumites I made myself have another Sainsbury's TTD mince pie, but without the distraction of the cream. I'm happy to report it was very good, I might have to have some more to make sure it wasn't a fluke.
Actually, I will have to have some more so I can try Rick's idea of necking some Cointreau after the pie. First I'll have to buy some Cointreau. Should get some of the posh Lidl pies as well reading other posts.

pangolin

Aldi "speciality selected" deserve a mention.

blazing_saddles

pangolin said:

Aldi "speciality selected" deserve a mention.

Other than a 9 quid box, the Independent has them as the top buy.
Having said that I haven’t read 2 published top picks that are the same.
One even had Aldi’s SS and Sainsbury’s TTD bottom of the pile.

The Coops best also seem to come out as good.

briantrumpet

Co-op in-store baked aren't too shoddy... definitely a step up from their Scrooge-ish 6 for £1 basic offering... decent crumbly pastry, and well filled was more than passable mincemeat.

briantrumpet

Incidentally, I used to know someone who worked for Mr Kipling, and after closing down the mince pie production line for a month in January, they used to start it up again in February to build up enough stock for the following Christmas.

orraloon

Having made a minced lamb + loads of veges one pot dish tonight, tomorrow will be a shepherd's pie. Does that count? Ras el hanout, chilli, lime, dijon mustard, turmeric.... Will try a post bite Cointreau.

Pross

Just had a Greggs one, good balance of pastry and filling and pastry texture was good. A bit on the small side so 3.5 out of 5.

dannbodge

Tesco finest ones are my favourite.
Nice and sweet with a decent taste of brandy.

seanoconn

dannbodge said:

Tesco finest ones are my favourite.
Nice and sweet with a decent taste of brandy.

1000 posts 🥳🥳🥳

thistle_

pinno said:

M&S: Pastry is good, filling is good but oddly, a bit salty! 2/5.

Are they they boxed ones or the ones from the bakery counter/cafe?
The latter were pretty good a few years ago but haven't seen them for sale here although they're listed on the tills.

dannbodge

seanoconn said:

dannbodge said:

Tesco finest ones are my favourite.
Nice and sweet with a decent taste of brandy.

1000 posts 🥳🥳🥳

And what a post to have it on!

Pross

Pross said:

Just had a Greggs one, good balance of pastry and filling and pastry texture was good. A bit on the small side so 3.5 out of 5.

Upping these to a 4 when eaten cold. Still too small and would like thicker pastry but very tasty.

pinno

thistle_ said:

pinno said:

M&S: Pastry is good, filling is good but oddly, a bit salty! 2/5.

Are they they boxed ones or the ones from the bakery counter/cafe?
The latter were pretty good a few years ago but haven't seen them for sale here although they're listed on the tills.

The boxed one's.

Today I tried Morrisons own.
They are actually quite good. Something missing a little perhaps or maybe I hadn't brushed my teeth tooth properly.

But the sort of Mince Pie where you could easily add a complement like cream to.

3.9/5

rick_chasey

Can recommend the fresh bakery M&S mince pies but not had one this year so feel like cheating if i rate it.

pangolin

Nothing beats a good homemade shortcrust pastry mince pie. I guess they can't make one that keeps well enough.

seanoconn

pangolin said:

Nothing beats a good homemade shortcrust pastry mince pie. I guess they can't make one that keeps well enough.

Fresh from the oven with a little filling seepage at the top.

pangolin

Mmmmmm seepage

daniel_b

I was planning to try and get through this festive period without having a mince pie, I have managed it once before - I don't overly like them, and they have a massive calorie hit for not enough enjoyment to my mind.

I'd rather have a hefty slice of coffee and walnut cake, or a chunky kit kat etc etc.

Anyway I digress, we are not waitrose shoppers at all, but have in the past bought the essential mince pies when we had a voucher of some sort to use - they were really good.

My partner went shopping tonight, and has come back with two packs of Lidl mince pies, didn't examine them, but think they may well be the deluxe ones, which I see get good reviews up the thread.

seanoconn

Found some extra thick espresso martini cream to go with the mince pies 😃