It's Mince Pie Season again!!
There's only one way to find out.... REVIEW!!!!
They must come from a box from a shop - no homemade ones!
The review must be the first one out the box
Must be reviewed cold - no warming up! Save that for the other 5
No reviews will be of the iced variety, they all get a default 0/10.
So far completed (in order or preference):
Harrods 9.5/10
Aldi 9/10
The review must be the first one out the box
Must be reviewed cold - no warming up! Save that for the other 5
No reviews will be of the iced variety, they all get a default 0/10.
So far completed (in order or preference):
Harrods 9.5/10
Aldi 9/10
Co Op 8.5/10
Lidl Snowy Lodge 8/10
Marks and Spencer Standard All Butter 7.5/10
Sainsbury's Taste The Difference All Butter 7.5/10
Waitrose Heston's Spiced Shortcrust 7/10
Asda Extra Special 7/10
Iceland 7/10
Lyons 7/10
Waitrose 7/10
Waitrose Essential 7/10
Mr Kipling 6/10
Co Op Luxury 6/10
Morrison's Luxury 6/10
Tesco 6/10
Sainsbury's Taste The Difference Mini All Butter 6/10
Marks and Spencer Luxury 6/10
Spar 5/10
Sainsbury's 5/10
Asda 5/10
Lidl Snowy Lodge 8/10
Marks and Spencer Standard All Butter 7.5/10
Sainsbury's Taste The Difference All Butter 7.5/10
Waitrose Heston's Spiced Shortcrust 7/10
Asda Extra Special 7/10
Iceland 7/10
Lyons 7/10
Waitrose 7/10
Waitrose Essential 7/10
Mr Kipling 6/10
Co Op Luxury 6/10
Morrison's Luxury 6/10
Tesco 6/10
Sainsbury's Taste The Difference Mini All Butter 6/10
Marks and Spencer Luxury 6/10
Spar 5/10
Sainsbury's 5/10
Asda 5/10
Aldi Luxury 4/10
Waitrose Heston's Puff Pastry 3/10
Budgens SuperValu 0/10
Reviews:
Waitrose Heston's Puff Pastry 3/10
Budgens SuperValu 0/10
Reviews:
- Mr Kipling 30p per pie: Disappointed! We used to be BFFs! Dry pastry, hardly any flavour in the mince and nothing tells me this is an exceedingly good pie. These used to be my benchmark pie! 6/10
- WAITROSE Heston's spiced shortcrust 50p per pie: Woah! They may not look like mince pies but are very truly flavoursome. Spiced up to the max! Imagine cinnamon on crack. You wouldn't want two of these little bad boys in a row or you may overdose. 7/10
- Co Op 17p per pie: Incredibly flavoured mince and perfectly cooked pastry too! The tasty pastry is so like a shortbread, it's like you're eating mincemeat out of a tin of Walkers Christmas Shortbread! A small gap between pie and mince drops a point, however, for the taste and price, who's worried about buying a little air? What a pie! 8.5/10!
- WAITROSE Heston's puff pastry 50p per pie: dry, over enthusiastic on flavour, too much pastry. Lemon? Who puts lemon in a mince pie? Jog on Blumenthal! 3/10
- LIDL 12p per pie: Lots of flavour and spice, moist, possibly a little soggy maybe but this doesn't matter as these little German treats are tasty and great value for money. The cheapest so far so who's complaining?! 8/10
- ALDI Luxury 15p per pie: Nothing like the word luxury! They put all their mince pie know-how into their standard ones and forgot when their bosses told them to make a luxury brand. I bet they thought "Quick! Chuck some brandy in!" And then they ruined it. 4/10
- TESCO 17p per pie: Moist yet quite crumbly, Less flavour and smaller than previous years. A few years ago these were my chosen favourite but I have moved on since then. It's like seeing an ex girlfriend who's now fat and you realise you had them whilst they were at their peek. 6/10
- M&S All Butter 30p per pie: Full of great tasting chewy mince. They weren't kidding about the "Butter" pastry, it's verging on being a bread and butter pudding! However, it's not too overpowering and it's still an awesome mince pie. 7.5/10
- HARRODS £1.67p per pie: HOLY JINGLE BELLS! We have a winner people! A tad expensive, yes, but wow they are worth it! It's like a party in your mouth with all the trimmings and all your friends invited! Perfectly made shortcrust pastry with the most incredibly filled to the top mince. Out of this world! 9.5/10
- ICELAND 17p per pie: Excellent value for money and great texture but the flavour lacks to start with... until BAM! The spiced apple hit kicks you on the last mouthful.
#LateResponder! 7/10
- Lyons (bought from One Stop) 17p per pie: EXACTLY the same as Iceland. I'm pretty sure they have the same mince pie parents. 7/10
- Sainsbury's Taste The Difference All Butter 42p per pie: A great big pie covered in excellent pastry and filled with a wonderful flavour of Christmas mincemeat goodness. Although these were a classic bribe attempt by the good people of @SainsburysPR I have marked them fairly and I was very impressed. 7.5/10
- Sainsbury's Taste The Difference Mini All Butter 28p per pie: These are the only mini pies on the list (as part of the bribe attempt delivery from Sainsburys). These little mouthfuls aren't too bad and would sit well on any Christmas party food table but they are so chewy you may think you have picked up a Christmas Chewit. 6/10
- Sainsbury's Taste The Difference Mini Ecclefechan & Mincemeat Tart Selection 28p per pie: Now this was a rather cunning and crafty effort at bribing me with some significantly special delicacies and boy was it a good try! However Mr J Sainsbury, this blog isn't a Mini Ecclefechan & Mincemeat Tart Selection review blog, so I'm afraid they get a default zero on the site. if you had just made them into a mince pie, then they could have possibly achieved full marks for the fabulous flavours and texture. You can't pull the stockings over my eyes, nice try Sainsbury's, nice try.
- Waitrose Essential 17p per pie: A lovely flavoured and moist pie that doesn't taste like any normal 'value' range pie. What gives it away is the flimsy pastry. Not bad on a budget though and when I say 'budget'.... I mean on a Waitrose budget. These are for people who like to be seen in Waitrose but don't want anyone to look in their basket. 7/10
- Waitrose 30p per pie: Now there really isn't much difference between these and the Essential range. However, that extra 13p per pie will save you the horror of having to cover up your basket if you see someone you know whilst you stand there in Waitrose discussing horses and Hunter wellies. 7/10
- M&S Luxury All Butter 38p per pie: This isn't just any mince pie, this is an overpriced M&S Luxury mince pie. 'Luxury' basically just means "with a hint of alcohol" being the standard All Butter mince pie but with added port & brandy. For me, this killed the flavour. 6/10
- Co Op Luxury 33p a pie: Dry pastry and lots of it. Flavour was good and not too over the top on the brandy which is rare. However, not worthy of being classed as 'Luxury' in my recipe book. 6/10
- Morrison's Luxury 33p per pie: I am pretty sure Co Op and Morrison's have the same mince pie parents again. THEY ARE THE SAME PIE! Can't fool me! 6/10
- Asda 17p per pie: Light in consistency and a little boring and airy in flavour. Nothing really jumped out at me. A little crumbly and moist. Why pay more, Asda? Because you might just get a better mince pie, that's why! 5/10
- Sainsbury's 22p per pie: Standard. Quite a large mince pie and full of mince but it's just a shame they forgot to add the flavour! 5/10
- Asda Extra Special 33p per pie: Loads going on in this extra massive pie. Sultanas, apples, cherries, cinnamon, nutmeg, brandy, the lot!! All mixed in extremely well into a cocktail of #MincePieTasticness. You have done well with these, Asda. By far the winner of the Luxury branding. 7/10
- Aldi 17p per pie: Eighteen pies in and I thought I had tried them all. In fact, I didn't think I would see another leader amongst us... And them BOOM! Those little German elves have been very very busy. They have made the right level of succulent mince surrounded by a soft and crumbly pastry shell. A little gap between the top and the mince but I think that is where they added a little magic. Superb. 9/10
- Spar 17p per pie crumbly with an unexpected spice which was a nice bonus. Still an average pie with an average score. 5/10
- SuperValu from Budgens 17p per pie SuperVulger! Horrid cardboard pastry (I feel bad calling it pastry!) Terrible flavour. Do Not Bother. 0/10
Mince Pie graph (really should have been a pie chart)
