When it comes to festive season, nothing says Christmas like a good mince pie! But which UK supermarket makes the best? We tried far too many mince pies to find out!
How we tested the mince pies
This was by no means sophisticated testing but we thought this would be a good excuse to treat ourselves to lots of Christmas goodies! We sat down with a nice cup of tea and ate more pies than is healthy, but we rated the mince pies by how they looked, the pastry, the filling, the price and of course, most importantly, how they tasted! In the end, we narrowed it down to our favourite 5 brands...
1. Our Favourite – Aldi Specially Selected All Butter Classic Mince Pies 6 Pack - £1.49
Packed full of flavour and at a fantastic price, Aldi have again produced an amazing mince pie! The pies are all beautifully finished with a lovely star design, filled generously with a well-balanced mincemeat that has warming brandy and cognac flavour that isn’t too overwhelming. Great value and delicious (we finished the box in no time!)
2. Morrisons The Best Deep Filled Mince Pies - £2
We really enjoyed Morrisons offering, filled to the top, the filling is crammed with apple, vanilla, mixed spice, and orange oil which gave it a marmalade flavour that was truly delicious. We also really like the design.
3. Tesco Finest All Butter Pastry Mince Pies - £2
We found the mince pie from Tesco had a nice consistency, with a filling of sour cherries, apple, and currants, it was slightly chewier than the other options. There was a definite alcoholic kick with the brandy and ruby port, so this is a good choice if you like your mince pies with a little more boozy! We did feel that the design could have had more definition.
4. Iceland Luxury 6 All Butter Mince Pies - £1.89
These mince pies had such an interesting flavour! Light, refreshing and incredibly moreish, the yuzo juice gives a beautiful zing to the well-balanced mincemeat. Iceland have continued with their palm oil free promise this year which we admire and we really liked the decoration. Whilst these weren't our favourites, it is easy to see why these mince pies have been given awards by both Which and Good Housekeeping this year.
5. M&S Collection 6 Mince Pies - £2.50
These were the most expensive mince pie we tried this year but are they worth the price tag? Well, perhaps... M&S have been using this tried and tested recipe for years now and we don’t blame them when the result is a melt in the mouth, classic mince pie. They are nicely filled with a distinctive cognac kick, but the decoration is not overly exciting.
We really enjoyed testing all these mince pies, they were all really tasty and good value too. However, you can’t beat a home-made mince pie, so if you’d like to give them a go, why not try this easy to follow recipe from BBC Good Food here.
As always, if you’d like to speak to a friendly member of the Magnacool team to chat about how we can help your bakery, you can visit our website, send us an email at info@magnacool.co.uk or call us on +44 (0) 1159 659539
Comments