Overall rating: 9/10
Review: The best fancy mince pie of 2019? Certainly up there with the finest. It’s rich and sweet with lovely biscuity pastry.
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Sainsbury’s Deep Filled Mince Pie Review 2019
Overall rating: 9/10
Review: Well I’m as surprised as you are! Standard supermarket mince pies have been lazy this year – too soft, tasteless. Not this one.
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Co-op Irresistible Butter-Enriched Deep Filled Mince Pie Review 2019
Overall rating: 9/10
Review: The winner from 2017 returns triumphantly. Another great mince pie from Co-op.
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Aldi Specially Selected Sloe Gin Mince Tart Review 2018
Overall rating: 9/10
Review: They may have dropped the ball with the salted caramel mince pie (4/10), but this sloe gin mince ‘tart’ is amazing.
It’s not really a mince pie, you can tell that by the name, but if you want something a bit different for Christmas – this could be the one.
There’s a hint of sweet mincemeat in there, a light hint of sloe gin – and the rest is great too – the pastry is soft and the glaze on top is sweet. A sprinkle of almonds on top finishes things off.
Really impressive Aldi. Some of my favourite this year for sure.
Co-op Irresistible All Butter Pastry Deep Filled Mince Pie Review 2018
Overall rating: 9/10
Review: The King is dead, long live the King. So very close from Co-op…last year’s 10/10 mince pie has slipped one point to 9/10. It’s just not as good as the ASDA Extra Special deep filled pie.
The pie pastry is still sweet and biscuit-like but it’s too thick. So very slightly too thick. It’s a bit of a task to chomp through the (not so) little bugger. The mincemeat is sweat and full of whole fruity bits – it’s sweat and has a hint of brandy to it. But the taste of the mincemeat isn’t as good as the ASDA pie.
That’s not to say this isn’t nice – it’s a really great mince pie…it’s just not a 10 anymore. Maybe next year Co-op.
Sainsbury’s Mince Pie Flavour Cookies Review 2018
Overall rating: 9/10
Review: This is a first for me – a cookie with mince pie flavour. And it’s good, really good.
The cookies are just what you’d want in consistency – firm enough to hold but nice and soft when you bite into them.
I know you’re only interested to hear about the taste though – and they do taste like mince pies. They’re full of sultanas and raisins which does help – and if I’m being honest you do get a little hint of them being ‘gingerbread-y’. But overall, in this alternate category, they’re the clear winner.
Aldi Specially Selected ‘Exquisite’ Mince Pie Review
Overall Rating: 9/10
It’s clear there’s two camps in the mince pie market. There’s those happy to be the workhorse of mid to late December, bought in their dozens and eaten just as swiftly. At home cold on a plate, with brandy butter or warm with ice cream. Then there’s the upper class, the equivalent to the ‘nice china’ that you only get out for special occasions. This mince pie is the latter. And it’s amazing.
Disclaimer: if you don’t like almonds you won’t like this one.
These six handcrafted mince pies from Aldi have a frangipane topping – really nice to bite into, plenty of flavour and sweet. Might be a tiny bit too thick – should have slightly more mincemeat in my opinion. Why? Because the mincemeat is rich with brandy – more so than the other ‘boozy’ options available but still not overpowering. Full of juicy spiced fruit as well!
And finally the pastry – pretty much tastes homemade, like the ones a grandparent used to make. Flaky and crumbly but holds it’s shape.
If this didn’t have almonds on and the frangipane was slightly less deep…it would’ve had 10/10. Buy some of these to bring out and impress.
Lidl (Favorina) Mince Pie Review
Overall Rating: 9/10
I missed out on the Lidl mince pie last year, something that makes me wince having just tasted the class of 2017.
What they’ve produced is a a really well filled pie, with a lovely pastry – just crumbly & sweet enough – and a superb sprinkle of fine sugar on top.
The mincemeat is tasty, sweet and contains plenty of full fruit – not a blended paste like some this year.
Considering the price (£1.59 for 12) and that these are a ‘standard’ pie – not Specially Selected or Extra Special – this is a triumph.
It’s official, the ‘budget’ supermarkets rule the mince pie roost in 2017.
Aldi ‘Specially Selected’ Cognac Steeped Mince Pie Review
Overall rating: 9 out of 10
Tasting Notes: This was one of my absolute favourites of recent years – I think I got through three packs easily in 2016. Aldi’s ‘fancy’ mince pie is here.
Whilst Cognac ‘steeped’ might be a bit of an exaggeration, that’s not bad thing. More ‘with a hint of Cognac’ in my opinion. But it does give it that specially selected feeling and it’s pretty festive too. The pie has a pastry snowflake on top with gives it another point of difference, a little sprinkle of sugar to top it off as well.
The pastry is as it was last time out – pretty near perfect. Crumbles just enough but not so much that it’s annoying. The mincemeat is coarse but nicely so – it’s not a paste like some pies seem to go for, you can see the individual fruits.
A lovely mince pie from Aldi again in 2017, can this be number 1 this year?