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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?

 

Overall score: 8 out of 10

Being wider and shallower than the traditional mince pie gives no particular advantage to the Co-op Shortcrust offering. While eating it I did think it felt a little ‘mean’ but then you realise it’s wider so it balances out. Not sure why they’ve gone for this form factor.

Onto flavour, and overall it’s very nice indeed. There’s quite a bit of sugar on top and the shortcrust pastry is sweet anyway, but there’s significant tang from the mincemeat filling and that’s enough to balance it out.

The filling is moist but not overly so – it goes well with the slightly drier crumb of the shortcrust too actually.

I can see this being one of my favourites this year – and it’s only my second one. Nice work Co-op

 

Overall Score: 7.5/10

Tasting Notes: In a departure from the traditional mince pie, a nice layer of sweet white icing adds a Christmas cake feel athough it does look a little stark next to a standard mince pie. Maybe an icing holly leaf would’ve made these feel more special? They have a good pastry (which you’d expect from the cake masters at Kipling) with enough crumble to satisfy but not annoy. Mincemeat is tasty and sweet but not overly so – the icing doesn’t over sweeten proceedings but there’s maybe a little too much of it.

 

Overall Score: 8/10

Tasting Notes: This is a really nice mince pie. The mincemeat has a good flavour and a smooth texture, it’s on the more moist side. Nice bit of sugar on top and good sweet pastry. No more needed. Buy it – cracker!

 

Overall Score: 7.5 out of 10

Tasting Notes: A very decent mince pie. A slightly firmer, less moist filling with a sweet taste. Not an overly spiced mincemeat, a firm but crumbly pastry with a good amount of sugar on top too. No issues with this one, a solid choice for the mainstream.