1) Love them or, or hate them?
2) Shop or homemade?
3) If shop bought, what ones have you tried so far?
Now I must confess I am partial to trying mince pies from different suppliers / supermarkets ( not just Asda’s as the name may suggest!
I absolutely love them!
I reckon I’ve got through about 5 boxes since the start of December (fear not I’m not going to turn into a barrel as I’m burning them off on my exercise bike)
I will try and list the ones I’ve have so far (when I can remember them all) but I think my favourite so far has got to be Tesco’s iced mince pies.
Any other mince pie fans out there?
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Comments
Both
Tesco, Sainsbury, Mr Kipling
Shop Bought
M&S and Tesco.
Shop
Aldi are the best I’ve had so far this year by a long way. Really surprised me when I found out where they were from.
That turned out to be not very wise
Both
Hestons
The best shop bought ones I've had are the M&S ones that are soaked in Cognac. The smell of the brandy when you open the packet is awesome.
Got some of the Heston Waitrose Christmas Eve mince pies but are saving them for, errr, Christmas Eve.
Will eat them hot or cold, but love taking the lids off and adding a dollop of clotted cream.
2. Shop
3. My dad will insist that everything is overpriced and last year was adamant that Greggs were better than any more expensive version, so I bought some from there and some from the independent bakers virtually next door to do a taste test. The differences in quality and flavour from the independent far outweighed the small difference in price.
I only eat shop-bought ones if I'm at someone's house.
At home, I make my own. I use mincemeat from a jar but add extra ingredients such as chopped nuts and other dried fruits depending on what I have in the baking cupboard, and I always stir in brandy or amaretto. I baked 12 last night which should last over the weekend!
I use some different recipes other than the basic pastry-top. Mince pies topped with frangipane (almond paste) are really good. I also bake cookie cups, which use a cookie dough instead of pastry.
https://www.maryberry.co.uk/recipes/christmas/frangipane-mince-pies
https://www.sainsburysmagazine.co.uk/recipes/desserts/cookie-cup-mince-pies
I stock up on jars of mincemeat in January when the supermarkets flog them off cheap so I can have mince pies all year round!
If I do eat them, prefer them hot with cream.
Both, usually prefer shop bought, but we saw a recipe on TV with Loraine Pascal starfish shaped ones, which the old trout took a bash at. They were very good so we've had to buy more Puff Pastry!
Prefer the cheaper pies without too much messing about (ie lattice, weird fruits, odd flavourings or so much alcohol that it needs to burn off first like at an oil refinery) after very careful comparative research the winner was Waitrose Essential.
2) whatever my mum is punting when I pop round
3) usually m&s but there will always be a home made batch at some point over Christmas