Exceptional 4 Brown Butter Flavour & Rum Mince Pies (Asda) By @SpectreUK

Merry Christmas. I hope Santa brought you everything you wanted. I hope everyone is having a great day, getting on with family and friends, as well as enjoying your presents. I hope Santa enjoyed whatever mince pies he was left out with a tot of brandy, or rum (if I was Father Christmas).

Now, I've never eaten a mince pie I didn't like. So, you may think this is another high praise blog about snack food I love. I am guilty of looking for foodstuffs I most often than not will likely enjoy. I count calories for my diet, so generally if I really don't like something I bin it and go straight for biscuits or chocolate, or chocolate biscuits

These Exceptional Brown Butter Flavour & Rum Mince Pies from Asda are my only ever exception. Considering they were supposed to be from a top notch range, the pastry was messy, the tops didn't quite fit the base, and the tops were a little off centre.

On taste the brown butter pastry was quite thick, and had a slightly burnt biscuit flavour. It was a little chewy but it did melt in my mouth after a time. I just wasn't sure I wanted it there after my initial bite. I've never tasted pastry like that before, it tasted different, and I'm not entirely sure I liked it. When Walkers did mince pies previously with shortbread it really worked, but this Asda Exceptional pastry was a miss.

The mince pies were supposed to be filled with a rum laced spiced vine fruit and citrus peel mincemeat. However, from the photograph you can see there was not much filling either, it was half empty, or half full depending on what type of person you are. Anyway, they had a huge air bubble.There was a juicy fruity rum tasting half filling though, but there needed to be more. I did like the sugar dusting though.

If this was a mass produced supermarket mince pie these mince pies would be fair enough, but as an Exceptional product they needed something more. They went okay with the more rum I drank with them, and they were okay with vanilla ice cream too.

Merry Christmas, I hope you find some nicer mince pies to enjoy!

Information on the box; There were 230 calories per mince pie, with 9g of fat, 20g of sugar and 0.1g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Luxury All Butter Mince Pies (Spar) by @Spectreuk

My christmas adventure into luxury mince pies continues with these Luxury All Butter Mince Pies from our local Spar. They have all butter pastry cases, and are filled with fruit mincemeat made from vine fruits, apple, brandy and port. Gosh, they sound rather nice indeed. They look good too, with their pastry star on top and fruit mincemeat surrounding, but how do they taste?

 

They certainly smelt nice, with their very fruity aroma. On taste they have lovely butter pastry, which is a little crunchy to start with, but then it melts in the mouth and is very smooth. Quite boozy on flavour, the brandy is most prominent, then the fruitiness from the mincemeat and a touch of apple, followed by port into the aftertaste. Sweet juicy boozy fruity flavours, these mince pies were fruity rather than punchy in citrus this time. I must say, I'm half the way through my second bottle of spiced rum, so far mince pie season is going very well indeed.

Information on the box; 6 mince pies with 210 calories per mince pie, with 6.7g of fat, 22.6g of sugar, 0.11g of salt. Vegetarian Friendly, please photograph for the ingredients.

Exceptional Luxury Mince Pies (Asda) by @Spectreuk

Two things I love about the Christmas period are mince pies and washing them down with spiced rum. I'm writing about some of the more indulgent mince pies this year. I keep throwing hints at Cinabar that I'm already running low on spiced rum on account of the amount of mince pies we've been eating.

These Exceptional Luxury Mince Pies are made with all butter pastry, and filled with spiced mincemeat, which is infused with ruby port, Valencian orange oil and cognac. They look rather indulgent too with their icing sugar dusting and star pattern on top of the mincemeat filling. On first bite into a mince pie it had a gorgeous melt in the mouth butter pastry.

I generally take a sip of my spiced rum mixed with 7UP between mince pie bites to wash each mouthful down. The mincemeat filling is very flavoursome indeed; very sweet and fruity, and a little boozy, but not too strong. They are super flavoursome really, with a good hit of orange citrus into the aftertaste. These mince pies really are "Exceptional".

Information on the box; At 226 per mince pie, with 8.6g of fat, 21g of sugar, and 0.02g of salt. Vegetarian friendly. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Mince Pies (Birds of Derby) By @SpectreUK

I love mince pie season. The variety of mince pies on the market is astounding. There are deep pan mince pies, sugar coated ones, or icing topped, great big ones to little tiny ones. Mince pies to heat up and have with custard, cream, or with a dollop of vanilla ice cream on the side. There is such a plethora of different types of mince pies, I can't list them allI, because I'm still finding different ones out there in the shops.

Personally I like to wash my mince pies down with a couple of shots of spiced rum with lemonade. It has to be 7UP, although other lemonades are available, they just don't have the correct lemony taste to bring out all the flavours of the rum, or Southern Comfort, or Pink Schnapps, depending on what's in reach.

Cinabar works in Derby sometimes. She loves to visit Birds, which was founded in 1919. She bought back their mince pies for me to try. They are cute and pretty small mince pies. Just on biting in I felt like I was eating a really high class quality mince pie. Sugar coated, the pastry had a very soft and crumbly buttery flavour, which was really gorgeous. Some of the nicest pastry I have tried, the pastry really was heaven, buttery and light.

Although shallow, there was a good amount of filling for the size of the mince pie. The mince filling was really tasty, sweet, with some spices, and plenty of citrus. Birds' mince pies tasted handmade, but really well handmade with love, rather than a mass produced mince pie by some machine. I'd certainly recommend a visit to Birds if you're passing by Derby, or know someone who goes there.

Mince Pies (Greggs) By @Cinabar

I know it is only October, but we were passing Greggs, and the mince pies in the cabinets caught our eyes. We are weak. I try to wait until November before I get the Christmas food out, but in the moment we just ended up buying these. If you aren’t from Britain Mince Pies contain no meat; they are filled with current and spices and are a Christmas treat. I have no idea why they are called'mince’ pies, and even more confusing, Greggs also makes a beef mince pie too; that is the usual meat and gravy but has a similar name.

These pies are wide but shallow and served in the normal silver tray. I unpeeled the foil and bit in. The pastry was buttery, light and soft, and slightly crumbly. It had a lovely, sweet, buttery taste. The filling looked more generous than the shallow appearance gave it credit. It was sweet and juicy with lots of spice. I might not be ready to put the Christmas tree up, but I might keep my eye out for more mince pies. 

Mr Kipling Plum Pear & Cinnamon Pies (@NLi10)

 I don’t like mince pies, so instead of clearing up all the left over ones I’ve invested in Mr Kipling’s latest offering for us non sultana/raisin people.

This has Plum, Pear and a little cinnamon (barely any really) to make some tiny jam tarts with hats

Look at them - they barely exist!

As pretty as they are there really isn’t much to them, and they are best used on a saucer next to a cup of tea.

And for that purpose they are perfect, but don’t expect to be making a trip to the kitchen especially to get more.  These won’t generate the excitement that a crispy mince pie seems to create, but it’s a nice try and something to look for in more luxury ranges.

The Great Foodstuff Finds Mince Pie Taste Test - Results - By @Cinabar

If you were wondering "who ate all the pies," I can confirm: it was us! We have taste tested and rated most of the high street Mince Pies on sale this year. We have been around all the shops, from Aldi to Marks and Spencer, and even stopped off at Greggs on the way. We took into account pastry, filling, and design and packaging, collated scores, and gave a percentage rating to all of them, and now the results are in:

 

Aldi Holly Lane Mince Pies - Rated: 57% 

(£1.09 for 6, equivalent to 18p each)

I really wanted these to do well; we all root for the underdog, and to be honest, these weren't bad pies at all.They came last on our list as the filling wasn’t very generous and the pastry was dry.

M&S 6 Iced Topped Mince Pies -  Rated 69%

(£2 for 6, equivalent to 33p each)

The pastry was nice, but there was not enough mincemeat and the icing was too thick.

Sainsbury’s Mince Pies - Rated 72%

(£1.25 for 6, equivalent to 21p each)

These ones were really nice; the pastry was a bit thick and a little dry, but the filling was really good.

M&S Lattice Mince Pies - Rated 82%

(£2 for 6, equivalent to 33p each)

The pastry seems thick, but it is soft and tasty. There is orange peel in the mincemeat, which was absolutely lovely. 

Mr Kipling Mince Pies - Rated 82%

(£1.85 for 6, equivalent to 31p each)

Well these are the classic British mince pie through and through. The pastry is a little thick, but there is plenty of filling too; they are wonderfully generously filled and well flavoured. 

Iceland Mince Pies - Rated 82%

(£1.20 for 6, equivalent to 20p each)

These are the best budget mince pies we could find. They look a little smaller overall, but they have good pastry and a nice filling that is sweet and well spiced. 

Tesco Iced Topped Mince Pies - Rated 92%

(£1.75 for 6, equivalent to 29p each)

These were so well balanced: a nice layer of icing, not too thick, and a decent pastry with a tasty filling.

Greggs Mince Pies - Rated 97%

(Sold individually for 60p each)

These pies are rather generous, bigger than the boxed versions from other brands. They are baked fresh, and the pastry is spot-on buttery, not too thick, and still has a bit of crunch. The mincemeat is juicy with plenty of fruit, these are a proper treat.

And the winners are...

Walkers of Scotland Mince Pies - Rated 100%

(£5 for 4, equivalent to £1.25 each)

Yes, these pies got 100%; that is, every person gave them full marks in every single category. They were by far the most expensive pies we purchased, but what can I say, they at least met our expectations.The filling was juicy and flavorful, and there was plenty of it. The pastry was next level; it was so buttery and biscuit-like and an absolute joy to eat. Everyone was just saying "mmmm" while they ate them. They are a bit good, and from the scores, you can see they are actual mince pie perfection.

Have we missed any pies you think should be rated too? Let us know! Which ones are your favourite?

Walkers Marvellous Mince Pies Crisps (Tesco) By @SpectreUK

Merry Christmas! I thought I'd get that out of the way first. I've recently had several guys complain to me about Christmas so far. The complaints ranged from expense of presents to the existence of Father Christmas (whether he exists or not, who can say!), and also gripes about Christmas music in the office while they were trying to concentrate and the pain of putting up Christmas decorations.

I'm not a fan of Christmas myself, but for some reason I'm looking forward to this one more than most. Besides I don't mind it all that much nowadays, as Cinabar gets super excited enough for both of us. I do really love the food and snacks this time of year. I love mince pies, and the Christmas cake Cinabar especially bakes for me (as I can't eat nuts for dietary reasons), and I'm quite partial to presents (mainly receiving them). So I get Christmas, I suppose, what I don't get is Walkers Marvellous Mince Pies crisps. They sound like a crime against snack food! And yet, here I am about to brave a blog about them…

I say 'brave' because Cinabar and her mom tried them first… They seemed to like them, stating that some of the actual mince pie flavours had been dulled down a little, such as the fruitiness and the pastry. In the UK our mince pies generally don't have any meat in them, as we don't seem to make the traditional mince pies nowadays. However, I say 'brave' because there is cinnamon in the flavouring of these crisps. I don't particularly like cinnamon. Especially when someone adds it to apple to make a pie or whatever, but there are no apples here, so we'll see…

On opening the bag there was indeed a mince pie spiced aroma from the crisps inside. It was a good smell, I have to say. A smell of Christmas no less. I have to disagree with Cinabar and her mom on the flavour of these Walkers Marvellous Mince Pies crisps. To me they tasted fully of mince pies, well, asides for the potato in the crisps.

They're actually bizarrely moreish. Whilst my brain was trying desperately to convince me that I really didn't like them, I kept munching more and more of them. No… I really shouldn't like these, and yet… they're really rather yummy. Walkers Marvellous Mince Pies crisps possibly need cream, but that would be totally insane!

Information on the packet; The 25g packet contains 125 calories, with 6.8g of fat, 0.5g of sugar, and 0.15g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Biscakes Mince Pie Oh My (Ocado) By @Cinabar

In the snacking world hybrid snacks are a thing. We started with a Cronut (croissant doughnut) and then they kept on coming. Mixed Bourbon biscuits with Custard Creams followed shortly later, and to be fair most of the hybrids are pretty decent. Today though we combine three things so are entering the big league with our hybrids. We have the Biscake, which is biscuit and cake, but for added fun they mixed in a mince pie too (well it is Christmas). Introducing the Biscakes Mince Pie Oh My.

So we have a biscuit base (which looks suspiciously like something I can’t dunk into a coffee) topped with a spiced cup cake, and on top a portion of mince pie filling, butter cream and decoration. They looked amazing by the way.

I wasn’t sure where to start with the cake so I pulled the biscuit off the base, and munched on that first. It had a good spice flavour and led the introduction perfectly. The sponge tasted liked mixed spice and as a cinnamon fan I rather enjoyed it, it was soft and moist and spot on. The butter cream was creamy and smooth and added contrast to the zingy mincemeat flavour generously dolloped on top. Gosh this Biscakes Mince Pie Oh My really is the perfect seasonal treat with all the flavours of Christmas. I loved every bite and I will certainly look out for other goodies from Biscakes because it turns out they know what they are doing. Seriously though who wouldn’t want a biscuit with their cupcake.

M&S Collection 6 x Mince Pies (Ocado) By @cinabar

I have tried a few different mince pies this year already in an attempt to find some really good ones. I have tried several supermarket own brands, which are all good and some classic Mr Kipling, again you can’t go wrong with these. To be honest there isn’t a bad mince pie out there. To be fair most of them are of a similar quality, and it varies between whether you prefer a sweeter or sharper taste and how much pasty you like. However when I picked up a box of the rather posh sounding M&S Collection 6 x Mince Pies I was pleased to say that these were my favourites so far.

 

The pies look look very smart and have a star (snowflake?) pattern on the top. The pastry isn’t too thick, but has a lovely buttery taste. There is plenty of filling inside, it is quite generous. The flavour of the mince pie is seasonal and fruity, the mincemeat has a slightly sour tang from the currents but has lots of spices and a warming tough of cognac flavour. These are proper luxury mince pies and my favourites of the shop bought ones. However if you know of some that you think maybe be better let me know, I’m happy to try some more varieties in the name of research.

Mince Pie Hot Chocolate (Hotel Chocolat) By @cinabar

Firstly a big yay to hot chocolate season and all the new varieties that it brings with it, although as I have previously mentioned I drink hot chocolate all year. This new flavour from Hotel Chocolat is getting a little Christmassy but I couldn’t resist picking up a bag and giving it a try; introducing Mince Pie Hot Chocolate. I love mince pies and couldn’t wait to get started.

I opened up the bag and oh my word the aroma was next level, it was so strong and spiced and chocolatey it was amazing. The scent was warming and smelled like Christmas. I added 6 teaspoons of the chocolate flakes to milk and heated it up. Again it smelled lovely while it was being heated. I took a sip and somehow realised that Hotel Chocolat had put all the flavours of Christmas into a drink and I couldn’t stop myself smiling. There was plenty of cinnamon and nutmeg, but also a fruitiness and touch of brandy flavour. Wow, this is like the poshest mince pie flavour mixed with chocolate. It is genius, I loved every sip of it. This Hotel Chocolat Mince Pie Hot Chocolate does what it says on the bag in the most amazing way, they nailed it and I want more!

Heston Night Before Christmas Mince Pies (Waitrose) By @Cinabar

Oh Heston I never quite know what to make of you. I like different, this blog is helped because I like different things and new varieties but the items from Heston can go either way. I have never once eaten a mince pie and thought that needs carrot but here we are, Heston thinks they do. Or at least he thinks it would be fun to add a bit of carrot for Rudolph and Sherry for Santa and include them in the recipe as part of a Christmas Eve theme. I bought them even thought I was unsure because well, what else could I do.

Inside the box are six pies, they are quite large and don’t quite look like tradition mince pies, they are covered over in pastry, and are flatter than usual. There was also a sachet of smoked sugar, I don’t how that fits into the Christmas Eve theme, Santa in a smokey chimney perhaps? I started by opening that and sprinkling it on, the smell was a little too strong of smoke for my liking but I was trying to buy into the moment.

Thankfully the sugar didn’t add too much smoke to the flavour, the pastry is thick but sweet and tasty. The mince meat came with a hit of sherry and was delicious, there was a delicate bitter edge which I think was carrot and these worked. Mainly because the smoked sugar wasn’t too strong! Heston I apologise for doubting you, this one was a success. You made it sound exciting but didn’t really mess with the traditional flavours too much and this worked for me. I would actually buy them again!

Co-op's All Butter Pastry Winter Eve's Pudding Tarts (@NLi10)

 Well - with the announced restrictions I think everyone has basically decided to have Christmas whenever (the adults anyway).  So - lets crack out the Winter Eve's Pudding Tarts - wait what?!

I see Co-op have also decided to appease my wrath by offering a festive alternative to the mince pie.  So lets have a look at them!

They have a tiny bit of sultanas in them to add a kick to the apple bit - but we will forgive them this time - seeing as it's Christmas.

Flo decided that they were quite interesting, but not enough to have a nibble.  She didn't even steal any of the stars!

They are pretty presentable too - despite all the ones in our shop having been stored on their sides so the tops were sliding off (whoops) and the little stars mean these will appeal to everyone.

And they are surprisingly light too - the filling is hidden at the bottom and it's mostly fluffy sponge.  I will make sure to have these again become Christmas disappears in Feb.

They taste more like a mulled wine pie than a mince pie and I heartily approve!