Mince pies

[TwoTurkeysMarinatingInABucket]

At personal sacrifice I tasted a variety of minces pies from an arbitrary selection of shops and can reveal that the best mince pie is ...

... Saino's taste the diff all butter mince pie!

YUM

100% agree TwoTurkeys The only pies I've bought for the last 8 years (or so) is the Sainsburys TTD (but only the mini ones)

They've got stars instead of lids this year (not eaten them yet)

I would add don't buy morrisons deep filled pies, they had soggy bottoms!

The saino's ones are so nice I had to eat three full size ones in one go.

M&S short crust pastry ones are nice.

I will go to sainsburys to buy a pack to test.

The all butter m&s ones were good, the mincemeat was quite lemony and the fruit separated out if that makes sense.
I thought the sainsburys ones tasted almost like shortbread and then read on the side of the pack that they are made by walkers of Scotland shortbread specialists!

Mr Kipling were not memorable and that's all I have tasted. Must swing by tescos and waitrose ... Just for a fully informed choice you understand!

The Gregg's mince pies are lovely. By far the nicest from my (extensive) taste tests

Right, so tescos, waitrose and greggs then.

Anywhere else I should visit?

Marks and Spencers iced mince pies, not for the traditionalists but superb!

I had several of those and some mini ones with a brownie mix and mincemeat.
The saino's ones still my fave. Wouldn't turn down the iced ones though.

The ones in the red boxes an aldi (not the value ones) they are so, so good.

I only like flaky pastry pies so they are very difficult to find. So far the only ones I have found were from Tesco and they were a bit lacking in the filling department.

Are they actually nice, this year? I had some a few years ago and the pastry was just vile and greasy. Not even nice warmed up.

i found the tesco ones lovely :)

I on't like them. DP says the aldi specially selected ones (£1.69 for 6, not the 99p for 6) are the nicest he has has this year.
Apart from Heston's from Waitrose, but apparently they don't count because they aren't really mince pies.
DS1 eats any!!

Lidls were nice this year

So that's Aldi and lidl added to the list.

My survey was a very small sample it turns out

babymummy there were puff pastry ones in m&s.

ouryve are you referring to Sainsbury ones or mince pies in general?

The Tesco finest are nice. I've a box just for meeeeee

Aldi red box beat Fortnum and Mason in a blind taste test this year tinsel wrapped gavell

I'll add fortnums to my list just to be sure

Or just swing by Aldi and sack the rest

I am not a good cook but I can make mincey pies.

Buy pastry made by the very kind Jus-rol people. (flaky or short)
Cut into almost round-ish shapes
Put into otherwise unused tart tin
insert half a jar of mincey meat per tart
roll out extra pastry and cut out random shapes to go on as 'hats'
bake for slightly too long
drench heavily in icing sugar to disguise wobbly shape

guzzle too quickly so mouth gets burned

how can you resist? Shall I send you some?

They sound like my kinda pie! I'll take a dozen please norks

I may even decorate with a good squirt of spray cream-mmmmm

Don't bother with Tesco finest, they were not nice at all and only half full, which is unacceptable for a luxery brand. Sainsburys bog standard two boxes for £2 are lovely and have a yummy crumbly pastry. (see how you have to buy two boxes ) I'll have to try the taste the difference ones now, thanks.

Yes, taste the difference are 2 for £4, but worth it!

I may have to eat another 3 so it only looks like I bought 1 box. And therefore didn't eat any.

The Sainsburys ones, twoturkeys.

I'm making my own at the weekend. Never got around to making my own mincemeat, but found a jar of the stuff without any lemon juice in Waitrose - I shall doctor it before using it, of course! I make lush pastry, though, when I can be arsed, so can be quite critical of shop bought ones.

Sainsburys bakery ones, the flat ones, not the puff ones, are mince pie kings this year. I have road tested about 2 dozen boxes of them so far and every one has passed my rigorous criteria. Greggs are disappointing this year. The ones I've had are either burnt or insipidly underdone.