The great Christmas Mince Pie Hunt

WoollyRedHat

I got some mince pie crumbles from Donnybrook Fair and they were divine, admittedly not completely traditional but seriously...wow, tastebuds are singing.

Any other contenders?

Posy

I've heard good things about Avoca mince-pies, don't eat them myself so can't comment!

DvB

Posy wrote: »

I've heard good things about Avoca mince-pies, don't eat them myself so can't comment!

Usually pretty good. Even if most of them are baked in the summer.

cee_jay

Avoca mince pies are the best imho. They do jice ones in Baked as well.
In Dunnes, their simply better ones, with star on top, 2 for €7, are nice, and much nicer than their deep filled ones.

TRS30

I plan to sample a few different ones over the next few days so will report back

Borgo

Just had one of Staffords Bakeries Deluxe Mince pie with a cuppa, one of the best I've had so far anyway.

WoollyRedHat

Borgo wrote: »

Just had one of Staffords Bakeries Deluxe Mince pie with a cuppa, one of the best I've had so far anyway.

Oh that sounds posh, where can you buy them?

I’ve tried a good few but Tesco Finest with loads of booze in them were my favourite by far.

WoollyRedHat

WoollyRedHat wrote: »

Oh that sounds posh, where can you buy them?

They only sell their bread in the south east so I’d imagine these are the same. One I’ll hopefully still get to try.

Borgo

WoollyRedHat wrote: »

Oh that sounds posh, where can you buy them?

Most Tescos that have a Staffords stand, but im not sure if every tesco does them. Keep an eye out, 3.50 for them, 6 in the pack.

New Home

Supervalu own brand ones are the biz. Foods of Athenry used to make the very best ones around, but since they switched to gluten-free only they changed the recipe of the filling so much they utterly ruined them and now they're inedible, IMHO.

NewbridgeIR

M&S Best Ever mince pies are great.
Large, come in a red box and can be found in the bakery section. Just good for 2 days.

DvB

Lidls baked fresh in store are impressive. Had just had their boxes previously but the fresh ones sold in bags are really nice... Will definitely pick them up again.

Must remember to pick up some boxes to freeze again this year, nice to have the odd one throughout the early part of the year.

New Home

NewbridgeIR wrote: »

M&S Best Ever mince pies are great.
Large, come in a red box and can be found in the bakery section. Just good for 2 days.

It's funny how you think that mince pies would actually make it to the second day in my house....

TRS30

Bit left field however favorite so far has been the everything free (diary, gluten etc) from Tesco.

Graces7

supervalu here.. but there was a pack of brandy mince pies in the hamper.... seriously good, from a local bakery... all gone

RobAMerc

anyone try the salted caramel topped ones from Aldi ? Seriously nice

DvB

Tried loads of different ones this year. To be honest I enjoyed them all but the best were the avoca ones, again.

Managed to get 18 into the freezer though so I'll be well stocked into 2021, glad I did as down in dunnes this morning and they had none left on sale. So they're gone now until September/October.

Jude13

We froze a few packs also. I have to had gluten free ones and found that though M&S won the best pie from the newspapers I preferred the Waitrose ones, posisbly as they were twice the size so having one of their had a better return.

mud

RobAMerc wrote: »

anyone try the salted caramel topped ones from Aldi ? Seriously nice

Yeah! I bought them thinking they were just salted caramel pies as I don't usually enjoy mince pies. Turns out I loved them, had them warm with fresh cream and they were drool-worthy

TRS30

Mince pies for sale at checkout in local Aldi, 49c a box.

sporina

Ahhh i wish I hadda seen this thread earlier - my OH and I had a kind of a mince pie sensory analysis project going on over xmas lol.. (we wer away from home alone - so a quiet xmas had and time to spare obv ekk)..

Location - Cork

So tried... DS standard range, M&S standard range, SV standard range, and variety of locally home made versions from.. Cafe Marius English Market, Opera House Cafe Cork, SV Grange baked in store..

Of the Supermarket brands - fav was DS - which is surprising to me, and not a DS fan at all.. SV standard variant wer v poor by comparison imo.. M&S wer fine

Homemade, those from the OH Cafe where v good - but v expensive.. Cafe Marius had the best filling - had nuts in it - yum - but the pastry was made with margarine and not butter I think - I prefer the butter type..
SV grange - delicious - both pastry and filling ( not as sweet as others)..

Overall winner - between SV Grange and OH Cafe

I really miss mince pies now... I got into a habit of having them with custard which I would never have done before - but was so comforting (much needed these days)..
Wish I hadda bought xtra and froze them - lesson learnt for again.


Oh well - twas nice while it lasted