Some foods are indisputable Christmas staples and mince pies are among them, but no-one wants a bad one do they? In the first of our Christmas taste tests, we put the supermarkets’ efforts before a panel of hungry reviewers in a blind test and asked for their no-holds-barred opinions.

 

Waitrose

 

Six deep-filled shortcrust mince pies, £1.70

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Waitrose’s pale pie divided opinion a little with a couple of people being really impressed but the general impression was one of ‘meh’. For some it was ‘a classic mince pie’ while others felt it was ‘unremarkable’ and ‘workmanlike’. One tester wrote: “It crumbled worse than the English batting order. It was sweet but insipid and basically inoffensive, a little bit like Peter Andre.”

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Marks and Spencer

 

Six Christmas Star mince pies, £2.50

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Oh hello, you sexy thing. The double star, icing sugar and paper case made this pie a looker and ensures we know this is not just a mince pie, it’s an M&S mince pie. But the looks come at a price, the sugar goes everywhere and is an enemy to anyone silly enough to be wearing black at Christmas. Chin up, festive goths. When it comes to flavour, it’s less sweet than some of the others and while this appeals to some, it leaves others cold.

One reviewer wrote simply ‘scrummy’ while another commented on its taste: “It smells gorgeous, it’s fruity and boozy. My dream pie.”

Elsewhere, another said: “A sad, dusty and bland pie that never really gets going. The David-Moyes-at-Manchester-United of mince pies.”

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Morrisons

 

Four luxury deep filled mince pies

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At first glance, they may look more like custard tarts but these are the real deal. Morrisons’ pies go big on everything. Certainly they are the sugariest, the pastry lid sitting under an avalanche of icing sugar which are an enemy to dark clothes but a sweet blessing to the rest of us. They are also so very deep - deeper than a whole album of Bob Dylan songs. One bite and you might just want the whole pack.

One reviewer wrote: “The fruity mixture tickled my tongue and the pastry melted on it like snow in spring.”

Another wrote: “The snow-like sugar dusting on this one made me think of Christmas. It also got all over my desk – bit messy, but otherwise a pukka pie, a real Christmas cracker.”

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Aldi

 

12 crumbly all butter mini mince pies with brandy laced mincemeat, £1.49

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Great things come in small packages, they say. But this maybe isn’t a great example. Aldi’s mince pie failed to grasp the imagination of our taste testers. Because it’s so little, the pastry to filling ratio is sent out of whack and it didn’t win anyone over on taste, with one person saying it had an ‘unavoidable hint of pot pourri’.

One tester said: “The traditional flavours that make a good mince pie are all absent. In hindsight, being small was a mercy.”

Another wrote: “I want a pie, not an amuse bouche. If I can swallow it in one go, it’s definitely too small. Tasted Ok though.”

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Tesco

 

Finest 6 all butter pastry, deep filled mince pies, £2

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Tesco boast these are their finest and who are we to disagree? Its pastry is crisp and short (a little too dry for some), with a pleasant dusting of sugar. Beauty wasn’t just on the outside, though, the inside was saucy, and fruitier than a Kenneth Williams compilation tape.

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Asda

 

Extra Special six luxury mince pies, £1.25

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With sweet, crumbly and buttery pastry and a sugary crust this pie was almost universally appreciated by our testers, though no-one went crazy for them. “A solid pie, I was impressed. It did what a mince pie should do, no mucking around,” said one reviewer.

Another thought it was almost as good as their mum’s homemade mince pies (high praise indeed) and another praised Asda’s effort, writing: “It felt like elves had made it in their workshop and Santa himself was hand feeding it to me, dusted with snow from the North Pole.”

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Lidl

 

Favorina 12 mince pies, £1.49

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If this was a one word review, it would be ‘chewy’. While the taste was alright, the Lidl mince pie looked cheapest and the best response it received was a middle-of-the-road “competent, but not spectacular, like one of the lesser Tom Cruise action movies”.

The gist of the taste test responses was this: “This one took my about five minutes to eat – tasted good but so chewy I had to breathe through my nose to avoid passing out.”

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Sainsbury’s

 

Taste the Difference, six all butter mince pies, £2.50

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From the top, Sainsbury’s mince pie looks a bit like a biscuit and it’s wonderfully buttery. Generally, our testers felt they were underfilled – “you could fit three elves in the gap between the mince and pastry,” wrote one – but everyone was impressed by the flavour and the overall package.

One reviewer wrote: “This pie could have come from the North Pole, on the sleigh of Santa himself. Fairy dust in a pastry case. Yum.”

Another said: “The best of the bunch. Puts one in mind of a warm, slightly boozy evening by a flickering wood fire. (Sheepskin rug and rhythmic background music optional.)”

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Iceland

Six luxury mince pies, £1.49

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Here we have the benchmark that all mince pies should look to reach. It won’t blow you away but it’s a solid treat.

“A corker of a mince pie,” wrote one reviewer. “I thought I could taste a bit of citrus in the shortbread. May have been my tastebuds playing a fruity trick on me, but if not good on them.”

Another said: “If this mince pie was a person you would definitely invite them back to meet the parents: solid and sophisticated with an element of fruity fun to boot.”

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