Top 8: The battle of the supermarket mince pies

For this year's battle, I trawled supermarkets, and while some would not make our Top 8 pitted against last year’s pies, we found some which did well. Others with lower marks are included to satisfy our curiosity about big brands, and many still didn’t make it. 

It was disappointing to see that most of the pies were not made in Ireland.

Even the worst of pies improve with heating and a blob of cream or brandy butter. Producers give instructions for microwaving as well as conventional ovens. 

Microwaves make pastry limp and misshapen. Air fryers (which would be more aptly named small ovens) are ideal. Unless we fill our conventional ovens, we are wasting expensive fuel. 

Have a happy and healthy Christmas.

M&S frangipane 4 mince pies 206g €4.50

From a wide range, there’s a good proportion of frangipane (almonds, butter, sugar, eggs), to dried fruit, including cranberries, soaked in clementine juice, brandy, Cognac and cider which add richness. Topped with flaked almonds, the pastry casing is nicely shortcrusty and holds the filling well. A good pie for those who don’t like lots of mincemeat and love almonds.

Score: 8

Iceland Luxury 6 all-butter mince pies 384g €3

Good, firm pastry is buttery and at 53% the mincemeat/pastry balance is far better than many other samples. The fruits have a crunch but are none the worse for that. Yuzu, juice, cider, port and brandy are not discernible but make for a good, rich filling that had tasters reaching for a second bite. Packed in Britain

Score: 8

Tesco Finest 6 all-butter pastry mince pies 390g €3.35

With 51% mincemeat, the balance is good here. Apple pulp makes the mix juicy, and a dash of Port may be what gives it a richness. The pastry was a little crumbly, but with a little rice flour had a light grittiness with quite a good flavour.

Score: 7

Aldi Specially Selected 6 all-butter mince pies 350g €2.49

With mincemeat at 51%, the balance here is good with juicy filling including apple, cranberries, brandy and cider. There is also clementine juice which we didn’t detect. The shortcrust pastry held well, with some butteriness, but not quite as natural a texture as tasters had hoped for. Made in Britain. We also tried The Foodie Market Gluten Free Mince Pies (160g €2.79) which, with plenty of cream, won’t seem so dry.

Score: 7

Lidl 5 mince pies 310g 5 for €1.59

Made/finished in-house in the Ballincollig, Cork, branch, this bag of pies had good, almost crunchy shortcrust pastry bordering on over-baked. This gave them good colour and firmed them up well. Sweet fruit was a fairly good contrast. In selected Lidl stores.

Score: 6.75

SuperValu Quish’s puff mince pies 5 pack 310g €3.50

We tried the in-house offering in the Ballincollig Cork branch. The tasty pastry overwhelmed the fruit which was too sparse for balance. Nice flavour, though. Much better heated.

Score: 6

Dunnes Store 6 all-butter puff pastry mince pies 300g €2.89

With 56% pastry, the proportion relative to the mincemeat was too high. The mincemeat was not spicy and had a nice amount of peel. Made in Netherlands.

We also tried Simply Better Cranberry & Chocolate mince pies (400g €3.50 on offer), enriched with 10% chocolate chips. These got the same score, as the pastry was powdery and didn’t hold the fruit well.

Score: 6

Mr Kipling 6 deep-filled mince pies 408g €2.49

Not a lot going for these pies with pastry cases an unnatural, powdery texture, despite being described as ‘buttery’. The amount of fruit didn’t quite compensate. Not as exceedingly good as we had hoped. Made in Britain.

Score: 5