IT'S THE GRAND FINALE!

Today's contenders for the 2018 Best Christmas Mince Pie are... 

🎉  🎊  ALDI Chocolate and Cherry  🎊  🎉   ( £1.99 for 6 ) 

🎉  🎊  Morrisons Famed "UK's Best"  🎊  🎉   ( £2 for 6 ) 
🎉  🎊  M&S Icing Topped  🎊  🎉   ( £2ish?? for 6 )
🎉  🎊  ALDI Classic Mince Pie  🎊  🎉   ( £2ish?? for 6 )

Who would have thought that doing 3 a week would still leave us with backlog like this! Hold on tight, cup of tea at the ready, time for a quick fire round up...

1. ALDI Chocolate and Cherry

Pastry: Lovely brown colour and I can't fault the moulding as the 'Noel' survived well. Bit light on the chocolate flavour but it's still nice and buttery!

Filling: Cherries! Very jammy, little bit boozy, big on chunks...really nice!

Presentation: It's a bit different this one. The whole chocolate cherry thing usually turns me away with little chocolate liqueurs but this is alright! If you're sick of mince pies and want something else then give them a bash. Serious warning though for sticky fingers.

Summary: Nice but not a proper mince pie is it. Sorry not sorry!

2. Morrisons Famed "The Best"

Pastry: Excellent. Buttery, structured, melts in an instant but it does have a bit of a greasy bottom - It's okay, we saw that with the M&S one too. Came out of the tin just fine and very little mess.

Filling: Excellent. Right up there with the best. I'd say it's balanced really well with lots of nice whole fruits to give a great bite. Not the booziest but it's definitely there, more delicate than ASDA's punch in the mouth.

Presentation: It's a solid pie, little bit of overspill on the pastry top but they've done a great job making these and they stand up well against strong supermarket competition. 

Summary: MOZZAS DESERVE EVERY BIT OF PRAISE THEY GET. It chips ASDA off the 3rd spot since it's a more rounded flavour and certainly beats Pret on bang for buck. NEW 2ND PLACE.

3. Tesco Icing Topped 

WHAT?! Just...what?! Who thought this was a good idea?

Summary: Nope.

4. ALDI Classic Mince Pie 

Not 100% but I think I may have tried these already. 

Pastry: Moist, delicate, melts away with no fuss. Wonderful flavour that's sweetened nicely by the sugar. Came out of the case well with faintest hint of a buttery bottom. 

Filling: It's certainly above your average Kiplings or basic in-store bakery but there's something missing. I think it need more of the fragrant spices to bring it up to par. The fruits and currents are great though, very sweet!

Presentation: There's nothing classic about them, these things mean business! I'd describe them a pretty good copy of Mark's offerings...very nice. 

Summary: It's alright!



It is with great pleasure that I can say my favourite, most reliable, most mouth watering and pocket pleasing pack of mince pies is...

Leaving the leader board looking a little something like...

Big Brands

1st: M&S - Collection 

2nd: Morrisons - 'The Best'

3rd: Pret A Manger

Independents

1st: Blackbird Bakery 

2nd: The Nightingale Patisserie
3rd: Konditor & Cook

Finally I'd like to thank the numerous people for these final submissions. Again, thanks to all who contributed their time, effort and pies to this ridiculous process. It's been going for nearly 2 months! I've found that it's spurred on our warm communal spirit and grew to be much larger than I had anticipated. I must share a recent submission from Ebrahim, inspired by the process he created this...




















I now relinquish my title of Pie Tester.

***NEXT TIME...I'll be doing some sit ups***

Adam Cooke

Photographer

Today's contender for the 2018 Best Christmas Mince Pie is... 

🎉  🎊  Blackbird Bakery   🎊  🎉   (  £1.20 each ) 

Take note people...this is a really nice pie!

Pastry: Thin, buttery and flavourful, delicate, very nice colour too. Excellent crumble top (not like Heston's abomination) and dusted beautifully with sugar. With submissions it's normal to forgive a little damage though there was a full on crumble avalanche...I should have been known better though. No foil case - straight to business.

Filling: Very sweet, nicely spiced and a great bite. Not hugely boozy and MAYBE a little bitty as the pastry melts away. I feel like there could have been a bit more there to balance it out but I'm getting picky. - it's really REALLY good.

Presentation: Powder sugar top! Yes! Crumble top is great! It's a little rough and ready looking. Intense case of sticky fingers, even some messy trousers BUT all criticism is null and void once you get it in your face. 

Summary: New 1st place for the Independents!!!

***Thanks to Thea for this wonderful submission!***

Current Leaders

1st: M&S - Collection 

2nd: Pret A Manger

3rd: ASDA - Extra Special

Independants

1st: Blackbird Bakery 

2nd: The Nightingale Patisserie
3rd: Konditor & Cook

Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday / Friday!

THIS WEEK I'M RAMPING IT UP - Not much time left!

Adam Cooke

Photographer / Pie Tester

Today's contender for the 2018 Best Christmas Mince Pie is... 

🎉  🎊  M&S Puff Pastry   🎊  🎉   (  Can't remember at all! ) 

Pastry: Now we have something completely different...A puff pie! It's extremely messy from the first bite, I could have done with a bib. Quite tall, great buttery flavour and has a lovely colour too. 

Filling: There's a fair air gap between the filling and the top of of the pie, I imagine there's a limit to how much filling they could get in before it affected the puff but in this case it's too little for me. Balance is way off. The filling is typical of the M&S varieties we've seen, good fruit, nice and sweet but it's not wet enough to counteract the dryness of the overall bite.

Presentation: It's nice! Quite an impressive creation and I've eaten more than I should. The crystallised sugar felt a bit sharp on the roof of my mouth and looking at them...all 6 aren't round, more of an oval.

Summary: Needed a big tea with these.

Current Leaders

1st: M&S - Collection 

2nd: Pret A Manger

3rd: ASDA - Extra Special

Independants

1st: The Nightingale Patisserie 

2nd: Konditor & Cook
3rd: Here East's Coffee Man

Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday / Friday!

THIS WEEK I'M RAMPING IT UP - Not much time left!

Adam Cooke

Photographer / Pie Tester

Today's contender for the 2018 Best Christmas Mince Pie is... 

🎉  🎊  BT Sport Canteen   🎊  🎉   (  £1.50 each ...what! ) 

Pastry: Dry, very basic and the whole pie fell apart the moment I touched it. Also, I'm not certain but I think these were stored on the same shelf as their spices because it had a funk. The pastry tasted...like the reception smells...on curry day. 

Filling: Doesn't really get much better here. There's whole currents and a moist filling but it's one blurred flavour, no variety as you chomp through it...and again a bit of a weird lingering aftertaste.

Presentation: I feel like I'm really slamming some of the recent ones but this hasn't given me much to be happy about. There weren't any photo ready perfect pies to choose, they tasted a bit off and I'm not totally convinced these aren't from Poundland or something. 

Summary: Really quite bad.

In other news: Props to you Rosie the Banana cake was amazing!

Current Leaders

1st: M&S - Collection 

2nd: Pret A Manger

3rd: ASDA - Extra Special

Independants

1st: The Nightingale Patisserie 

2nd: Konditor & Cook
3rd: Here East's Coffee Man

Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday / Friday!

THIS WEEK I'M RAMPING IT UP - Not much time left!

Adam Cooke

Photographer / Pie Tester

Today's contender for the 2018 Best Christmas Mince Pie is... 

🎉  🎊  CO-OP Boxed   🎊  🎉   (  £1.50ish? Can't remember ) 

Pastry: Quite delicate, but has good flavour! A little pale looking but it's shaped well and all six are flawless. Came out of the tin easily but VERY crumbly.

Filling: Can't complain about the flavour but it's like baby food with one or two currents thrown in...quite disappointing! 

Presentation: They're alright for a basic pie but your not going to be impressing your mum with these. No leaks but since the thing self destructed it was sticky HANDS...not just fingers.

Summary: Alright for muggles but we know better.

Current Leaders

1st: M&S - Collection 

2nd: Pret A Manger

3rd: ASDA - Extra Special

Independants

1st: The Nightingale Patisserie 

2nd: Konditor & Cook
3rd: Here East's Coffee Man

Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday / Friday!

THIS WEEK I'M RAMPING IT UP - Not much time left!

Adam Cooke

Photographer / Pie Tester

Coming to you live from an Italien train...
🇮🇹  🇮🇹  🇮🇹  🇮🇹  🇮🇹  🇮🇹  🇮🇹  🇮🇹  🇮🇹  🇮🇹

🎉🎊 Today we revisit PRET! 🎉🎊 ( £1.40ish )

Saved this badboy, carrying it over 1000km specially to maintain my pie updates! This guy has had a long journey from the bakery to my face hole and...it looks a little worse for wear. Also the crumb factor has increased significantly, defintely better fresh!

Since we've covered the basics already I'll save you the bother of the full breakdown. Instead let's talk about consistency as it seems no two pies are the same.

Occasionally I feel the need to confirm my previous judgements (just another excuse to eat a pie really). What it's shown me is that two pies in the same pack will have roughly the same look and pastry performance but the filling can change a lot. I assume it's just luck of the draw but I think I started out assuming that a filling scoop was a scoop! Nobody wants to go counting currants and orange peel but the only way round it I see is to eat more. EAT MORE PIES. I generally nom my way through 2 pies for each review and I encourage you to do the same!

People of Matches Fashion I implore you to eat more pies!!! Anyway, I'm off...gonna have a nap.

NEXT TIME...It's whatever I find in Milan 🤣

Regards,
Adam Cooke
Photographer / Pie Tester

Today's entry for the 2018 Best Door Wedge is... 

🎉  🎊  The Foods of Athenry  🎊  🎉   ( £4.50 for 4! ) 

Pastry: Sad

Filling: Sad

Presentation: Sad

Summary: I had one bite, came back a day later and forced one down.

No, seriously...I want to be nicer about these pies but I can't. Kornelia I am very sorry.

Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Vegan...this isn't how a mince pie is meant to be and it's doing a disservice to people that have to shop in these categories. No flavour in the pastry. Powdery, granular and bitter. The filling is mostly nuts, they've been soaked and have just gone a bit strange. There's powdered sugar on top but not a lot generally in the mix. It's almost savoury. 

Just save yourself the bother.

Current Leaders

1st: M&S - Collection 

2nd: Pret A Manger

3rd: ASDA - Extra Special

Independants

1st: The Nightingale Patisserie 

2nd: Konditor & Cook

Monday / Wednesday / Friday!

Adam Cooke

Photographer / Pie Tester

***Donated by Kornelia!***

Today's contender for the 2018 Best Christmas Mince Pie is... 

🎉  🎊  Konditor & Cook   🎊  🎉   ( £1.75 EACH ) 

Pastry: Sadly this little guy didn't travel so well, beautifully thin and delicate pastry here though. Has a super honest, handmade feel to it! Great flavour and being so thin you get straight to the filling, no nonsense. Hint of a leak on one side but a great colour and lovely shine!

Filling: A really sweet filling. Little to no booze from what I can tell but the spices linger on nicely in place of that heat. The fruit seems to be the usual mix but it's kind of...half blitzed. Nice texture though since it still has some whole pieces! I'm not keen on the ones that feel like baby food.

Presentation: I imagine that it was pretty pie once upon a time! That said...the overall look it great and really nice to see a shiny wash added. I struggled with sticky  fingers but you won't be disappointed with a few of these and a cuppa! A nice entry for the independents. 

Summary: I ate the crumbs.

NEXT TIME IT'S VEGAN!

Current Leaders

1st: M&S - Collection 

2nd: Pret A Manger

3rd: ASDA - Extra Special

Independants

1st: The Nightingale Patisserie 

2nd: Konditor & Cook

Monday / Wednesday / Friday!

Adam Cooke

Photographer / Pie Tester

***Donated by Chris Hobbs!***