The Best Mince Pie this Christmas

This is my first ever blog and so I hope you like it, this one will be foody but sometimes I will blog about other things!
As it's December I'm really excited about Christmas, especially Christmas food!
I have many many many favourite Christmas foods, stollen, Christmas cake, Christmas pudding, gingerbread, shortbread and of course mince pies!

I thought that I would try different types of mince pies and judge which supermarket made the best ones! I tried mince pies from 4 of my favourite (and closest) supermarkets, ASDA, Aldi, Co-operative and Marks and Spencers. I made sure they were all around the same price and size in order to make it fair.

In 4th place = ASDA iced mince pies - £1 for box of 6 - 221 calories
These are mince pies without a pastry lid but with a layer of icing instead. This is a really interesting idea a twist on the traditional mince pie, it definitely appeals on first inspection. The icing and mincemeat (which itself is very sweet) combination makes it really very sweet, which particularly for my palate makes it too sweet. For £1 these mince pies definitely reflect the price, they taste cheap, but they're not bad.

In 3rd place = Co-op deep filled mince pies - £1.50 for box of 6 or 2 for £2 - 250 calories
These mince pies are a really generous size for the price, they are really well filled. The pastry is really crumbly and buttery but without the mincemeat it does taste a little plain. Although the pastry is thick and the pies are really filling, when you heat them up, they collapse a little bit, which makes them a bit awkward to eat! The mincemeat is tasty but calling them 'deep filled' is a bit of an exaggeration!

In 2nd place = Marks and Spencers luxury range mince pies - £1.27 for box of 6 (usually £2.64) - 225 calories
These are almost perfect, the mincemeat is really tasty, nice and fruity. They are really solid and attractive, the size is good for mince pies and for the special offer price, but perhaps not for the price. People have come to expect a very high standard from M&S and these are definitely good. They just have one thing missing that is hard to put my finger on but it means they miss out on first place. 

FINALLY in 1st place = ALDI luxury mince pies - £1.69 for box of 6 - 241 calories
These are really very good, the mincemeat is absolutely exceptional, so fruity and nutty, so much flavour but not too sweet. They are solid and the pastry is tasty, without being too heavy. They are really really good for the price, the stigma surrounding Aldi is floating away, which is really good as they sell some really good stuff for the half the price of other supermarkets. These actually remind me of my mum's handmade mince pies (but those are obviously better Mum!), which I can't wait to come home to this Christmas!

I hope you liked this post, more to come soon!

Vee xx

PS. I know I have missed out Tesco, Sainsbury's and Waitrose but  I can only eat so many mince pies! So if anyone has any comments about their mince pies I'd be happy to hear them!