Best Mince Pies 2022??

[dsr]

I make my own and they are better than anyone else's. At least, anyone who disagrees - or at least, anyone who disagrees where I can hear them - will never get a second one!

Last year we bought from Farmfoods, who as always sell the cheapest available. They were as good as any I had all Christmas.

[Boatbuilder]

I make my own and they are better than anyone else's. At least, anyone who disagrees - or at least, anyone who disagrees where I can hear them - will never get a second one!

Last year we bought from Farmfoods, who as always sell the cheapest available. They were as good as any I had all Christmas.

Does that include your own?

[pete9012S]

I make my own and they are better than anyone else's.

Last year we bought from Farmfoods, who as always sell the cheapest available. They were as good as any I had all Christmas.

Well dsr unless I can pop round to yours, your pies remain sadly out of my reach..

I was very grateful for the tip off about Farmfoods mince pies. They were not on my radar, and I will certainly pop in there and buy some of their mince pies asap!

Now, back to the artisan mince pies...



My wife and I first tried them whilst drinking Highland Park single malt whisky - as Nigel suggested.
We were going to give them 7/10.

Then, as Boodi suggested, we retested these artisan pies whilst drinking a cup of Yorkshire Tea.
There was a different result.
We began to appreciate the soft, almost suet like moist pastry of these pies. The deep fruity interior sprang to life.
These pies would be outstanding slightly warm with cream, ice cream or custard.
We are therefore going to change our marks for these tasty pies and upgrade them to 8/10.

Next:
Farmfoods here we come...

[Boodi 2]

Thanks Pete,
and interesting that they tasted better with tea (which along with coffee is my usual tipple) than with a single malt whisky.
Looking forward to hearing your verdict on the Farmfoods mince pies.

[pete9012S]

Have only been able to go out on foot due to having trees in our road pruned/removed.
Will defo get to Farmfoods when I can.


Amazingly, in the meantime, ABBA have heard about the 2022 MPC & have been in touch:





The pies are about 75p/80p each and are made by a local bakery.
Will they be good enough to trounce the artisan 8/10 pies or even challenge the mighty 9/10 Greggs?

Let's put the kettle on and find out!

[Susie9598]

I know it’s wrong, but I like iced top mince pies. The best are M and S. I also love advocaat. I don’t have sophisticated tastes!

[Boatbuilder]

It's everyone to their own taste, Susie. Personally I find all shop-bought mince pies much the same. My favourites were the ones my late wife used to make. The pastry was superb -second to none.

[pete9012S]

I know it’s wrong, but I like iced top mince pies. The best are M and S.

I saw some iced mince pies in the artisan shop Susie. The proprietor was pushing them quite strongly.
I will procure some for testing purposes asap - thank you!

[Bertie]

It's everyone to their own taste, Susie. Personally I find all shop-bought mince pies much the same. My favourites were the ones my late wife used to make. The pastry was superb -second to none.

Same here, really.
I don't eat many Mince Pies but, whenever I have one, they all seem to taste pretty much the same - which I find OK, but not particularly moreish.
So far, I think I've probably had one or two out of packs from Marks & Spencer, Morrisons, and Co-op. And I don't remember much difference. They all seemed OK.

[Courtenay]

I find the same — I can't taste much difference between the various shop-bought mince pies and they don't interest me all that much. As Bertie says, "OK, but not particularly moreish." I prefer Bramley apple pies myself! But each to their own, of course.

The best mince pies I ever tasted were made by a friend back in Australia — she was from England originally and made her own shortcrust pastry for them (almost as crumbly as shortbread, as it should be for mince pies) and put grated orange zest in it. The results were incredibly delicious!!

[Katharine]

I know it’s wrong, but I like iced top mince pies. The best are M and S. I also love advocaat. I don’t have sophisticated tastes!

I prefer the iced ones too as I'm not that keen on pastry, so the single layer at the bottom is quite enough for me.

[pete9012S]

Well, I finally got round to tasting/testing these pricey pies.

It boded well. The bakery makes all their wares on site. The lady who bakes all the bread and cakes is like somebody straight out of an Enid Blyton book, plump, jolly with twinkling eyes.

When I arrived there was a queue of customers stretching right outside the little shop and around the corner.
This shop would fit into Fatty's Peterswood very easily.

Despite the fact that the bakery charges sky-high prices for it's bread, pasties, cakes etc etc they are extremely busy.


I therefore had high expectations about these lovingly made and crafted mince pies.

I tried the first one...

Oh my goodness - it was like eating two thick slabs of shortcrust pastry with a very thin, insignificant mince pie filling.
I thought, this pie is going to struggle to even hit 5/10 - and the price of them too!!

Then I remembered Boodi's excellent advice - don't judge the batch on the first mince pie if you're drinking whisky.

Even though I wasn't drinking whisky, I bravely tried another pie - what a revelation!!

Because these pies are all made by hand in the shop I quickly realised I had sampled 'a rogue pie'.


The second pie was an absolutely delight. Buttery, succulent shortcrust pastry, dusted on top with just the right amount of sugar.
A filling to die for - this pie had been made with love and it showed..

But was this perfect pie a one off?

Scientific research impelled me later on to try another pie - this time in a direct taste test with one of Greggs supreme pies...

Astounding realization followed. These pies were better than even the mighty Greggs..
It took some seconds for this dramatic conclusion to sink in.
I sampled both pies again in a state of mince pie shock.....



Mince Pie Shock!

Wow - these are the best mince pies I've tasted (this year). How would I score these A-ma-zing pies?
I decided that if Greggs are 9/10, these pies deserve a very solid 9.5/10 so close to being the most perfect mince pie.

There is a shop about two miles away from me that sells my favourite mince pies of all time, so I feel in the interests of research, I must compare my faves with these new wonder pies.

I also haven't forgotten that I must get to Farmfoods for some of their pies too..

So many pies and so little time...

[Moonraker]

After reading your post, Pete, I need to lie down in a dark room.

[pete9012S]

Nigel, Well done for battling through - I don't know how you read my posts - you well know by now the sort of inane guff I churn out!

[Susie9598]

This is making me feel nice and christmassy