Classic mince pies for the festive season

The countdown to Christmas, and all its edible treats, has begun

a plate of mince pies with cinnamon sticks
Britons eat around 800 million of the delightfully festive pastries a year
(Image credit: Claire Gillo / PhotoPlus Magazine / Future / Getty Images)

With Christmas around the corner, mince pies have returned “in full force” to supermarket shelves, said Holly Morgan in The Mirror. The seasonal staple is part of the festive furniture, as beloved as “carol singers and questionable novelty jumpers”. Brits eat more than 800 million of the delightful mincemeat-stuffed pastries a year, and it isn’t hard to see why.

Mince pies are an excellent “no-fuss” addition to any Christmas gathering, said Emma Henderson in The Independent. Gone are the days where hosts need to stress about “impromptu visitors during the Christmas period”: the mince pie is the “perfect treat to keep in the cupboard”, to be served with a “glass of mulled wine” at the drop of a hat.

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Will Barker joined The Week team as a staff writer in 2025, covering UK and global news and politics. He previously worked at the Financial Times and The Sun, contributing to the arts and world news desks, respectively. Before that, he achieved a gold-standard NCTJ Diploma at News Associates in Twickenham, with specialisms in media law and data journalism. While studying for his diploma, he also wrote for the South West Londoner, and channelled his passion for sport by reporting for The Cricket Paper. As an undergraduate of Merton College, University of Oxford, Will read English and French, and he also has an M.Phil in literary translation from Trinity College Dublin.