Classic mince pies for the festive season
The countdown to Christmas, and all its edible treats, has begun
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.
Waitrose No1 Brown Butter Mince Pies with Cognac
For the second year in a row, Waitrose scooped “Best Buy”, coming in as the “clear favourite” in the supermarket category, said Rebecca Marcus in Which?. Expect “moreish” brown butter pastry surrounding “fruity” mincemeat, bound together with brandy and festive spice. Though one of the “priciest” around, it’s well “worth splashing out”.
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Iceland Luxury Butter Mince Pies
Look no further for a “masterclass in harmony”, said Stacey Smith in Good Housekeeping. Building on traditional flavours, the “yuzu juice-spiked” mince pies are “densely packed” with fruity, “zesty” filling. “Testers described it as ‘a fantastic, classic mince pie’.”
Marks & Spencer Collection Mince Pies
Whether you’re looking for the “standard” or “posher” versions, the M&S entries “aced it in my tests for their fruity, nutty filling and buttery pastry", said Xanthe Clay in The Telegraph. For those who are sustainability minded, they don’t contain any palm oil, and are made with Wildfarmed regeneratively farmed flour.
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Sainsbury's Taste the Difference All Butter Mince Pies
These tasty mince pies are “hard to fault”, said Henderson in The Independent. The pastry has an “excellent creamy, buttery flavour”, while the mincemeat is well-balanced with a “decent tang” of brandy. Brilliant quality, they are a “cut above” other supermarket mince pies.
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.
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