Mince Pie Round-up

I think we must get better quality electricity up here on Kingsmere than we did at Chapel Street, as I have noticed something very unusual this year whilst heating up my mince pies.

At the old house, in order to get my mince pies to the optimum temperature - nice and hot but not enough to burn my tongue, I used to have to do them for about 21 seconds in the microwave.

Here, 15 seconds is more than enough to nuke them and I have burnt the aforementioned tongue on more than one occasion in recent weeks.

Now on to the mince pies. As I believe I mentioned on Facebook, I have a free hand in this house to consume as many mince pies as I like. This is because none of the other gannets around here, who eat everything else in sight, like them. Therefore I have had free rein to sample a few different ones to see what's best this year.

It's important to do this every year, as I reckon they change the recipes every year. It's a bit like drinking fine wines. The 2016 vintage may not be a patch on 2015's offering, so it's a case of starting from scratch each time.

What have we got then, let's see...

1) Sainsbury - 6 Deep Filled Mince Pies.

Described as deep filled, as if there were any other kind. Anyone ever heard of shallow filled? I digress.These are pretty decent. Pastry is a bit flaky in places but the filling's good. Only a quid for a box of six, so no complaints there.

Does what it says on the tin, or should I say box?

2) Aldi Specially Selected 6 Crumbly All Butter Mince Pies

I suppose I should have heeded the warning in the description. Crumbly is the optimum word and it's virtually impossible to eat these without them falling to pieces somewhere between hand and mouth, distributing crumbs far and wide. I wouldn't have minded so much, but I'd just done the hoovering after Jamie had dropped crumbs all over the carpet so I had to do it again. So be warned, if you can eat one of these without dropping at least 25% of it on the floor, you'll be doing better than me.

Create your own Christmas snow scene by eating one of these

3) Tesco Finest All Butter Blah Blah Blah...

Actually not bad considering they are Tesco's but a bit pricey at £2 a pop. Their standard ones for a quid are just as good, though, I'd stick with them and spend the other quid on some crisps or something.

Bah, humbug. 7 out of 10 is all you are getting Tesco, due to your past sins.

4) Sainsbury's Gala Pie.

This isn't actually a mince pie at all but a pork pie with some egg in the middle. I included it as I was walking past the deli counter while I was shopping for my mince pies, spotted this was half price and decided to buy some. Absolutely delicious, so much so that I've decided to make it this year's winner. I still don't know how they get the egg in the middle, though.

Jason Ayres Mince Pie Gold Award Winner 2016

So, that's all for this year's round up. Merry Christmas everyone!