Sunday 13 November 2016

2016 - Waitrose 1 - 6 All Butter Mince Pies

Okay, so you can probably tell, I bought these at the same time as the previous two. Like almost all movie trilogies out there, the third one is usually the weakest of the three! I'm no believer of a self-fulfilling prophecy, so I'm not going to let that dictate this mince pie review.... or have I already done that by just by acknowledging it? .......Moving on...

Presentation - 3 / 10



If I'm walking through a supermarket, I want to be able to spot the Christmas products quickly and easily on the shelves. If I then have to read the box to determine whether it is a Christmas food item, I think that supermarket has failed in bringing these to my attention. While this box has Christmas decoration on it, its not immediately noticeable. If you are still looking for it, there is the Robin (or I assume so as it is just an outline), the holly and the brighter star on the box (maybe signifying the north star? Who knows!?)

It just get worse in the box. There is nothing on the mince pie. They also look a little under-baked too.





Nutritional Content & Price - 5 / 10

£2.50 for 6. It's a good thing these look like large deep filled mince pies.

The saving grace for these mince pies is that despite their size, these have 8.9g of fat, 23.4g of sugar and are 238 calories a mince pie, which I think its quire reasonable.


Pastry - 30 / 35

There is a lot of pastry here. Its got a nice thick outer shell all around. The pastry itself is perfectly crumbly and boy can you taste the butter! I liked the finer sugar granules on top but I found this with the pastry made them just a tad sweeter than I would have liked.


Mincemeat - 15 / 35

Like Waitrose's regular mince pies, they need help with making a decent mincemeat. This is far too dry and too sweet. They have plenty of nice large whole currents and sultanas as well as noticeable chunks of apricot. However, when you use quality fruits (and especially when it comes to fruit) you are paying to ensure that you are getting a tasty fruit and that usually means its sweeter than its cheaper counterparts. When you clump all these quality fruit together and then add more sugar on top, you are left with something that is just too sweet. Other than this gripe, you can taste the brandy and it's not too overpowering.

Overall Satisfaction - 5 / 10

I swear the self-fulling prophecy did not affect this mince pie review at all! I was hoping for a decent mince pie, after all, these are meant to be Waitrose's best. These have the potential to be a great mince pie. Dial the sugar back, add a bit more (cheaper and tangier please) apple purée to the mincemeat and I think they'll be on to something.

OVERALL SCORE - 58 / 100

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