Picked up some yummy ones from, believe it our not, my local Co-op. Looked properly home made. So where will you be getting yours this Christmas. And how do you like them? With cream, hot? cold?
My Nan used to make the best ones, but they were only available to an elite clientele. Marks and Sparks luxury deep filled, though Sainsburys with extra Brandy are nice. Best served cold with a large dollop of Brandy cream. A top tip, if you can, is to lever of the mince pie lid, add Brandy cream, replace, then add even more Brandy cream on top...
I had some pies once with cream and a few crumbs of Blue Stilton cheese on top. Sounds gross I know, but it worked really well - with the contrast between the fruit and salty cheese. Yum. Kind of like and English 'sweet n sour' But not everyone's taste I guess
Hmmm, may just try that as I've recently been addicted to late night snacking on stilton with branston pickle on buttery crackers.
Warm with cream is great! As for the cheese thing - aparently fruit cake and cheese is a relatively known think to people north of the watford gap (which isn't me lol) Shaz P.S this is from the girl who likes cheese and onion crisps and chocolate together
My mother makes the best ones in the world so look no further Oh yes - my gran also made the best rice pudding (sunday lunch) the pieces of skin formed on the top were fought over every week
My husband considers himself a connoisseur of mince pies. He's certainly eaten plenty! Says my home made ones are best with my own pastry, but he'd have to say that wouldn't he? Used to like M. & S. and Waitrose but not so much now. This year (and we tried a few makes) we found Tesco Finest to be the best. Particularly if they are put in the oven for a few minutes to crisp up. They could pass as home made except they are too good.
Before this year I only really liked me ma's mince pies, they are the best. However, the wife came back from Asda the other night with 6 of their special range (whatever it's called??) the were top drawer & didn't taste like the mushed up crap you get in most supermarket/brand pies.
does anyone make them traditionally? with real mince meat? i have never tried them like this and could only imagine that they would not be too good!!
My dad used to smoke cheese years ago and he used to have a stall there and I used to help him out and always used to get a pork pie ( my dad got me it ! ) from some where in Melton Mowbray was the ****!
Nowt wrong with real mincemeat: A recipe from the good old days, when mincemeat was what it said it was, a highly spiced preserve containing real meat. Make it at least a week, ideally a month, before you use it. Mince pies made with this are less sweet than the usual fare, and have more body and substance. Makes 6 500g jars Preparation time: 40 minutes, plus maturing Ingredients 500g coarsely minced braising or chuck steak 250g beef suet 250g currants 250g raisins 250g tart eating apples, peeled, cored and finely chopped 65g preserved ginger in syrup, plus 2 tbsp of the syrup 65g chopped mixed peel 125g soft brown sugar 250g ground almonds ½ lemon, juiced and zest grated ½ orange, juiced and zest grated ¼ tsp fresh grated nutmeg 1 tsp mixed spice 125ml brandy Instructions Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl, and mix thoroughly, ideally with your hands. Put in sterilised jars and seal. Keep for up to a month before using. Double the amount of brandy, and it will keep for a year. Make mince pies using a sweet pastry recipe, or a bought pastry, and serve piping hot with brandy butter, or calvados custard.
This months Custom PC magazine (issue 040) has reviews of eight different mince pies. Page 69, worth a read!
I reckon Waitrose 'all butter' are the best of this year's lot. We have a thing in work during December that everyone brings in mince pies from their usual supermarket so we can 'review' them. The co-op and Asda ones are good too, although I'm not so gone on the Tesco ones.
sainsburies extra luxury delux type ones that are heavy on the brandy are the best shop bought ones i've come across...... also sainsburies cognac laced Xmas pudding is probably the best ever....seriously good stuff, lots of large nut chunks and fruit as well as more compressed smaller stuff....and they do mean laced with cognac...lol...in a gold wrapper, seriously, suggest folks try and grab one, they doing the largest one for £10 atm reduced....(not sure why they reducing it, soon as they put a fresh trolley of it on the shelves it goes by the end of the day...lol) oh, tip for those late evening cheese'n'biscuit/mince pie type affairs, with your cheese'n'biscuits, have some dried fruit and nuts too, i'm sure a few people do, but really nice combo is medjool dates stuffed with walnuts (dont buy them pre-done, will cost twice as much...lol), then some dried apricots, figs and apple......plus the usual pickled onions etc you have with cheese'n'biccies.....seriously, that mix of dried fruits livens it up nice!
On this theme... try Wensleydale cheese (a good crumbly one) with some rich fruit cake - like christmas cake. A bite of each chewed together. Heaven. Wash it down with straight whiskey of you have a mind to.
Or, if you're over the border then a spot of crumbly Lancashire cheese will do just as well. But... I agree cheese 'n cake is a heavenly combination.
In Costco you can buy Walkers Luxury Mincemeat Tarts made with Glenfiddich Single Malt Scotch Whisky aged 12 years (the whisky, not the tarts). They are just too delicious for words. Sacrilege I know but they are even better than the ones my Mum makes! Also the luxury brandy ones from sainsburys aren't half bad.
In defence of Tesco, Peridot, they have to be from their Finest range, their normal ones are horrible. Also they have to be crisped up in a hot oven for six minutes (as shown on the pack) and then cooled and dusted with icing sugar. Most mince pies taste reasonable with that treatment, otherwise they tend to be cloying and soft and stick to your teeth. I shall be making my own, the only ones I really enjoy, although I don't think I shall be using Regmarch's filling Actually, my husband liked the sound of that and thought it might make a nice tasty Cornish pasty.