Good evening and welcome. Tonight, I’ve reviewed:
6 Chocolate & sour cherry crumble mince pies £3.00, or 50 pence per pie (have since been reduced to £2.40 – 40p per pie)
& 4 Plum, honey & ginger mince pies £2 – 50p per pie
By Waitrose.
CHOCOLATE & SOUR CHERRY CRUMBLE
Crumble mince pies seem to be a rather popular idea for 2019, with ALDI changing their altrernative flavoured (black forest and salted caramel) pies from a pastry top to a crumbly wumbly one.
Last year’s review can be found here: 2018 Post
In short, they felt slightly too removed from a mince pie last year and that lost them points. This year, who knows?
At £3, they are on the more expensive side, however they’ve since been reduced by 60p and are now £2.40 a pack which is much more favourable.
The pies are quite small and don’t come with a case, however they are covered in a lot of icing sugar (I inhaled some last night and it took a few long glugs of tea and 20 minutes of coughing to make me ‘normal’ again!)
The pie pastry is very similar to a bourbon biscuit and it’s pretty wonderful. the layer of mincemeat is quite shallow, as you’d expect from a teeny pie, but it is flavoursome, although it doesn’t really taste like mincemeat.
Taste (1 – 10) – 8/10 – For a different type of pie, this is worth buying, especially with that price reduction.
Value for money (1 – 5) – 2/5
Total – 10/15
PLUM, HONEY & GINGER
I chose these for the interesting flavour combination. End of.
The packaging deserves a special mention. The four pies are nestled in a pale coloured box, simple in design, decorated tastefully with a tree design in the right corner. The tree contains the main ingredients and it’s rather pleasing to the eye.
From the window (of the box, not the store) the pies are quite uniform, without any lid pattern and very pale. You could say they look a bit bland. The sugar atop each pie has been added sparingly!
Let’s take a bite.
The pastry doesn’t crumble in your hands, even with a big bite from your incisors. the mincemeat is on the drier side, tasty whole fruits greet you and there is a gentle hum of ginger only – a tick from me on that.
A delicious pie.
Taste (1 – 10) – 8/10 – A tasty pie, packed with fruit and a subtle taste of ginger.
Value for money (1 – 5) – 2/5
Total – 10/15
