Phil Reviews Mince Pies

By Waitrose.

First thoughts are that these Pies don’t look very inviting.

Good evening!

We’ve been to Waitrose! And purchased a number of their festive items. This review is for the Brown butter mince pies with cognac.

Brown butter or ‘Beurre noisette’ is supposed to have a nutty flavour which should give the pies a nicer taste than the taste my eyes had upon looking at this pale, ordinary looking product.

The box is gold/black and smart, but when your eyes look upon the pies without even a dusting of hides-all icing sugar, you’re wondering why a single box sets you back four of your British pounds. Perhaps it’s the Amarena cherry in the mincemeat?

• The Amarena cherry is a variety of the sour cherry, Prunus cerasus, that originated in Italy and is often used for decoration or as a dessert topping

There’s a tear of carboard strip on the side, so opening them is easy. On closer inspection, there is a bit of granulated sugar, so it does have something.

I’ve got to have a bite and see how they taste.

i’m greated with lots of whole fruit, in a rather dry mincemeat. You’re going to chew the fruit, it’s not all cooked down. There’s also an undercurrent of the cognac at the end of the bite.

I think these would be better if warmed up, but that’s not how i review them, I just eat them as they are and these even say on the front “DELICIOUS SERVED WARM”, possibly because “OKAY SERVED COLD” doesn’t have the same appeal?

I will add an extra mark because the price drops down from £4 to £3 when you buy two packs of their No1 Mince Pies.

These were not for me, unfortunately.