Mince Pie Appreciation

Pastry and filling had potential but a bit heavy on the brandy.

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I think it’s 6 for £20

Welcome aboard my friend :-)

Huge error taking the off road route home on the mince pie run this morning....

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Just add brandy butter to the box.

Bit off topic, but made a discovery this morning. Had some left over mincemeat from the weekends homemade effort (work in progress as my pastry game is lacking) and added some to my morning bowl of granola...fantastic. Feels a bit wrong having a brandy lashed breakfast, but it's Christmas right?

Made a mince pie crumble...

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Stumbled, sleep deprived, into my local Gail's this morning. One pie £3 or 6 for £10? That maths made sense.

Sadly I was rudely awoken by the card machine clearly reading £16. Too late to back out, I had to commit.

They're... Fine? Well executed all rounder but no USP for me.

Sainsburys - either the super basic ones or the bakery ones

Yes - a mince pie crumble seems like so much win!

I went back to chocolatine in e17 today - the mince pies are £2. Think I glazed over that fact earlier. That’s cheaper than an m&s or Waitrose bakery one

Went to Chatsworth bakehouse early afternoon as they had mince pies on but they had just run out, :-( the disappointed look on my face must have had an effect as they may now do the mince pie slice up to Christmas.
Hoping to have a bit of that with Basque cheesecake on the side for Xmas dessert.

Not the best pastry effort but hoping the homemade mincemeat elevates these

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Stoaked to see mine pie on the menu at Violet today.

£2.5 for a mini cupcake sized pie. Couldn’t do it.

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Evidently there are shortages of grapes in Turkey where the raisins/sultanas come from so prices have risen.
You can’t help mentally adding up the cost of the ingredients though! Know this isn’t giving the real picture as there are loads of other costs involved but still.
I wouldn’t have bought one of those due to the shit load of dandruff on them.

Stay strong!

those are beautiful and look delicious

Slightly off topic but could be of interest -
https://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/p/83483/jingle-berries-xmas-pudding-liqueur-outlier-distilling

These Aldi rum ones are my faves by quite some margin at the moment. Tried a Gail’s one but part of me dies paying £2.50+ per pie. There’s no actual rum in these, it’s just flavourings, so probably not the most legit filling.

Will try adding a dram of rum to one tomorrow and heating in the oven.

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Managed to make my own this year.

The first batch had soggy bottoms (see pic), which I blame in part on my sub par oven and tray, so I 'blind baked' the next lot. Basically just do the bottoms first on their own for about 15 mins with a roasting dish on top to keep them from cooking top down too quick. Then after that it was plain sailing. I do recommend the recipe, just be sure to blind bake.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/unbelievably-easy-mince-pies

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Look good. I was suckered into some St John bakery once on the weekend which are a delight, but dear. At least they’re suitably hench, so slightly less galling at the price.

Ashamed to say this mfer was £3.50 and it wasn't a big boy, but hands down the best I've had.

Esters in Stoke Newington

Short, crumbly pastry with a good level of browning, filling was more boozy and tangy than sweet, and importantly it was filled right up to the top!

I'd back 5 of these in a row I reckon

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By comparison, the lauded Dusty Knuckle boy is good, but what's the point in that height if there's a cm of air between the filling and the lid. That lid comes right off too, barely secured down.

My downstairs neighbour's son is a boss man in Forest Gate and he handed me a few decks of Mr Kiplings (and some broken Twirls for some reason) and they're really really sweet but when you get free mince pies it's rude to not eat a whole deck in one sitting

Ooft nice. I’m heading to DK this morning to secure a pie or two. Might have to scoot up to Stokey now too