Price: £1.25 for a box of 6 (29/11/2024)
These are Aldi’s budget mince pie offering. They are marketed under their ‘Holly Lane’ brand, which is named after the location of Aldi’s UK headquarters in Atherstone, Warwickshire. Appropriately, the box is decorated with some holly leaves, amongst other festive foliage, although the pies themselves bear a snowflake motif atop the pastry lid.
The text on the packaging describes these pies as “shortcrust pastry cases filled with mincemeat, topped with a pastry lid and a light dusting of sugar“. They are also boldly advertised as being “deep filled“.
Cold Taste Test
Somewhat surprisingly for a budget brand mince pie, I was immediately impressed by the quality of the pastry. Previous experience had given me low expectations in this department, but these Aldi Holly Lane Mince Pies are punching above their weight. Their pastry has a great texture. It is crisp and crumbles nicely in your mouth. The mincemeat is a nice traditional flavour, fruity and not too sweet. The overall effect is pleasing and they make for a nice cold snack.
Hot Taste Test
Once microwaved, the mincemeat filling became a lot runnier but the pastry largely retained its crisp consistency. It’s not a very complex mincemeat recipe with layers of subtle flavouring or anything like that. Some might find it a little bland, but it’s in line with what is to be expected from a budget pie and is more than acceptable at this price point.
Verdict
All things considered, these are undoubtedly some of the best budget mince pies that I have sampled. They are so much better than some of their competitors, such as the disappointing Lidl Favorina Mince Pies that it’s hard to believe they occupy the same place in the market. At only £1.25 for a pack of six, they represent great value for money and I’ll definitely be buying the Aldi Holly Lane Mince Pies again in the future. One final point of note is that they have the lowest level of sugar (24g per 100g) of any pies that I have reviewed so far, which means you needn’t feel quite so guilty about eating them.
Nutrition
Typical values (per 100g):
- Energy: 395 kcal
- Fat: 14.6 g
- Saturates: 4.6 g
- Carbohydrate: 60.8 g
- Of which sugars: 24 g
- Fibre : 2.9 g
- Protein: 3.6 g
- Salt: 0.22 g