Price: £1.99 for a box of 6 (26/11/2024)
These ‘Deluxe All Butter Mince Pies’ are from Lidl, although you wouldn’t know it from a quick glance at the packaging because neither the Lidl name nor logo appears anywhere on the top or sides of the box. It is there discretely on the underside, as if the pies are trying to go incognito. The Deluxe range is apparently Lidl’s luxury brand, so this is their premium mince pie offering.
Hopefully these mince pies will turn out to be a lot better than Lidl’s budget variety, which didn’t get a good review here. The blurb on the box describes them as “crumbly, all butter shortcrust pastry cases, generously deep filled with lightly spiced mincemeat laced with brandy and finished with a sweet dusting“. There’s a pretty heavy dusting of sugar atop the pack that I bought, but looking at the rest of the shelf, it does vary somewhat.
Cold Taste Test
These Lidl Deluxe All Butter Mince Pies have some of the thickest pastry cases that I have encountered on any mince pies thus far in the 2024 festive season. Seeing as it’s good quality pastry, with a nice crumbly texture and noticeable buttery flavour, that counts as a positive feature in my book. The mincemeat is a nice traditional tasting mixture without any gimmicky flavourings and you can just about pick out notes of the brandy. All in all, these are very satisfying mince pies and I would rate them among the best in the field.
Hot Taste Test
The pastry was still decent after a quick blast in the microwave, although it did become a lot less crumbly and ever so slightly stodgy. The mincemeat was still delicious with the flavours enhanced by the heat. It’s a very fruity mincemeat without as much gooey fluid as many of its competitors. When oven heated, as per the instructions on the packet, I imagine these mince pies, with their thick pastry, would be some of the best available in the supermarkets this year.
Verdict
First a note on the nutritional values because, somewhat surprisingly, these are amongst the lowest fat mince pies on the market, so that counts in their favour (although they are relatively high in saturates). The only minor complaint that I would make is that Lidl have been a bit stingy with the mincemeat filling. There’s plenty of space available for them to pack a bit more in. Other than that, it’s hard to find any faults with them. They are a high quality product that all mince pie lovers should enjoy this Christmas and they’re great value for money too, at around half the price of many rival luxury mince pies.
Nutrition
Typical values (per 100g):
- Energy: 374 kcal
- Fat: 12.9 g
- Saturates: 8.3 g
- Carbohydrate: 59.8 g
- Of which sugars: 35.7 g
- Fibre : 2.3 g
- Protein: 3.5 g
- Salt: 0.29 g