Price: £1.25 for a box of 6 (26/11/2024)
Favorina is Lidl’s own brand of festive holiday specialties. They describe these mince pies as ‘crumbly shortcrust pastry cases filled with lightly spiced mincemeat’. These are some of the cheapest mince pies to be found on the UK market ahead of Christmas 2024, priced at only £1.25 for six. But are they any good?
They are a traditional design, similar to the norm for supermarket own brand, lower-end mince pies and they feature a dual holly leaf pattern atop the pastry lid.
Cold Taste Test
On my first bite I was almost overwhelmed by the sheer stodginess of the pastry. Crumbly it is not. These must be the stodgiest non-vegan mince pies that I have reviewed so far. The mincemeat isn’t too bad, although it’s no better than average, but it can’t come close to compensating for the unsatisfactory texture of the case.
Hot Taste Test
I guess a stint in a hot oven might suffice to crisp up the pastry somewhat, so I’d recommend that to anyone who has purchased these pies. For consistency’s sake, I have them a few seconds in a microwave as that’s how I’ve reviewed all the other pies. The pastry wasn’t much better, but at least you kind of expect microwaved pastry to be a bit soggy and chewy. The heat released a bit more flavour from the mincemeat, but it’s still not great.
Verdict
These might well be some of the cheapest mince pies out there this year, but it doesn’t mean that they are a bargain. In fact, they are some of the worst that I have tasted and I’ll be avoiding them in the future. You can get much better value for your money elsewhere.
Nutrition
Typical values (per 100g):
- Energy: 384 kcal
- Fat: 14.6 g
- Saturates: 5.2 g
- Carbohydrate: 58 g
- Of which sugars: 32.9 g
- Fibre : 3.6 g
- Protein: 3.3 g
- Salt: 0.13 g