Price: £1.75 for a box of 4 (01/11/2024)
This is Mr Kipling’s premium mince pie offering and the packaging boldly proclaims them to be his ‘best ever’, so my expectations were sky high and I eagerly anticipated sampling them. The hype suggests that they ought to be significantly superior to his standard variety.
The text on the box describes them thus “All butter pastry generously filled with gently spiced mincemeat infused with brandy and cider. All topped with a delicate pastry snowflake and finished with a sweet dusting“.
Aesthetically they are some of the most attractive mince pies that I have reviewed, with their intricate snowflake pattern on top. However, it should be noted that they don’t have a full pastry lid, so some purists would call them a tart rather than a pie. I think there’s just about enough pastry coverage to include them as a pie, but it’s a borderline case.
Cold Taste Test
These are wider and shallower than a typical mince pie, which allows them to be eaten almost like biscuits once removed from the foil case. The pastry is delicious. It’s really crisp and buttery and it’s up there with the best pastry that I’ve ever tasted on a cold, packaged product.
The mincemeat is sweet and juicy with no one flavour dominating. The spices and alcohol are barely in evidence, with a mixture of vine fruits and citrus prominent in a sticky gloop of a mixture. It’s a good recipe but could perhaps do with a bit more spice or a kick from the brandy.
Hot Taste Test
Heating up these pies (in the microwave on this occasion) did help to bring out the brandy and cider flavours in the mincemeat. The pastry survived 15 seconds in the microwave without losing its crispy texture so everything came together to make for an extremely pleasurable tasting experience.
Verdict
If we can ignore their tart-like appearance and allow these to be classified and ranked alongside more traditional mince pies then they compare very favourably with the best products in the field.
Mr Kipling is onto a good thing with this formula and I can see me buying them again before long. They are a top quality creation. The only real drawback is the price. I was able to purchase them at a reduced rate of £1.75, but the full RRP is £3.50, which would be fairly steep. Nonetheless, it would still be worth it as an occasional treat.
Nutrition
Typical values (per 100g):
- Energy: 385 kcal
- Fat: 12.9 g
- Saturates: 8.4 g
- Carbohydrate: 62 g
- Of which sugars: 36.3 g
- Fibre : 1.8 g
- Protein: 3 g
- Salt: 0.14 g