Geoff's Mince Pie Reckoner
| Brand | Source | Packaging | Price (each) | Comments |
| Aunt Betty's Connoisseur Mini Mince Tarts | Coles Supermarket | 9 (Mini) | $0.55 | Nice aroma, good filling and fine pastry, with nice presentation of star-shaped lid. Could do with a sprinkling of icing sugar to give them a bit of zip. |
| Balfours | Supermarkets (Woolworths) | 6 | $0.75 | Pros: Quite tasty and probably the best product at this price-point. Cons: Pastry a bit inclined to fall apart if handled without the lightest of touches and unimaginative presentation with no sugar topping. |
| Baker's Delight | Baker's Delight | 6 or 1 | $1.30 | Pros: Very good, great filling, good pastry, good bit of sugar on top (or icing sugar). Cons: There's no tang or explosion of flavour and the pastry is perhaps a tad heavy. $7.80 for a pack of 6 is getting on the high side considering there are very good products for almost a third less. |
| Brumby's | Brumby's | 6 | $1.27 | Nice presentation, with exposed fruit and a star-shaped pastry lid, liberally sprinkled with icing sugar. Pastry excellent. However the filling has too much jelly and not enough fruit, so there's no texture and the fruit is overpowered. |
| Coles House Brand | Coles Supermarket | 6 | $0.73 | Okay, but nothing to write home about. The main problem is the pastry is far too crumbly so you can barely get them out of the packaging before they self-destruct, and the act of eating them becomes an exercise in getting through it as quickly as possible to minimise the mess and then hurriedly cleaning up. Eating a mince pie should be an opportunity for repose, an oasis of enjoyment in a busy day. Crumb-related stress should not be part of it. |
| Coles Finest (“St Remy Authentic”) | Coles Supermarket | 4 | $1.25 (2009) | Contains a bit of brandy, and topped with a pecan nut, for some reason. Described as “exquisitely rich” on the box, which they're not. Apart from the presence of a redundant nut, this is a pleasant mince pie, albeit not worth the price asked. Could do with losing the nut and being sprinkled with icing sugar. |
| Dulwich Bakery | Dulwich Bakery | 6 | $1.00 (2007) $1.17 ( 2008) | Marvellous. Pastry and filling perfect. Lovely presentation with half having a star-shaped hole and half having a star-shaped lid. |
| Fowlers Vacola | Supermarkets (Coles) | 6 | $0.75 | Dry and tasteless with just the hint of metallic after-taste that one looks for in a mince pie. Pastry solid and useful for sealing cracks caused by drying of reactive soils in times of drought. Scrape off the sugar and eat that. |
| Heidelberg Cakes | Heidelberg Cakes, Stepney | 6 | $2.50 (2008) | A delicious mince pie, featuring everything that one expects; presentation, taste, texture, and after-taste. A nice if pedestrian star-shape in the lid, spinkled with sugar. I wonder if icing sugar might have been better? Also, I can't quite decide if the pastry is a tad too moist or just perfect. However, at $2.50 each, these are very expensive mince pies and most likely not suitable for large gatherings. They are packaged in a gift-box with a ribbon which matches the high standards one expects of Heidelberg, but it probably jacks the price up a bit. Everybody should try these, but for normal Christmas-season entertaining the Dulwich Bakery variety still tops the list. |
| Mr Kipling | Supermarkets (Coles) | 6 | $0.83 | Fine mince pies, probably let down a bit by the pastry. They have to travel from Blighty so maybe they get a bit limp on the way. Delicious but unspectacular filling. Nice christmas tree shape on the top. Could possibly do with a bit more sugar sprinkled. 2009 Update: Now in a deep-filled configuration, although what the point of this is, I can't say, since half of the thing is fresh air. Pastry too crumbly, so you can't enjoy them as you're too busy keeping it from exploding down your front. |
| Quality Desserts | Supermarkets | 6 | ? | Not bad, reasonably moist and pleasant, but filling has no zip. |
| Unibic | Supermarkets | ? | ? | Not bad, but not memorable, and in fact begs the question as to the point of consuming them. Made in India, so they're made to last through a sea voyage and to sit on supermarket shelves for a while. |
| Woolworths ‘Select’ | Woolworths | 6 | $0.83 | Pastry a bit crumbly, so eating requires caution. Pastry otherwise a bit heavy. Filling okay but not spectacular. |
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