And this year's best mince pie is...

So which mince pie should you be serving Santa this year? And there’s one you most certainly shouldn’t serve St Nick if you want him to come back again next year.

We at the Independent on Saturday got back into tradition this year with our annual mince pie testing, letting you know whose pies to buy and whose to avoid. 

With fewer and fewer major chains making their own mince pies - in fact one didn’t sell mince pies but somehow you could buy hot cross buns - we added two of Durban’s better home industries into the mix - The Fat Frog in Glenashley, and Home Treats in the Windermere Centre.

This year’s panel consisted of  IOS layout sub Nalane Walker (NW), Tribune content manager Annie Dorasamy (AD), Mercury content editor Kamini Padayachee (KP) and myself (FC). All tastings were blind. We were given each pie on top of a piece of paper with A, B, C etc written on it.

And congratulations to our winner The Fat Frog who clinched it by a nose from Pick n Pay. The supermarket chain definitely wins the best value award.

Fat Frog 15.5

R120

AD: The edible but forgettable option. The presentation gave off apple-crumble vibes, heavily dusted with icing sugar. The pastry was perfectly okay, but the filling needed personality, and flavour, and joy. 2.5

NW: This rustic-looking, plump offering is topped with a pastry crumble and dusting of icing sugar. The buttery pastry was soft and melted in the mouth. Its sweet filling hit the spot. Overall, the best of the best of the batch. 4

KP: Unusual look for a fruit mince pie but still visually appealing with a lattice type pattern and dusting of icing sugar on top. The pastry was nicely done with a good crust and even distribution of fruit filling to pastry. 4.5

FC: Lovely buttery pastry from this mince pie that had a crumble topping rather than the traditional lid. Nicely stuffed with a filling that was generous and pleasantly spiced. Distinctively moorish. For me the pick of the bunch. 4.5

Pick n Pay 15

R49.99

AD: The pie that needed just a little more time. The presentation was pale and shy. Another minute in the oven could have saved it. The pastry was thick and dry. The filling was generous, yes, but tasted overcooked, like it had seen things. 3

NW: A lovely tanned pastry with an inviting snowy top. Its heart held a sweet filling of more whole currants than minced fruit. The most spicy mince pie of the lot. 3

KP: The real deal. It looks the part and had the taste to back it up. The pastry was lovely and the filling was not dry or chunky. The best of the lot. 5

FC: Now here was a surprise. A good looking nicely browned pie that turned out to be the spiciest of the bunch. Plenty of cinnamon, cloves, citrus peel etc here. The pastry was a little on the soft side, but not doughy. Perhaps a few minutes in the oven would have helped. A remarkably decent mince pie. 4

Checkers 14

R54.99

AD: A rare gem in the pastry wasteland. This was a genuinely pretty pie. Someone actually cared enough to use a star-shaped cookie cutter, and honestly, we felt seen. The pastry was smooth, buttery, and behaving exactly how it should. The filling burst with flavour, bright citrus meets cosy cinnamon. A yuletide mic-drop moment. 3.5

NW: The most festive-looking pie in the pack with its star-adorned pastry that melted in the mouth. A fragrant, mildly sweet offering with a fruity, chewy filling. However, I missed the citrus or spicy top notes. 3

KP: Good looking pie, with the traditional fruit mince pie star pattern. Good pastry but the fruit filling was a bit dry and lacked flavour.  3.5

FC: Pretty little pie with its cut-out star even if it was a little bit lopsided. Filling looked like it might be a bit date heavy but surprisingly was a decent fruit mix. Pastry a little bit stolid but overall a perfectly acceptable offering. 3

Woolworths 10.5

R62.99

AD: The “why so much sugar?” pie. This was a puffed-up pastry smothered in granulated sugar like it had fallen into a snowstorm. The pastry was too thick and determined to glue itself to the roof of the mouth. The filling was a sad smear of fruit with a whisper of cinnamon. Nothing to write home about. 2.5

NW: An unevenly coloured pie with browned edges and a pale centre adorned with sugar. The firm pastry was doughy and its jammy heart oozed syrup when warmed.  Overall, there was a nice balance of flavour, but on the dry side.  This one begged for a dressing of vanilla ice-cream. 2.5

KP: Average looking pie, pastry was nice and crumbly. Filling had chunks of fruit. Good enough as a support act. 3

FC: Looked pretty and nicely browned with a generous dusting of sugar. But the pastry is absurdly thick and very doughy (you can feel cement sticking to the roof of your mouth) and the mince pleasant but overly sweet. This could be so much better. 2.5

Home Treats 7

R63

AD: The “middling but trying its best” pie. This was a mini mince pie. That’s it. No sparkle, no flourish, just… there. The pastry was competent but crumbly, like a sandcastle slowly giving up on life. The filling fruity with a bold hit of dates. Not necessarily bad, just surprisingly date-forward. Also the smallest pie of the bunch, which felt a bit rude. 3

NW: An anorexic “biscuit” parading as a mince pie. The flaky pastry with its roasted frill and anaemic centre overpowered any flavour the meagre filling may have had. The most disappointing offering in the test tray. No creamy accompaniment would even save this sorry pie on a plate. 1

KP: Sad. Sad to look at and to taste. Very small and unattractive. Less pastry and filling. Biting into air pockets. 1

FC: I don’t mind these little one-bite wonders as long as they are wonderful, but sadly this was not the case. While they looked home-made, and the pastry was melt-in-the-mouth, the filling had a horrible impression of date loaf about it. And after boarding school no-one likes date loaf. We called it squashed flies. 2

Spar 6.5

R63.99

AD: This pie does not get a number. It gets… concerned silence. The pastry was a pale, tragic dome with all the charm and texture of cardboard, the filling was a mysterious substance with a bitter aftertaste. We’re still processing the experience. This one left us questioning our life choices. 0

NW: A plump mince pie that held much promise with its spicy, citrus fragrance and glittering sugared top. However, its heart of minced fruit held too much chewy peel and the pastry was too dry.  This pie cried out for some cream. On second thoughts, make that brandy cream. 2.5

KP: The pastry was too crumbly and a bit over brown. It fell apart after being slightly warmed. Nice cinnamon flavour in the pastry. Good ratio of filling to pastry. The filling was a bit chunky. 3.5

FC: This looked heavy - like one might need enos afterwards, but  cutting it open revealed the true horror. Completely overcooked, the pastry was stretched to shards of dry shrapnel. The underfilled mince was nothing more than a thick gel of gooey jam with something sharp at the back of the palette. I couldn’t face a second bite to work out what that something sharp was. Horrible. 0.5

Doorasamy sums up this year’s offerings: “After bravely munching our way through six mince pies, my husband, our 10-year-old mini-food-critic (she takes her role very seriously) and I emerged slightly traumatised, but oddly wiser. Only two pies earned a spot on our “would voluntarily eat again list.”