The spiced fruit-and-suet mince pie is a British Christmas fixture — and a few genuine American bakers now make the real thing, often laced with bourbon or brandy. It's a seasonal shelf that peaks in December, but the best bakers freeze and ship year-round.
Published July 2026 · Updated 7 Jul 2026
A beloved Southern bakery making a 9-inch vegetarian mincemeat pie — apples, raisins, golden raisins, walnuts, and baking spices, finished with brandy and a smoked-bourbon-sugar top. Serves eight, ships frozen nationwide via Goldbelly, so it's effectively available year-round.
Why it isn't on AmazonA real American bakery reviving a maligned classic and doing it beautifully — not a rebadged import.
See it at Red Truck Bakery →A small British-American baker in Minneapolis making traditional British mince pies — dried and fresh fruit marinated in Maker's Mark bourbon for months, with a gluten-free version offered. 'British Pie Week every week,' so it's year-round, not just Christmas. Six-pack shipped to your door.
Why it isn't on AmazonA genuine small baker doing the real thing all year, with real bourbon-soaked fruit — the independent heart of this shelf.
See it at Nana Tay Tay's British Bakery (via Merlin's Market) →A long-running British institution in New York's West Village baking its own mince pies daily in season (they sell out), and stocking independent jarred mincemeat — Thursday Cottage and Tiptree, both from the independent Essex family firm Wilkin & Sons — for baking your own. Fresh pies are local; the jars ship nationwide.
Why it isn't on AmazonOne of the only US shops making its own fresh mince pies, and your channel for genuinely independent UK jarred mincemeat.
See it at Myers of Keswick →This seat's open on purpose — we won't pad the list to hit a number. If you ship real mince pies & mincemeat direct, it's earned, not sold.
Add your brand →Modern mincemeat is a spiced mix of dried and fresh fruit, sugar, spices, and often suet and a splash of brandy or bourbon — despite the name, most versions today are meat-free (though the tradition began with meat). Baked into little pastry cases, it becomes mince pies, a British Christmas staple.
Traditionally yes — fresh mince pies peak in November and December. But several independent bakers here (Red Truck, Nana Tay Tay's) freeze and ship year-round, so you don't have to wait for December. If you want them fresh from a local baker like Myers of Keswick, aim for the holiday season.
The name-brand jars (like Robertson's) are conglomerate products. The genuine independents are Thursday Cottage and Tiptree, both made by Wilkin & Sons, an independent Essex family firm dating to the 1700s. They're UK-made but reach US buyers through shops like Myers of Keswick and Parker's GBI.
Warm them briefly so the pastry crisps and the filling loosens, then dust with powdered sugar. They're classic with a dollop of brandy butter or clotted cream, or just alongside strong tea or coffee. A slightly warm mince pie with cold cream is the whole point of a British Christmas afternoon.
Make or grow real mince pies & mincemeat and think you belong here? Tell us → — features are on merit, never for sale.
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© 2026 5best2buy · Worth The Hunt · No.504