Every year, there's this thing called "Christmas in July", where the big shops all parade their Christmas offerings for the year and it's always this time because of the longer time needed to plan print publications. It's been a little quieter this year than others, but Waitrose have just unveiled their Christmas offering, and Heston Blumenthal has made some rather dramatic changes to his mince pies.
This year, inspired by Eccles cakes, they're covered in puff pastry that's laced with Cheddar, Emmental and Italian hard cheese and inside you'll find a mix of vine fruits, figs, Bramley apple, ruby port, candied pears, nutmeg and ginger. We've been fans of the Heston mince pies up until now - is this a step too far? We'll definitely be trying them, though.
Outside of that, other Heston goodies for the festive period will include a Negroni Stollen, a festive Peking duck and three-bird (chicken, pheasant, duck and pork for good measure) pigs in blankets.
All this will be heading your way in late autumn.
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