Is this an early festive treat... or mince pie madness?

Flic Everett
·2 min read
Mine pie Mcvitites was the festive treat we were not expecting. (McVities)
Mine pie Mcvitites was the festive treat we were not expecting. (McVities)

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We all know Christmas comes too early every year. When you were young, nobody even hung a bauble till Christmas Eve, and now we're awash with holly and piped festive tunes the minute the summer holiday washing's put away. Or at least, that's how it feels.

But while we're almost three months away from panic-buying and turkey-basting, and there's no need to stock up on Baileys quite yet, there is one seasonal treat that can't come soon enough.

The glorious mince pie is a tasty tradition as British as a boxing day walk, or a post-lunch snooze - and many of us cannot wait to see the jolly boxes arriving in stores, come the Christmas run-up. There's all kinds to enjoy - the traditional, the all-butter, the rum-laced, the miniature, the iced, the brandy-butter, the biscuit... wait, what?

McVities'
McVities are encouring festive discretion with their undetectable mince pie flavoured biscuits. (McVities)

Yes. This year, it seems, the basic pie structure, with its predictable pastry crust and yawn-some mincemeat filling isn't quite enough to satisfy. Instead, we have the Festive Digestive.

Biscuit kings McVitie's have launched a new mince pie flavoured milk chocolate digestive, and promise that it's easy to enjoy them 'secretly' as they look exactly like normal milk chocolate digestives. But they taste of mince pie.

Why secretly? Because only 12% of the nation thinks it's OK to eat festive food at any time of year, even though 20% admit they would scoff mince pies all year round if they could. (They actually could. We have freezers. And recipes and ovens).

Still, the biscuits are "a festive twist on the nation’s favourite Milk Chocolate Digestives: the perfect combination of Digestives biscuit, McVitie's signature silky-smooth milk chocolate, and festive Mince Pie flavour." There's also the return of the seasonal Gingerbread Flavour Milk Chocolate Digestives (£1.59) to enjoy.

Biscuit-y - but are they Christmassy?
Biscuit-y - but are they Christmassy?

Other findings from McVitie's research include the sad news that during lockdown, over half of us (55%) didn’t feel very festive last year and 32% think this year’s Christmas is more important than ever. And shockingly, over 1 in 10 (12%) admit they have already eaten Christmas food this year.

Sadly, we don't know what kind.

If you can't wait for your festive fix, however, there's now a judgment-free solution. Crank up Slade in your headphones and get ready for a very biscuit-y and Christmassy autumn.

The new biscuits are available at Asda, Co-Op, Morrisons, and Sainsbury’s, amongst others.

Watch: You can now buy deep-fried Christmas pudding