Mince pies

Fortnums petits fours, 210g, £7.70
I like the size, the pastry is superb and the filling is great - you can taste the effort that's gone into these. 5 stars

Waitrose all butter, 6, £2.79
Just the pie for a cup of tea, rich and buttery with a dusting of sugar on top. 4 stars

M&S connoisseur mini, 200g, £4.99
Not bad at all but could do with more filling. Not convinced that almonds on top work.
3 stars

Sainsbury's taste the difference brandy rich mini, 12, £2.09
Average flavour. Very short pastry, though. Nicely cooked.
3 stars

Morrisons the best, 6 £1.39
Look like they're for a kids' party. The pastry isn't short enough and the filling isn't great.
2 stars

Pigs in blankets

Asda, 312g, £2.48
Rather processed, looks a bit spammy and tastes it, too.
2 stars

Tesco, 256g, £2.49
There's no emphasis on using high-quality sausage meat. No herbs or good flavours. Average.
2 stars

Morrisons the best, 340g, £2.99
Sausages too big and the bacon has come unravelled. Not great.
2 stars

M&S bacon wrapped chipolatas, 370g, £3.49
These all taste the same. There's nothing interesting going on.
2 stars

Sainsbury's garnish sticks, £2.99 for 6
I like the idea of putting these on skewers, but the meat is like rubber.
1 star

Fish canapes

M&S luxury seafood shots, 200g, £7.99
Great idea! I love the look. Maybe it needs more strong flavours
4 stars

Asda smoked salmon appetisers, 120g, £2.48
Processed, plasticky. Not pleasant.
2 stars

Waitrose smoked salmon Scottish roulades, 120g, £4.19
I can't tell what the flavours are.
1 star

Morrisons smoked salmon appetisers, 120g, £2.99
Smell horrible, look greasy and wet. Totally unappetising.
No stars

Tesco smoked salmon appetisers, 18, £3.99
They look like something made for kids. Nasty colours and flavours.
No stars

Sausage rolls

Marks & Spencer, 400g, £1.99
Nice-looking. The pastry is excellent: in fact, the pastry is even better than the sausage.
4 stars

Asda 50 frozen, 800g, 93p
The most flavour, with a homemade look and light pastry. They should have cooked the pastry more.
4 stars

Sainsbury's 10, 330g, £1.59
Not bad at all. In all of these I would like to see better quality sausage, though.
3 stars

Morrisons large, 340g £2.99
These look good, and the pastry is nice. But they are rather bland.
3 stars

Dorset pastry, 180g, £3.34, available from www.graigfarm.co.uk, 01597 851655
Processed-looking sausage.
No stars

Smoked salmon

Sainsbury's taste the difference chestnut smoked Scottish, 200g, £6.59
Don't like the untraditional slicing, but I like the taste.
4 stars

Hebridean Smokehouse peat-smoked, 125g, £6.95, 01876 580 209
Good strong oaky smell of smoking, nicely sliced.
3 stars

Graig Farm Organic, 200g, £9.23
Very light colour, nice thickness, but it's very, very mild, almost bland. Raw texture. Disappointing.
2 stars

Morrisons the best, 150g, £4.69
This has a claggy texture, and is full of little bits to make up the weight. Average taste.
2 stars

M&S wild pacific Alaskan silver oak smoked, 300g,
£12.99
Has a lovely smell. But it's far too thick, and it's oversmoked.
2 stars

Mini tartlets

M&S spinach and ricotta tartlets, 228g, £4.99
The presentation isn't great, but I like the idea and the filo. The taste is great, but more ricotta would work.
3 stars

Sainsbury's mini quiches, 250g, £2.99
Over-cooked and dry.
Pastry quite raw. Needs more flavour.
2 stars

Waitrose mini quiches, 280g, £2.99
Quite good, strong flavour, pastry-to-filling ratio not great. Boring and dry.
2 stars

Morrisons mini quiches, 16, £2.99
The pastry is thick and too crumbly, the flavours are ok, but the fillings are dry.
2 stars

Tesco mini vol-au-vents, 12, £2.99
Very heavy pastry. The fillings are like béchamel. Boring.
1 star

Stuffing

M&S connoisseur pork and cranberry, 230g, £2.99
Nice. The cranberry adds sweetness which is a nice twist. OK presentation.
4 stars

Tesco finest pork, stilton, apple and walnut wrapped in bacon, 250g, £2.99
I like the walnut. Great presentation. The flavour lets it down.
3 stars

Sainsbury's sage and onion stuffing balls, 405g, £2.39
Not inventive at all. Bog standard.
2 stars

Asda extra special festive, 440g, £2.48
Bland, and the presentation isn't up to much.
1 star

Waitrose cranberry, apple, apricot, date and sausagemeat, 443g, £4.49
The orange on top is pointless. With my eyes shut I'd think this was a pudding.
No stars

Fish terrine

Waitrose kiln roasted salmon, lemon and horseradish, 150g, £2.99
Tastes better than it looks. They've made a lot of effort with the flavour.
3 star

M&S salmon, prawn & lobster terrine, 720g, £25
Lots of effort has gone into it, but I'd serve just the prawns - it's nice, though.
1 star

Asda extra special hot smoked Isle of Lewis salmon pâté , 115g, £1.68
Pointless. Really not good.
No stars

Tesco finest diamond, 500g, £7.49
I don't understand this. It's like a blancmange covered in salad cream.
No stars

Parkers menu, 400g, £9.95, 01963 250 570
Tastes like it's been made in a big machine and thrown together. Awful.
No stars

Christmas chutney

Fortnum and Mason spiced with cranberries, 400g, £4.75
Not jammy, not overcooked. Great kick of vinegar and spice.
5 stars

Sainsbury's taste the difference balsamic fruit chutney, 330g, £1.69
Very strong, nice combination of fruit and vinegar.
4 stars

Waitrose caramelised red onion, 340g, £1.79
Over-reduced or too much pectin. But good flavour with a nice balsamic tang.
4 stars

Morrisons caramelised red onion, 300g, £1.79
Doesn't look good at all. Tarry, very rich caramel flavour, strong and
overpowering.
3 stars

M&S festive spiced fruit, 280g, £1.49
Tastes like the inside of a minced pie, which is nice, but there is too much going on here.
2 stars

Cranberry sauce

Asda extra special wild cranberry with orange, 230g, £1.08
I like the acidity of the orange and the bitterness and sweetness are good.
4 stars

Waitrose with Burgundy, 220g, £1.49
Looks like jam. The wine flavour rather intrigues me.
3 stars

M&S with ruby port, 250g, £1.89
It's tasty but I wouldn't put it with meat - it's too loose. It's tangy and would be great to cook with.
2 stars

Kwik Save, 295g, 89p
Very mediocre. Looks like jelly, full of pectin. Bland.
1 star

Asda extra special with special reserve port, 300g £1.28
This is much too wet - it would run on the plate and ruin the gravy.
No stars

Chocolates

Booja Booja organic gourmet truffle selection, 220g, £9.80, available from Graig Farm Organics
There's a rustic look to them, very tasty.
5 stars

Fortnum and Mason assorted chocolate thins, 195g, £12
Just lovely pieces of chocolate, and inventive use of flavours.
5 stars

M&S Belgian, 960g, £24.99
These are a wow-factor box of chocolates, they look fantastic. But they are a little bit like Milk Tray.
3 stars

Sainsbury's French cocoa-dusted truffles, 250g, £1.99
These are sweeter than I expected judging by their look.
3 stars

Pa Pa Paa dark chocolate pudding, 300g, £19, Harvey Nichols
If your boyfriend gives you one of these, move on. It's so over the top!
2 stars

Christmas pudding

Fortnum and Mason, 227g, £6.50
Excellent, moist and fruity.
4 stars

Sainsbury's taste the difference cognac-laced, 454g, £6.99
Not bad at all. You can identify all the fruit in it, which is refreshing.
3 stars

Village Bakery, 200g, £3.89, available from www.village-bakery.com
Bland. Tasteless.
2 stars

Parkers menu, 900g, £9.95 available from www.parkersmenu.co.uk
It's dry because they've been over-generous with the currants.
1 star

Kwik Save luxury, 350g, £1.99
Rubbery. Chewy - almost like plastic. Rubbish.
No stars

Christmas cake

Tesco Finest bar, 1.36kg, £13.99
Like what my mum used to make, it's like the inside of a fig roll. Fruity.
4 stars

Fortnum and Mason,
It's small and unusually presented, but it's a nice bit of cake.
4 stars

M&S connoisseur, 1.34kg, £19.99
Nice. The icing is a bit soft - I'd prefer harder myself.
3 stars

Waitrose poinsettia, 9.37kg, £14.99
Looks like chocolate cake and it's dry. Rubbish.
3 stars

Village bakery, 450g, £5.39
Weird, sticks to the roof of your month.
3 stars

Brandy butter

Fortnums cognac butter, 375g, £5.75
Coarse but creamy, perfectly presented. Lovely.
5 stars

Waitrose with Remy Martin cognac, 150g, £2.29
Smooth and subtle.
4 stars

Sainsbury's taste the difference with Rémy Martin cognac, 150g, £2.29
Very buttery and smooth - not bad at all.
3 stars

M&S, 300g, £2.29
This is quite strange - it's almost like it's been whipped.
3 stars

Asda courvoisier, 200g £1.58
Too sweet.
3 stars

Port

M&S 20 year old tawny, 75cl, £21.99
Chocolate and hazelnut nose, very nice and balanced - great, actually.
5 stars

Waitrose LBV 99, 75cl, £8.49
More powerful, with a full nose of dark chocolate, Christmas pudding and cherries. Lovely.
5 stars

Dows Ruby Port, 75cl £10.99, available from Sainsbury's Black cherries on the nose, very harmonious and multi-dimensional.
4 stars

Taylors 10 year old tawny, 75cl, £16.99, available from Tesco
Roasted almonds; the alcohol has a bite to it.
3 stars

Casal dos Jordoes organic, 75cl ,£17.70, available from Graig Farm
Very one-dimensional palate, too sweet without enough fruit to counter it.
1 star

Mulled wine

Lyme Bay Winery, 75cl £5.95, available from www.lymebaywinery.co.uk
Light. Fruity, but not over-fruity. Good spice. Balanced.
5 stars

M&S, 000g £0.00
Very full and very masculine. Loads of spice. Good quality.
4 stars

Tesco, 75cl, £2.99
Not a lot of fruit or spice. Good acidity and fresh. Not a bad wine by itself.
4 stars

Sainsbury's 75cl £3.49
Good balance of aromas. Very pleasant.
3 stars

Bottle Green , 75cl, £1.48, available from Asda
Tastes of cranberry juice with fresh crushed leaves in it.
No stars