Here’s my guide to the best value award-winning supermarket sweet treats, with a little cheese mentioned at the end to round off that festive meal. We’re looking at Christmas puddings, Christmas cake, mince pies, showstopper desserts, some gluten-free innovations, and cheeses and cheese boards for your delectation.

Tuck in…

The best Christmas puddings 2020

Best of the best:

• ASDA Extra Special 9 Month Matured Christmas Pudding, £7.00 for 907g. Which? magazine winner. Well balanced flavours and plump fruits.
• Lidl Deluxe 24-month matured Christmas pudding with Cognac, £9.99 for 907g, in store only. Olive magazine winner. Whole nuts, moist sponge, great spice and plenty of fruit.
• Aldi Specially Selected Golden Topped Pudding, £8.99 for 800g, available for Click & Collect. Quality Food Awards winner. Beautiful presentation, rich pudding base with whole nuts and Christmas spice coming through.
• Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Salted Maple and Pecan Christmas Pudding, £6.00 for 500g. Good Housekeeping alternative flavoured Christmas pudding winner. An irresistibly buttery, salted caramel aroma and a nutty pecan flavour.
• Aldi Specially Selected damson, plum and pink gin pudding, £8.99 for 800g, available for Click & Collect. BBC Good Food winner. Whole chunks of juicy dried fruits and almonds, an almost jelly-like plum centre, and finished with shimmering gold lustre.

Best of the rest:

• Marks and Spencer Collection Chocolate and Orange Pudding, £12.00 for 700g, from their Food To Order. Good Housekeeping alternative flavoured Christmas pudding 2nd place.
• Waitrose & Partners No.1 12 Month Matured Christmas Pudding, £12.00 for 800g. BBC Good Food highly commended, Good Housekeeping 3rd place. A burst of citrus, plump vine fruits and balanced boozy taste.
• Morrisons The Best Christmas Pudding, £8.00 for 800g. Which? magazine 3rd place, Good Housekeeping 5th place. A glossy pudding packed with almonds, walnuts and pecan nuts and currants and plump sultanas.

Big day / showstopper desserts

Best of the best:

• Aldi Specially Selected Belgian chocolate & praline bombe, £4.99 for 500g, in store only. BBC Good Food winner, Quality Food Awards frozen dessert winner. Thin chocolate dome encasing a light, creamy hazelnut mousse and crispy feuilletine base.
• Asda Extra Special Chocolate Orange Night Sky Torte, £8.00, serves 8, from Food To Order. Quality Food Awards winner. Lovely concept and mirror glaze is a really nice touch. Beautiful chocolate houses on the outside add a nice crunch. Flavours are nicely balanced, showstopping centrepiece for Christmas and good price for the quality.
• Morrisons The Best Chocolate Orange Pudding, £6.00 for 500g, available from 19th Dec. Good Housekeeping winner. A rich glitter-dusted sponge with a gooey centre and chocolatey aroma with a hint of zest.
• Asda Extra Special Belgian chocolate and raspberry stack, £5.00 for 496g. Olive magazine winner, Quality Food Awards highly commended. Chocolate mousse, meringue layers and raspberry topping.

Best of the rest:

• Aldi Specially Selected Golden Twist Sticky Toffee Pudding, £5.99 for 700g, in store only. Good Housekeeping joint 2nd place. Delicious soft sponge with decadent dark chocolate flavour, complemented by sweet toffee sauce and honeycomb pieces.
• Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Tiramichoux Dessert, £12.00 serves 8. BBC Good Food highly commended. A trifle with tiramisu flavours, topped with profiteroles and chocolate.
• Co-op Truly Irresistible Fully Loaded Billionaires Dessert, £6.00 for 600g, in store only. Good Housekeeping joint 2nd place. Chocolate brownies, chocolate and caramel mousse and a crunchy biscuit base.

Vegan & Free From desserts

• M&S Gastropub chocolate torte, £3.50 for 2 slices, in store only. BBC Good Food Vegan Dessert winner, Olive magazine Vegan Dessert winner. Delicious super-rich, silky-smooth dark chocolate ganache with a crunchy biscuit base.
• Asda Extra Special Vegan Chocolate & Cherry House, £3.00 for 2, from their Food To Order. Quality Food Awards Vegan Dessert winner. A really innovative, attractive product that feels very indulgent and rich.
• Morrisons The Best Gluten Free Gingerbread & Butterscotch Sponge Pudding, £5.00 for 500g. Quality Food Awards Free From dessert winner. You could serve this gold-dusted sponge to the whole family without anyone knowing it was gluten free.

Mince pies (standard)

Best of the best:

• Iceland Luxury 6 Mince Pies, £1.89 for 6. Quality Food Awards winner, Good Housekeeping 2nd place, Which? magazine 2nd place. Soft crumbly pastry, juicy sultanas and raisins, and a hint of spice and yuzu citrus.
• Spar luxury mince pies, £2.00 for 375g, in store only. BBC Good Food winner, Olive magazine highly commended. Sweet jammy filling, with chunky pieces of plump, soaked fruit and a good hit of citrus.
• Asda Extra Special Mince Pies, £1.75 for 6. Which? Magazine winner, Quality Food Awards shortlisted. Tasty, attractive mince pies topped with pasty snowflakes.
• Co-op Irresistible all-butter pastry luxury mince pies, £2.00 for 6, available for home delivery. Olive magazine winner. Just the right ratio of nicely spiced, plump fruit filling to buttery homemade-tasting shortcrust pastry.

Best of the rest:

• Sainsburys Taste the Difference 6 Mince Pies with All Butter Pastry, £2.00 for 6. Good Housekeeping 3rd place. Incredibly buttery yet zingy flavour and appealing aroma. On offer for £1.50 this week.
• Morrisons The Best Mince Pies, £2.00 for 6 [SORRY OUT OF STOCK]. BBC Good Food highly commended, Good Housekeeping 4th place. Brandy and cider provide a welcome booziness with plump vine fruit and mixed peel.

Alternative flavoured mince pies

• Waitrose & Partners Mini Mince Pie Selection, £3.00 for 9. Olive magazine winner, BBC Good Food winner, Good Housekeeping 2nd place. A selection of mini mince pies in three flavours: Almond & Amaretto, Orange & Juniper and Caramelised Hazelnut Baklava.
• Aldi Specially Selected millionaire’s mince pies , £1.79 for 6, in store only. BBC Good Food highly commended, Olive magazine highly commended. Buttery shortbread lid with a salted caramel, chocolate and hazelnut filling, and mincemeat.
• ASDA Extra Special Salted Caramel Mince Pies, £2.00 for 6. Good Housekeeping 4th place. Crumbly pastry case, and delicately spiced dried fruit filling with an unexpected but welcome layer of salted caramel. In the 3 for 2 offer.

Free from / gluten-free mince pies

• M&S Made Without Gluten Free 4 Mince Pies, £2.50 for 4, in store only. BBC Good Food winner, Good Housekeeping 2nd place. A rich and buttery aroma and good ratio of vine fruits to sweet candied peel.
• Lidl Favorina Gluten Free Mince Pies, £1.35 for 4, in store only. Quality Food Awards winner. The judges were impressed with the amount of filling, as well as the aroma and the sweetness.

Christmas cake

Best of the best:

• Waitrose & Partners No.1 Richly Fruited Christmas Cake, £16.00 for 1.3kg, sold out online some still available in stores. Good Housekeeping winner, Olive magazine winner, BBC Good Food highly commended. A moist, well spiced Christmas cake topped with gold fondant stars, snowflakes and a dusting of shimmering edible glitter.
• Aldi Specially Selected Luxury All Over Iced Cake, £6.99 for 1kg, in store only. Quality Food Awards winner. This cake is packed full of fruit, with nice marzipan flavour coming through.
• M&S Christmas Collection Christmas Cake, £10.00 for 907g, in store only. BBC Good Food winner, Good Housekeeping 2nd place. Packed full of dried vine fruits and glacé cherries with a sweet, fruity aroma and a hint of brandy.

Best of the rest:

• Lidl Deluxe luxury all over iced Christmas cake, £6.99 for 1kg, in store only. BBC Good Food highly commended. Praised for its proportion of fruit to cake, level of spicing and big nut pieces.
• Tesco Finest hand-decorated rich fruit cake, £10.00 for 907g. Olive magazine highly commended. A moist cake with booze soaked fruit.
• Morrisons The Best Poinsettia Cake, £9.00 for 900g. Quality Food Awards highly commended.
• Booths Sherry & Rum Iced Christmas Cake, £18.00, serves 16. Good Housekeeping 3rd place.
• Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Holly Wreath Iced Fruit Christmas Cake, £11.00 for 900g. Good Housekeeping 4th place.

Alternative cakes, stollen & panettone

Best of the best:

• Morrisons The Best classic fruit panettone, £7.00 for 750g. Quality Food Awards winner, Olive magazine panettone winner. A perfect combination of light, soft, sweet and rich dough, with spiced fruit and candied peel.
• Waitrose apricot & peach bellini panettone, £10.00 for 750g. BBC Good Food winner. Soft, rich, buttery dough with a sweet, jammy peach and apricot filling.
• M&S Collection stollen slices , 250g) £3.00 for 5 at Ocado. BBC Good Food winner. Buttery stollen slices with layers of marzipan, dried fruits and a dusting of icing sugar.
• Waitrose No 1 cherry and almond stollen, £9.00 for 585g. Olive magazine Stollen winner. A traditional marzipan-rich, fruit-filled bread with plenty of cherries.

Best of the rest:

• M&S triple chocolate panettone, £10.00 for 750g, in store only. BBC Good Food highly commended. Light and buttery, with a chocolate exterior and soft chocolate ganache-like sauce inside.
• Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference fruit and nut stollen, £7.00 for 545g. BBC Good Food highly commended, Olive magazine highly commended. Soft and satisfyingly dense, this subtly-spiced stollen is packed full of plump soaked fruit and big chunks of marzipan.
• Tesco Finest cherry and almond stollen, £7.00 for 8 servings. Olive magazine highly commended, BBC Good Food highly commended. Spiked with Jamaican rum and finished with a beautiful cherry and almond crust.

Best cheeses & festive cheese boards

Both the big main cheese awards were cancelled this year due to the pandemic, but here are some notable mentions.

• Asda Extra Special continental cheeseboard, £8 for 570g. Olive magazine winner, Quality Food Awards cheeseboard winner. Every cheese in this selection is a standout, from a sharp cheddar to a smooth, creamy stilton and sweet, nutty manchego.
• Aldi Specially Selected Vintage Reserve Cheddar, £1.99 for 220g, available to Click & Collect. Quality Food Awards single cheese winner, Great Taste Award star. Excellent example of a vintage cheddar, crumbly and zingy.
• Co-op Irresistible Belton Farm Red Fox vintage cheese, £2.80 for 200g, available for home delivery. Olive magazine highly commended. Sweet, nutty complexity, and moreish salt crystals that keep you coming back for more.
• Asda Extra Special Vintage Red Fox Leicester Cheese, £2.00 for 200g. Quality Food Awards highly commended.
• Morrisons The Best Mature Blue Stilton, £2.50 for 200g. Quality Food Awards highly commended. On offer for £2.00.

Do you have any Christmas must haves? I’m a sucker for a rich, indulgent showstopper dessert but if any of these turned up in front of me I’d definitely happily have a bite.

If you want to hear more about the best supermarket wines, spirits, liqueurs and non-alcoholic drinks for the 2020 festive season, let me know in the comments below!