It’s time for dessert! I’ve put together the best award-winning supermarket Christmas sweet treats to make your grocery shopping easier, including delicious shopstopper desserts, fashionable panettone, traditional Christmas puddings and cakes, and all kinds of mince pies.

As with most things in life, timing is everything with seasonal ordering. Some items are available from the 17th, others are only available for click & collect between the 21st and 24th of December, and others still must be ordered online before the 19th. If you see something you like, remember to check availability and delivery details, and take use-by dates into account too.

And now, without further ado, here’s what’s good in the supermarket for dessert in 2021.

Showstopper desserts

There are multiple award-winners in this category, so there should be something you like the look of in a supermarket near you.

Best of the best:

Co-op Irresistible millionaire’s roulade, 430g | £4.75. In store only.

Quality Food Awards festive desserts winner, Olive magazine frozen dessert winner. Meringue, toffee, biscuit crumb and a milk chocolate sauce to drizzle over it. << BEST SMALLER DESSERT

Iceland Luxury Giant Chocolate Bar, 600g | £6.00. Buy here.

BBC Good Food joint winner. A dessert that’s clearly been inspired by the humble snickers bar, but with a chocolate brownie base. Contains peanuts. Keep it in the freezer and save space in the fridge.

Heston from Waitrose The Giant Cracking Penny, 700g | £20.00. Order here, available 17 – 24th Dec.

BBC Good Food joint winner, Good Housekeeping 2nd place 84/100. It’s posh, it’s pretty and it’s full of chocolate and praline. Very pricey but nicey.

M&S Sticky Toffee Pudding Crown, 1.4kg | £20.00. Buy at Ocado.

Good housekeeping winner 85/100, BBC Good Food highly commended. A hefty sticky toffee dessert with broad appeal for bigger families, or people who like leftovers the next day.

Aldi Specially Selected Raspberry & White Chocolate Christmas Tree, 450g | £7.99. Buy here.

Quality Food Awards centrepiece dessert winner. Attractive Belgian white chocolate and vanilla mousse with raspberries, sponge cake and hazelnut praline feuillantine, decorated with freeze dried raspberries.

Tesco Wicked Kitchen Chocolate & Salted Caramel Log, 570g | £6.00. Buy here.

BBC Good Food vegan dessert joint winner, Olive magazine winner. Most common remark about this one: ‘you can’t tell it’s vegan.’ A dessert rather than a cake. << BEST VALUE VEGAN

Morrisons The Best Vegan Sicilian Lemon & Raspberry Semifreddo, 450g | £5.00. Buy here.

Quality Food Awards vegan dessert winner, BBC Good Food vegan dessert joint winner. If you want something light and tangy after your main course, this is the one for you.

Best of the rest:

• Aldi Specially Selected Chocolate & Honeycomb Cracker, 700g | £5.49. Buy here. Quality Food Awards centrepiece desserts highly commended.

Christmas pudding

Traditional, deluxe, or a brand new flavour? You decide.

Best of the best:

M&S Collection Golden Blonde Star Christmas Pudding, 800g | £12.00. Buy at Ocado, £9.60 this week.

BBC Good Food joint winner, Olive magazine joint winner, Good Housekeeping 71/100.  Lightly spiced Christmas pudding with sultanas, nuts, apple, golden blond chocolate and fudge, enriched with brandy and rum. Includes golden blond chocolate and rum pouring sauce. << MOST AWARDS & BEST ALTERNATIVE FLAVOUR

Aldi Specially Selected Marc De Champagne Christmas Pudding, 400g | £4.99. Buy here.

Quality Food Awards winner. Traditional long-matured pud with a slight twist on the usual brandy. << BEST VALUE SMALL-ISH PUD

Aldi Specially Selected Exquisite 30 Month Matured Christmas Pudding, 907g | £9.99. Buy here.

Olive magazine joint winner. Spiced Christmas pudding with vine fruits, cider, Armagnac, port, almonds, rum and walnuts. << BEST VALUE LARGE PUD

Lidl Deluxe Luxury 24 Month Matured Christmas Pudding, 907g | £12.49. In store only.

Good Housekeeping supermarket Christmas pudding winner 80/100. A boozy pud that’s heavy on the cognac and packed with fruit and nuts, but maybe not the best option for kids.

Tesco Finest Black Forest Christmas Pudding, 800g | £10.00. Buy here. Currently in 3-for 2 offer.

Good Housekeeping best alternative flavoured Christmas pudding 79/100. Made with vine fruits, Belgian chocolate chunks, glace cherries and kirsch, topped with red glace cherries, whole almonds, syrup sauce and gold shimmer.

Best of the rest:

• Aldi Specially Selected Rich & Indulgent Plum, Damson & Pink Gin Christmas Pudding, 800g | £8.99. Buy here. Quality Food Awards highly commended, Good Housekeeping 2nd place alternative flavoured Christmas pudding 73/100

Mince pies

Again, lots of different award-winners here – so you should be able to easily find something you like.

Classic mince pies

Iceland Luxury all butter mince pies | £1.89.

Which? magazine joint winner, Good Housekeeping joint 4th place 76/100. Crumbly pastry, plump vine fruits, zesty yuzu and a slosh of brandy. << PENNY’S PICK

SPAR Luxury Mince Pies | £2.00. In store only.

BBC Good Food winner, Olive magazine joint winner. Always reliable, but sadly not always easy to get hold of.

Tesco Finest all butter pastry mince pies | £2.00. Buy here. Also in 3-for-2 offer this week.

Which? magazine joint winner, Good Housekeeping 6th place 75/100. Tasty filling and attractive presentation.

Co-op Irresistible all butter luxury mince pies | £2.00. Buy here.

Which? magazine joint winner, Olive magazine highly commended. Star-topped pies that have broad appeal, and a vine fruit and apple filling.

Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference mince pies with all butter pastry | £2.00. Buy here (on offer this week £1.50). << BEST VALUE (WITH OFFER)

Olive magazine joint winner. Pretty festive design, crumbly pastry, juicy filling full of sweet, plump fruit.

Best of the rest:

• M&S Collection mince pies | £2.50. Buy at Ocado. Which? Magazine 4th place 73/100, Good Housekeeping joint 4th place 76/100.

Alternative flavoured mince pies

This year it’s mostly about almonds, or caramel and toffee. Take your pick.

Waitrose Christmas cherry & almond mince pies | £2.25 for 4. Buy here.

BBC Good Food winner, Olive magazine highly commended. Lovely little frangipane tarts, sort of like a mince pie got very cosy indeed with a bakewell tart, and here is their almondy offspring.

Aldi Specially Selected All Butter 6 Almond Mince Tarts Topped With Flaked Almonds, 290g | £2.49. Buy here.

Quality Food Awards alternative mince pies winner, Good Housekeeping 8th place 70/100. Filled with a brandy and almond mincemeat and topped with flaked almonds and pastry lattice.

Aldi Specially Selected Exquisite Mini Mince Pies, 9 pack | £2.49. Buy here.

Quality Food Awards traditional mince pies winner. These are NOT traditional mince pies. Three flavours: cognac and hazelnut buttercream topped with gold-dusted walnuts, amaretto and cherry buttercream, and rose flavour mince pies topped with dried rose petals. << LUXE FOR LESS

M&S 4 Sticky Toffee Pud Pies | £2.00. Buy at Ocado.

Good Housekeeping winner 94/100. Sticky toffee sponge on a layer of caramel stuffed with plump vine fruits, in a deep pastry case topped with pecan nuts. An alternative flavour that’s only for those with an extremely sweet tooth.

Aldi Specially Selected rich & buttery salted caramel crumble mince pies | £1.50. Buy here.

Olive magazine winner. Another very sweet pie, with rich caramel balancing out a tart mincemeat filling, and a crisp, crunchy streusel topping.  << BEST PRICE FOR 6

Best of the rest:

• Tesco Finest Caramel Crumble Topped Mince Pies with salted caramel & festive spice, 4 Pack | £3.00. Buy here, in 3-for-2 offer this week. BBC Good Food highly commended, Good Housekeeping 4th place 83/100.

Christmas cake

There were fewer cake taste testings than in previous years, but here are three that really stood out.

Asda Extra Special Brandy-Soaked Fully Iced Fruit Cake, 907g | £9.00. Buy here.

BBC Good Food winner. Made with sultanas and raisins, glacé cherries, French brandy, candied citrus peel, split almonds and chopped walnuts covered with marzipan and soft icing, and topped with a festive bauble design.

Morrisons The Best Christmas Fully Iced Cake, 900g | £9.00. Buy here.

Quality Food Awards winner. Made with plump vine fruits, spices and orange zest, then infused with Cognac before being long matured.

Sainsbury’s Snowflake Iced Rich Fruit Cake, Taste the Difference, 900g | £11.00. Buy here.

Olive magazine joint winner, BBC Good Food highly commended. Rich cake with vine fruits, almonds, glacé cherries, candied citrus peel and brandy, topped with marzipan, icing and simple decorations.

Alternative Christmas cake, panettone, stollen etc

There’s a growing trend towards picking a lighter festive option such as panettone this year instead of serving Christmas pudding or Christmas cake, especially among millenials. Here are the panettone top picks, plus a couple of award-winning yule logs and a super-stollen if German sweet treats are more your thing.

Panettone

Best of the best:

Waitrose Christmas Tiramisu Panettone, 750g | £10.00. Buy here.

Good Housekeeping winner, Olive magazine panettone winner. Made with Italian dessert wine soaked sultanas, sweet mascarpone filling and alcoholic coffee syrup, topped with dark chocolate and coffee biscuit pieces. One for the grown-ups. << MOST AWARDS, UNUSUAL FLAVOUR

Aldi Specially Selected Classic Panettone, 750g | £3.69. Buy here.

Quality Food Awards panettone winner. Sweet, golden Christmas bread with sultanas and candied orange peel. << BEST VALUE CLASSIC RECIPE

Best of the rest:

• Asda Extra Special Classic Panettone, 500g | £4.50. Buy here. Quality Food Awards panettone highly commended.
• Aldi Specially Selected Chocolate Panettone, 750g | £3.69. Buy here. BBC Good Food panettone highly commended

Yule log cakes

Best of the best:

M&S Collection Woodland Yule Log, 900g | £20.00. Buy at Ocado.

Good housekeeping yule log winner 85/100. Rich chocolate sponge filled and covered with chocolate ganache, hand finished with milk chocolate bark and edible decorations. << TASTE TEST WINNER

It’s more than twice the price of the second-cheapest winner though, so read on…

Best of the rest:

• Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Milk Chocolate Yule Log, 442g | £4.00. Buy here. Good Housekeeping yule log 2nd place 81/100. << BUDGET-FRIENDLY
• Iceland Luxury The Ultimate Chocolate Log, 775g | £9.00. Buy here. BBC Good Food highly commended yule log.
• Waitrose Christmas Chocolate Yule Log, 825g | £10.00. Order here, available 17-24 Dec. BBC Good Food highly commended yule log, Good Housekeeping 70/100.

Stollen

There’s a clear winner here…

Best of the best:

Lidl Deluxe luxury stollen with Jamaican rum, 600g | £4.49. In store only.

Olive magazine best stollen winner, BBC Good Food best stollen highly commended. Plenty of marzipan and fruit, topped with flaked almonds. << BEST VALUE & FLAVOUR

Best of the rest:

• Waitrose No.1 Cherry & Amaretto Stollen, 585g | £9.00. Buy here. Olive magazine highly commended stollen.
• Sainsbury’s Hand Decorated Fruit & Nut Stollen, Taste the Difference, 545g | £7.00. Buy here. Olive magazine highly commended stollen

Cheeseboards and individual cheeses

Yes, it used to be lovely to have a long moment drooling at the cheese counter putting your own board together, but if you’d like to get out of the covid-ridden supermarket quicker or have something delivered all in one go then a ready-made cheeseboard is an easy option.

Morrisons The Best Christmas Slate Cheeseboard, 605g | £10.00. Buy here.

Olive magazine highly commended. Contains six cheeses: Brie De Bresse, Barber’s Coastal Cheddar, Red Fox Mature Red Leicester, Yorkshire Wensleydale with Cranberry and Sloe Gin, Shropshire Blue, French Goat’s Cheese. << BEST VALUE

Tesco Finest Cheese Selection Slate Board, 540g | £10.00. Buy here.

Good Housekeeping 2nd place. Contains 5 cheeses: Brie, Extra Mature Red Leicester Cheese, Montagnolo® Affiné blue cheese, Wensleydale Cheese with Cranberries and Blueberries, Le Gruyère® Cheese AOP.

Award winning single cheeses

The budget supermarkets did well at the Great Taste Awards in 2021, with each of the following earning a GTA star.

• Aldi Specially Selected Vintage Reserve Cheddar, 220g | £1.99. Order here.
• Aldi Specially Selected Scottish Vintage Cheddar | £1.25. Order here.
• Aldi Specially Selected Comté, 180g | £1.99. Order here.
• Lidl Deluxe mature blue stilton, 225g | Approx £3.00. In store only.

I think you’ll agree there’s something for most tastes and budgets this year, so let’s all tuck in.

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