ADVERTORIAL: a Simply Better Christmas

There’s nothing like walking into a warm, cosy kitchen to the smell of Christmas baking; the air heady with the scent of sugar and spice. A hot cup of tea, a chat with a loved one and a bit of Christmas baking never goes down the wrong way – especially after the year we’ve had.

If you’re not planning Christmas bakes of your own this year, never fear: the Dunnes Stores Simply Better collection has you covered. Irish artisan producers The Foods of Athenry and Carleton Cakes each create a selection of Simply Better Christmas goodies; offering a dose of special holiday nostalgia along with your cup of tea.

Siobhan Lawless, owner and proprietor of the Foods of Athenry, has been a Dunnes Stores Simply Better supplier since 2013, and has been running her business for 16 years. Throughout the year, she makes the Simply Better granola and muesli range, but it’s during the holiday season that Siobhan and her team really shine.

Siobhan’s all-butter mince pies have become a Simply Better holiday favourite; having won multiple prestigious food awards over the years. When they arrive in Dunnes Stores each November; she and her team work hard to keep the shelves stocked for the remainder of the season.

“We actually make maybe 300,000 or 400,000 mince pies over the holidays,” she laughs. “They go on shelf after Halloween and each one of those pies is hand-filled. We make the mincemeat in small batches, a buttery pastry, hand-cut each star and then dust [the finished product] with a layer of icing sugar. It’s very much a labour of love and takes up all of our time!”

It may take up their time during the season, but Siobhan loves what she does and Christmas, too – it’s safe to say this is her busiest, but also most favourite time of year.

“I don’t know whether it’s the memories of Christmas past that keeps us going from year to year – it’s that sense of family and tradition we associate with the season,” she says. “I love Christmas products. [Making these Simply Better products] allows me to be a part of other people’s Christmases.”

“We have gotten messages from clients, after Christmas, telling us how our products added to their enjoyment of the holiday,” she continues. “This year, hopefully, will be ever more special – if we can have a proper family Christmas it will be one to remember. We need to focus on what’s important at Christmas; if you can’t go out, that’s OK – that’s not really what it’s about.”

Siobhan’s Simply Better Christmas line includes her All-Butter Mince Pies, Cranberry and Chocolate Mince Pies and both types of mincemeat filling, sold by the jar.

“Try coring an apple, then add our mincemeat down into it,” she says. “Pop it into the oven for 20 minutes; it’s delicious.”

There is a vast range of mince pies out there, but until Siobhan created her chocolate and cranberry flavour, you’d be hard-pressed to find one so unique.

“I just love chocolate,” Siobhan laughs. “There are many chocolates that come flavoured with fruit and nuts, I just wondered what it would be like in a mince pie – so the cranberry and chocolate came about from that. The chocolate melts and just kind of enriches the experience.”

Coming in boxes of six, each of Siobhan’s Simply Better mince pies is chock-full of her luscious mincemeat filling, which includes apples, grated carrot, dried fruits and nuts. The pastry is the same recipe she’s been making for years; featuring an impressive 2:3 fat to flour ratio – it’s what adds, in Siobhan’s own words, their “melt-in-the-mouth, crumbly buttery-ness.”

“People are happy to buy more than one pack of mince pies; I might only buy one cake or pudding, but people buy mince pies as a social thing,” she says. “They’re used as a way to connect – so you might as well get a good one. One big benefit of supplying our mince pies through Dunnes Stores Simply Better is they provide great value for the customer.”

Did traybakes feature in your life growing up? They certainly did for Doreen Carleton, who loved them so much she and her husband, Wilfred, built a business – from the ground up – around them.

Now, they supply the Dunnes Stores Simply Better range with a variety of traybakes and slices; including their special Christmas line.

“I would have grown up eating slices and traybakes, especially in my teenage years,” Doreen says. “Life became a bit more affluent [at that stage]; before it would have been very basic!”

Doreen and her husband, Wilfred, opened Carleton Cakes in 1994. At the time, they were raising four children and looking for a way to earn a living while staying within their Co Cavan locality. Doreen originally qualified as a home economics teacher and had always been interested in food. With her strong background in baking, she and Wilfred knew a speciality cake business was the right direction to take.

“In the beginning, it would only have been traybakes,” Doreen says. “In northern parts of Ireland, they are a traditional product and it’s something I was used to making at home. I think our caramel square would have been our first seller. We had a small retail outlet for five years and sold to the local town and area. After, we branched out into our wholesale department and expanded our product line.”

Once they developed their wholesale range in 1999, Doreen and Wilfred moved into the wider Irish market; selling into a variety of shops and retail outlets. In 2005, this expansion grew to start selling Christmas products which has continued to grow and develop each year. They started working with Dunnes Stores Simply Better in 2019; making their Simply Better Belgian Chocolate Brownies and Irish Raspberry Bakewell Slices year-round, as well as their seasonal Christmas Cake Slices.

“We find [the Simply Better team] very pleasant to work with,” Wilfred says. “Neven Maguire even came up to see us, which was lovely. This year, we’ve launched three new Simply Better products: our Chocolate and Cranberry Florentine Slice, Salted Caramel Slice and an Irish Mixed Berry Crumble Slice. We’re using Wexford Home Preserves – who also supply the Simply Better range – for our raspberry jam.”

“Our relationship [with Dunnes Stores Simply Better] is excellent,” he continues. “We’re all focused on the same goal; they’re very encouraging - it’s not a one horse race and we have to commend them for that. They are determined to use Irish sourced, high-quality ingredients and they have excellent quality in their product line.”

Their Simply Better Christmas products start appearing in October, and by November, Doreen and Wilfred are well into their busiest season of the year. They expect to produce around 100,000 packs over the Christmas period – their favourite time of year.

“There’s a great sense of community around Christmas - the little treats are extra,” Doreen smiles. “The Christmas cake isn’t as popular as it once was; things are changing, but these flavours are always going to be part of the season.”