TRIED AND TASTED: New vegan sweet chilli chickpea pies by Harry Gow

We had the news that Highland bakery Harry Gow was running a promotion tour for their new vegan pies this week – offering one for free with the purchase of any other pie on the menu – so we couldn't resist.

The offer will be running until June 3 in different stores across the Highlands – Alness and Invergordon still to come – you can find the dates to try this new sweet chilli chickpea pies here.

But now, let's get to the munchy topics.

At normal price, the pie comes in at £2.15 cold and around £2.50 hot. It is of a good size, the regular type you'd expect from Harry Gow – you'd need a couple probably to fill you up at lunchtime but they are great for a quick and tasty snack when you are feeling peckish.

Having had them travelling for a wee while in the heat today (almost 20 degrees!) I was quite impressed how it held up in a pretty good shape, without too many spillages. A good trial for the pie crust!

If you like a curry, this one will suit your palate for sure. The pies are made with butternut squash, chickpeas, coconut milk, onion, kale and a mix of herbs and spices, and you can feel and enjoy most of these ingredients – the filling is creamy enough but you still get some nice and soft chunks of chickpeas and squash that give the pie a lovely texture.

Not too hot but just with the right amount of chilli-flavour (coconut really goes a long way in these recipes!) that it makes it interesting but still leaves space to all the other flavours.

The pie crust is nicely crunchy around the outside with top and bottom being soft but not soggy, which with moist ingredients is not an easy task.

This is a great vegan option which I'd go for, even as a happy (and, when possible, responsible) meat eater.

Affordable and tasty – this gets a score of 4/5.

Tried it? Agree? newsdesk@hnmedia.co.uk

Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.