A BAKERY headquartered in North Yorkshire has laid claim to the country's best mince pies.

Thomas the Baker has received the first ever three-star Great Taste award given to a sweet mince pie in the awards’ 25-year history for its Heavenly Sweet Mince Pie.

Just 205 of the 12,777 products from 106 countries which were entered into the awards received the coveted three stars.

The Heavenly Sweet Mince Pie was created following two years of development work by the bakery team and

The filling includes sweet mince with apricots and brandy and secret ingredients, in an all-butter pastry shell with finely ground almonds and finished off with a Viennese Biscuit topping.

Thomas the Baker has 30 stores mainly in North Yorkshire and its head office and main bakery in Helmsley. It remains a family business with founder John Thomas at the helm, who set up the business in 1981.

It sells around 200,000 mince pies in the eight weeks before Christmas, with half of those sold in the week before December 25. At least 2,000 are sold every week around the year, with demand growing from October.

Judges' comments included: “A stunning mince pie, gloriously crisp, with short pastry that melts in the mouth. It is not often that a mince pie ticks all the boxes."

“This is the perfect example of what a mince pie should be like.”

“Attractive, neat and enticing. The pastry melts in the mouth, the fruit is full of fresh tang and the topping just buttery heaven. A well balanced, sophisticated and delicious mince pie.”

Fourteen tons of sweet mince filling will be made by Thomas the Baker in 2020 and more than 3,000 additional man-hours are needed to meet the Christmas demand.

In a previous year’s judging, Thomas the Baker’s Luxury Mince Pie was awarded a one-star Great Taste award.

Extra time is needed to make, bake and box the original one-star luxury mince pies, with a great deal of hand finishing involved - and that was before the work began in earnest on producing the new three-star mince pies in much larger quantities.

Thomas the Baker also received a one-star Great Taste award for its Bakewell Muffins this year.

Simon Thomas, managing director at Thomas the Baker, said: “To say we are delighted to have been awarded the coveted three-star Great Taste award would be an understatement! We are very proud of all of our products, with a lot of love and years of experience going into everything we make.

"But, when you receive an award like this, it means so much – particularly one as well respected as the Great Taste awards and when you realise no sweet mince pie has ever before received the accolade of three-stars!

"It has, of course, been a very strange year and if our mince pies can help bring a smile to some faces this Christmas it will make all the hard work worthwhile. We’re working round the clock to get stock in store for people to enjoy – I think we’ll all be looking for little ways to add some festive cheer to our lives this Christmas.”

Great Taste are judged by 144 discerning palates over 14 weeks.

This year’s panel included; cook, writer and champion of sustainable food, Melissa Hemsley, cook, writer, stylist and voice of modern vegetarian cooking, Anna Jones, celebrated Spanish chef, José Pizarro, Kavi Thakrar from Dishoom, food writer and cook, Xanthe Clay, and baker and author, Martha Collison, as well as food buyers from Selfridges, Fortnum & Mason and Waitrose.