TWO Winsford workmates have revealed the results of some important festive research in the build-up to Christmas.

Ric Pratt and James Barker have put their heads together to help shoppers choose the ultimate mince pie.

Scoring independently on three important criteria, the Santa scientists came up with marks out of 60 for 23 different brands of mince pie available in the shops this Christmas.

“The idea was pretty simple – we are both a fun of mince pies,” Ric told the Guardian.

“We brought in two or three boxes when they started hitting the shelves a few weeks back.

“We were doing it as a bit of a laugh at first, but one thing led to another, and we starting thinking ‘these pies are better than those’ and decided we ought to rate them.”

Taking one for the team, Ric and James put together a scorecard to each give marks out of 10 for the pies’ looks, taste, and ‘eatability’ – all against their price at the time of purchase.

As Rick explained: “When you’re sat in a suit, eatability is an important factor. The last thing you want is to take a bite and for the whole thing to fall apart.”

After days of research, bringing together pies from supermarkets, bakeries and national brands into a colour-coded spreadsheet, there was a clear winner.

It’s looking like a merry Christmas for Asda shoppers, with the supermarket’s ‘Extra Special’ brand beating all comers to earn its place at the top of the pile.

Asda’s Extra Special brandy butter-topped mince pies scored 16 for looks, 17 for eatability and full marks for taste en route to a clear win – six point clear of joint runners-up Tesco Finest mince pies with Courvoisier and Mr Kipling iced-top mince pies.

Meanwhile, Morrisons own bakery effort is propping up the table in last place.

Its puff pastry mince pies received a a combined score of just 20, losing significant marks in the looks and eatability department.

“We rated them independently, but in fairness the top one did get the most points from both of us,” said Rick.

“They have got to the point where they are not tasting quite as good as they were at the start.

“The novelty has certainly worn off a bit, and Christmas weight is starting to come back on.”

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THERE were differing fortunes for mid Cheshire's supermarkets in the (un)official mince pie tables for 2019.

After two workmates took on the mammoth task of rating 23 different variations on the festive treat, it has become clear that experimenting with something a little different is a gamble that could end in glory or despair.

Here, we take a look at the five best – and worst – mince pies this Christmas, along with Ric and James's combined category scores out of 20.

1 – Asda Extra Special brandy butter-topped mince pies. Looks: 16. Eatability: 17. Taste: 20. Total: 53

2 – Tesco Finest mince pies with Courvoisier. Looks: 16. Eatability: 16. Taste: 15. Total: 47

3 – Mr Kipling iced top mince pies. Looks: 15. Eatability: 17. Taste: 15. Total: 47

4 – Marks and Spencer all butter mince pies. Looks: 12. Eatability: 16. Taste: 16. Total: 44

5 – Greggs freshly-baked sweet mince pies. Looks: 13. Eatability: 14. Taste: 19. Total: 44

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19 – Asda Extra Special. Looks: 8. Eatability: 12. Taste: 12. Total: 32

20 – Mr Kipling mini frangipane-top mince pies. Looks: 5. Eatability: 9. Taste: 13. Total: 27

21 – Aldi Holly Lane mince pies. Looks: 13. Eatability: 6. Taste: 7. Total: 26

22 – Aldi black forest crumble mince pies. Looks: 7. Eatability: 10. Taste: 9. Total: 26

23 – Morrisons puff pastry mince pies. Looks: 7. Eatability: 4. Taste: 9. Total: 20