From the good old mince pie through to tasty dessert treats, the inaugural Pie Time competition truly showcased the extent of pastry-cased goodness the Highlands has to offer.

Crowned the 2017 Pie Time champion, Southern Rise Bakery led the way with its ‘Bernie’ – a collaborative effort between the Moss Vale bakery and Bernie’s Diner.

Southern Rise Bakery owner Matthew Fitzgerald said he’d taken the opportunity as a chance to support his fellow local businesses.

“Three of my entries were special collaborations. I wanted to have something special in the competition, different from what we have in the store. I worked on perfecting the butter pastry and I spoke to other local stores for quality fillings,” he said.

Butter pastry was a new adventure for Southern Rise, an addition shoppers can look forward to seeing on the menu.

“It’s been great for my staff and apprentices to learn the process of working with butter, and we’ll introduce it to some of our signature range,” Mr Fitzgerald said.

Southern Rise’s pie was also the winner of the white meat category. 

The Mill Cafe’s vegetable pie, made from locally sourced produce was named winner of vegetarian category. 

Stones Patisserie won the title of best seafood pie. 

Gumnut Patisserie’s salted caramel pie was named winner of the sweet pie category and apprentice Josh Nickl won the apprentice category. 

Heatherbrae’s classic mince pie won the red meat category. 

The community section was won by Angela Walsh.