A FAMILY-owned Somerset biscuit maker is celebrating after growing its partnership with Aldi this Christmas.

Yeovil-based Cuoco has supplied the supermarket with Florentines and chocolate biscuits as part of its Exquisite Specially Selected Christmas range for the past three years.

This year it is adding to the luxury selection with the launch of its decadent Chocolate Caramel Thins - officially named as The Quality Food Award’s 2021 Christmas product of the year.

Husband and wife Liam and Penny Pithers launched the Cuoco brand after running their own bakery for eight years.

Its partnership with Aldi has helped its business take off, allowing it to employ more staff to meet the huge demand for its biscuits over the festive period and supporting local suppliers through increased orders.

The Caramel Thins are now available in Aldi stores across the country at £3.99.

Mr Pithers, Cuoco managing director and creative director, said: “Our partnership with Aldi keeps us very busy in the run up to Christmas, with our speciality biscuits always proving incredibly popular.

"The growing partnership is allowing us to bring even more local staff on board and the majority of our ingredients are sourced via local suppliers.

“We’re working hard to develop even more exciting new flavours, sustainable packaging formats and products, and hope to extend our Exquisite Specially Selected range with Aldi even further in the years to come.”

Julie Ashfield, managing director of buying at Aldi UK, said: “Cuoco has been a brilliant partner of our Exquisite Specially Selected range over the past three years and we are delighted to be extending our partnership even further this Christmas with their latest product, which is sure to be a hit after winning The Quality Food Award’s 2021 Christmas product of the year.

“Supporting local and sustainable businesses is really important and we look forward to continuing our relationship with Cuoco and adding even more of their delicious creations to our range.”

Aldi has recently announced plans to increase the amount of food and drink it buys from British suppliers by £3.5billion a year by 2025 as it continues its rapid expansion across the UK.

The supermarket has also pledged to invest £1.3billion over the next two years to create more places and more ways to shop with Aldi in a bid to accelerate its share of the UK grocery market.