The 10th annual Taste Holiday Cookie Contest could be your passport to fame, not to mention a kind of fortune: a $200 gift certificate to a local cookware store.

The winner and finalists -- and their recipes -- will appear in the Star Tribune's Nov. 29 cookie issue. They'll also be invited to share their cookies at a bake-a-thon on Dec. 1 at the Mill City Museum in Minneapolis.

There are few rules. We have an appetite for original recipes, but if there's a previously published recipe that you've made your own -- from a newspaper or magazine, cookbook, website or TV show -- we're more than happy to consider it. We're also curious about the story behind each entry. Please include a letter detailing your recipe's origins and the role it plays in your holiday baking traditions and celebrations.

The winning recipe will be in good company, including the caramel-walnut confection from our first competition in 2003 -- Taffy Treats, from Sherryl Joos of Plymouth -- to last year's memorable Swedish Almond Chocolate Macaroons, submitted by Beth Jones of Owatonna, Minn.

Follow their example and offer Taste readers a delicious, one-of-a-kind reason to bake. But hurry. The deadline is in just three weeks.