Dust off your recipe files. We're looking for great holiday cookie recipes for the 10th-annual cookie contest for the Taste section.

We're often inundated with recipes for spritz, iced sugar cookies, gingerbread cutouts and other December standards. While we hold them in high regard, we view the contest as an opportunity to present Taste readers with unfamiliar and unusual recipes.

Make your submission stand out with an entry that will inspire bakers all over Minnesota to preheat their ovens.

There aren't many rules. We greatly appreciate original recipes, although if there's a previously published recipe that you've made your own, we'll definitely 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.

Top prize is a $200 gift certificate to a local cookware store. And there's the matter of fame. The winner and finalists -- and their recipes -- will be immortalized in the Star Tribune on Nov. 29. They'll also be invited to share their cookies at a fun, open-to-the-public bake-a-thon on Dec. 1 at the Mill City Museum in Minneapolis.

Now get baking. But hurry. Deadline is Friday noon. We're looking for the next winner. From 2007, at left, it was Orange-Chocolate Cookies from Eileen Troxel.

TASTE 10TH-ANNUAL HOLIDAY COOKIE CONTEST

Deadline: Noon, Oct. 26.

Details: Along with your recipe and story, please include your name, address, daytime phone number and e-mail address.

By e-mail: taste@startribune.com. Please put "Taste Holiday Cookie Contest" in the memo field.

By mail: Taste Holiday Cookie Contest, Star Tribune, 425 Portland Av. S., Minneapolis, MN 55488.