A $200 gift certificate to a local cookware store is the top prize in our 11th annual Taste Holiday Cookie Contest.

Along with fortune comes fame: The winner and finalists — and their recipes — will be featured in the Star Tribune on Dec. 5. They'll also be be invited to participate in a cookie meet-and-eat at the Mill City Museum in Minneapolis on Dec. 7.

Original recipes are preferred, but if you've made a previously published recipe your own, we'll certainly consider it (find past winners and finalists at Startribune.com/cookies). We also enjoy a great story, so please include a letter detailing the recipe's origins and its role in your holiday baking traditions and celebrations.

Hurry, because the deadline is Friday at noon. (And we do pay attention to the time; we start judging the recipes immediately and will have have chosen those to test by the end of that day.) Be sure to include your name, address, daytime telephone number and e-mail address with your recipe and story.

Enter via e-mail: taste@startribune.com (please write Taste Holiday Cookie Contest in the subject field).

Enter by mail: Taste Holiday Cookie Contest, Star Tribune, 425 Portland Av., Mpls., MN 55488.

Deadline: Noon on Oct. 18.