Who won the 2018 Holiday Cookie Contest? Find out here.

A sampler of cookies

Mark your calendar for a taste of the 2018 finalists in the Holiday Cookie Contest. On Nov. 30, the Star Tribune will host a free holiday sampler of the five cookie finalists in the main-floor lobby of its headquarters (650 3rd Av. S., Mpls.). The tasting begins at 11 a.m. and continues while the cookies last. (Best advice: Come early.) As in the past, there will be music and coffee as well. Please bring a canned food item to donate to Second Harvest Heartland. Copies of "The Great Minnesota Cookie Book," with recipes from the first 15 years of the contest, will be available for sale.

The authors speak

Lee Svitak Dean and Rick Nelson, authors of the new "The Great Minnesota Cookie Book," will be speaking at Barnes & Noble (3230 Galleria, Edina, 952-920-2124) on Nov. 26 at 7 p.m.

Dean and Nelson also are the featured speakers at Talk of the Stacks on Nov. 29 at 7 p.m., where they will again be talking about cookies (and there will be cookies to sample). The event is held at the downtown Minneapolis Central Library (300 Nicollet Mall) in Pohlad Hall. Admission is free; doors open at 6:15 p.m.