L.A. Times Holiday Cookie Bake-Off: Deadline approaching

If you love baking holiday cookies, why not enter our holiday cookie contest? There are just a couple days left to enter the 3rd annual Los Angeles Times Holiday Cookie Bake-Off. Post your recipe along with a short essay explaining why this cookie is your family’s favorite. You can find a link for entry on our website: latimes.com/food.

We’ll test and taste the top 50 vote-getters at Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in Pasadena to come up with the 10 best. The deadline for entries is Nov. 3, and the voting ends Nov. 12. So get your recipe in as soon as you can.

Here’s a recipe for one of last year’s winning cookies:

Ronnie’s raspberry crescents

Total time: 1 hour, plus cooling time

Servings: Makes 2 dozen cookies

Note: Adapted from a recipe by Kim Nykanen.

Cookies

3 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature

1 cup plus 3 tablespoons (5 ounces) flour

1/4 cup seedless raspberry preserves

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large bowl using a hand mixer, beat together the cream cheese and butter until well-blended. Slowly beat in the flour until well combined to form a soft dough. Divide the dough in half and shape each half into a disk. Wrap each disk in wax paper and chill for at least 1 hour, up to overnight.

2. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. On a lightly floured surface, roll out each ball to about a 9-inch circle. Cut each circle into 12 wedges. Put a scant half teaspoon of jam on the wide end of each wedge. Roll each wedge from the wide end toward the point to form a crescent. Place each crescent point-side down on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and bake until golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove the cookies and cool on a rack.

Glaze and assembly

1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted

2 teaspoons lemon juice

Cookies

In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar and lemon juice until smooth to form a glaze. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cookies.

Each of 2 dozen cookies: 87 calories; 1 gram protein; 9 grams carbohydrates; 0 fiber; 5 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 14 mg cholesterol; 4 grams sugar; 13 mg sodium.