Enter our 7th annual Holiday Cookie Bake-off, and check out this candy cane cookie recipe

Nothing says Christmas quite like candy canes. Or candy cane-shaped cookies. Kristen Johnson of Santa Monica was a finalist one year in our Los Angeles Times Holiday Cookie Bake-Off after submitting her recipe for almond candy cane cookies, flavored with almond extract.

Johnson writes: “My mother, Wendy Johnson, had me brainwashed as a child. Chocolate cake with almond frosting for my birthday? Yes! Sugar cookies with almond flavoring? Delicious. It wasn’t until I was in college and I made my roommate the homemade chocolate cake with almond frosting that I quickly learned my mom totally messed me up. Apparently using almond in lieu of vanilla flavoring in everything is not normal. I learned to hide my familial love of almond for the much more universally accepted vanilla. With one exception. The almond candy cane cookie. The family cookie of our holiday. Why? Because it is unapologetically, unabashedly, blissfully almond. From the dough to the glaze — blatantly almond. And We. Don’t. Care.”

Think you can do better? Show us by entering our 7th annual Holiday Cookie Bake-off today. Entries must be submitted by Nov. 25 at midnight.

We’re looking for your original cookie recipes, or maybe you have your own unique take on a traditional or family favorite. Submit the recipe, along with a short essay about the cookie. And don’t forget to add a photo or upload a video!

Readers will vote online for their favorites. The top 20 cookie recipes will be judged by our Food staff to determine the five finalists.

The finalists will be invited to the Los Angeles Times for a tour of the Test Kitchen, and will be photographed and featured, along with their recipes, in a Saturday section article this December.

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noelle.carter@latimes.com

@noellecarter