Holiday cookie bake-off begins

Ladies and gentlemen, start your mixers. It’s that time again. Entries are now open for the fourth annual Los Angeles Times Holiday Cookie Bake-Off. Enter at latimes.com/bakeoff. Every year we get hundreds of entries and thousands of votes cast, so get your recipes up quickly.

Post your recipe along with a short essay explaining why this cookie is your family’s favorite and a photo (if you have one). You, the readers, will vote online for your favorites. Then we’ll test and taste the top 50 vote-getters at Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in Pasadena to come up with the 10 we like best.

The finalists will come downtown for a tour of the Los Angeles Times Test Kitchen and will be photographed and featured in a Saturday section article during the holidays.

Entries must be submitted by Nov. 19 at midnight, and voting will close at midnight Dec. 2.