Today's the day — we can finally share the winners of the 22nd annual Minnesota Star Tribune Holiday Cookie Contest.

We've been preparing for this day since September, when we published our first call for entries. After sorting through more than 120 entries and testing (and tasting) 24 of them, we winnowed it down to this year's winners. And they're delicious.

You can taste them yourselves at our special Cookie Wonderland event today at Southdale Center. You'll be able to sample this year's winning cookies, mingle with fellow bakers and ask questions from the Taste team, baking professionals.

The 2024 winner and finalists will be recognized as part of the program, which starts at 11 a.m. Cookies will be available while supplies last.

But there's more than cookies!

The program begins with a caroler performance from Chanhassen Dinner Theatres, followed by our baking panel, where you can ask questions from this year's winner, as well as baking expert, author and Minnesota Star Tribune baking columnist Sarah Kieffer and Amy Carter, the retired pastry chef who leads the contest recipe testing.

Following the panel, the Cookie Wonderland experience begins. Walk through our expanded Cookie Wonderland experience to sample the winning cookies, snap a wintry photo and buy a new baking cookbook and have it signed by the authors.

Former Taste editor and writer Lee Svitak Dean and Rick Nelson will be there to sign copies of their new cookbook, "The Ultimate Minnesota Cookie Book." Kieffer also will be on hand to answer your baking challenges and to sign her newest cookbook, "100 Afternoon Sweets." And finally, we will also have Zoë François' latest cookbook, "Zoë Bakes Cookies," available for purchase.

The event is free, but please RSVP at startribune.com/cookiewonderland. In lieu of charging for the event, we have partnered with Second Harvest Heartland to collect nonperishable food donations for families in need. In addition, cash donations can be made to our new philanthropic effort, the Minnesota Star Tribune Local News Fund. Donations for both will be collected on-site.

And don't forget to chart your holiday baking course with our cookie finder, a virtual recipe box with all of the past winners. Find it at startribune.com/cookies.