Cookie Wonderland, the free annual celebration built around the Minnesota Star Tribune Holiday Cookie Contest, returns to Southdale Center in Edina on December 10, 2026, starting at 11 a.m. Guests are asked to enter through the Hennepin County Service Center, Door 13, for a program that mixes caroling, a bakers' panel and the chance to taste all five winning cookies from this year's contest.
A 24th Year of Cookie Tradition
This year marks the 24th annual Minnesota Star Tribune Holiday Cookie Contest, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune, with Cookie Wonderland serving as the festive event celebrating the contest's winners. The Star Tribune describes the gathering as an annual tradition built around the Holiday Cookie Contest results, and this year's contest winners are set to be announced December 3. Rustica will bake this year's cookies for the event, the newspaper reports.
The program opens with Chanhassen Dinner Theatres carolers at 11 a.m., followed by a baking panel at 11:15 a.m. Food editor Nicole Hvidsten will moderate the panel, which will include pastry chef and contest testing coordinator Amy Carter and this year's contest winner.
Free Admission, Limited Sampling
Admission is free, and guests are encouraged to register in advance. At check-in, attendees receive a program and three sampling tickets, allowing each person to try up to three cookies. Sampling is first-come, first-served and limited to the first 1,000 people through the door.
For those who want to take the full lineup home, a limited-edition tin containing all five winning cookies is available for $29.85. Those tins must be purchased online in advance and will be sold online only — they won't be available for purchase at the event itself. Organizers are also partnering with Second Harvest Heartland to collect nonperishable food donations on site, and attendees can additionally choose to donate cash to the Minnesota Star Tribune Local News Fund.
Southdale's history in Edina
Southdale's documented history predates Cookie Wonderland by decades. The Minnesota Historical Society says the center opened in 1956 with 72 stores arranged around a brightly lighted center court.
Past coverage, kept in context
The scale of the operation has grown along with its popularity. One behind-the-scenes account from the Star Tribune described a contest that began with about 150 entries, with 24 recipes advancing to a final testing round, and noted that a recent edition drew a record response strong enough that prepackaged cookie boxes offered for sale sold out. That same account placed the celebration at Edina's Southdale Center for a fourth consecutive year, though it is not confirmed whether that account refers to the same edition detailed elsewhere.
There is also a difference in the bakery accounts: the current event announcement says Rustica will bake the cookies, while an older Star Tribune account credits Rush City Bakery with baking thousands served at an event. The available reporting does not clarify whether those accounts refer to the same edition.
