More than 1,300 readers cast over 2,700 votes in this year’s Holiday Cookie Contest. After weeks of battling it out at the polls, here are the 12 recipes that received the most votes and are moving on to the final delicious round.

Lizka’s Butter Braids by Annette Kukoy, of Schererville, Indiana

Wintertime Eikoocs by Megan Pietz, of Chicago

Cookies by Justyna Jarmula, of Chicago

Cranberry Carolyns: Spiced Oatmeal Cookies by Ana Fernatt, of Chicago

Salted Caramel Apple Pretzel Sugar Cookies by Caroline Roth of Chicago

Oh Gee! Cookies by Jeanne White, of Tinley Park

Banana Split Fluffies by Amy Trager, of Chicago

Bear Claw Snickerdoodle by Jesse Kimball, of Chicago

Holiday Pumpkin Bites by Ellen Brady, of Chicago

Pistachio and Cranberry Linzer Wreaths by Andrew Yohanan, of Chicago

Brown Butter Cherry Chip by Miriam Rodriguez, of Chicago

Erin’s Thumbprints by Erin Claussen, of Chicago

For this year’s “Joe Gray Save,” named after a former dining editor, the food team decided to save the Coffee Delight Cookies by Myron Boyajian, of Homewood. Many of us were introduced to the concept of Rhode Island coffee milk earlier this year when Dunkin’ introduced its Dunkalatte, and we’re curious to see how those flavors will do in cookie form.

Tribune staffers will get busy baking these recipes this week, and our guest judges — Quinton McNair, of StruggleBeardBakery, Dina Cimarusti, of Sugar Moon, and Emily Nejad, of Bon Vivant — will sample them all on Wednesday.

We’ll reveal the winners in print, online and in person at the Christkindlmarket’s Daley Plaza location on Dec. 4.

But in the meantime, preheat your oven and try out some of this year’s recipes yourself! Or grab a copy of our cookbook, “Holiday Cookies, 2nd Edition,” to check out nearly four decades of winning reader submissions. Get it at chicagotribune.com/holidaycookies.