McCormick is looking to mix up the traditional cookie exchange with a modern twist this holiday season is in search of the best cookie recipe. The global leader in flavor is inviting bakers, sugar cookie connoisseurs, coveted family recipe holders and general cookie enthusiasts to enter the McCormick Cookie Quest for a chance to win a grand prize of $10,000 USD.

As part of the virtual holiday cookie recipe exchange, the brand is partnering with renowned bakery Milk Bar and its James Beard award-winning founder Christina Tosi to create a limited-time Milk Bar x McCormick Candy Cane Pretzel Bark Cookie. This minty, sweet-salty cookie features McCormick Pure Vanilla Extract and Peppermint Extract and is rolled and topped with festive, red sanding sugar.

On National Cookie Day, December 4, select Milk Bar locations will give away the Milk Bar x McCormick Candy Cane Pretzel Bark Cookie to the first 100 customers starting at 10:00 am local time, limit one cookie per person, while supplies last. The cookies will be on sale for $3.25 at the same Milk Bar locations starting from December 4-31.

Participating Milk Bar locations include:

  • NYC Flagship (1196 Broadway at 29th St., New York, NY 10001)
  • Williamsburg (382 Metropolitan Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11211)
  • Washington, DC Logan Circle (1525 15th St NW, Washington, DC 20005)
  • Los Angeles Flagship (7150 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046)

To enter the McCormick Cookie Quest, fans can post their original recipe to Instagram and tag @McCormickSpice with the hashtags #McCormickCookieQuest and #Contest from November 19 until December 8. Entrants will be judged on originality, presentation, clarity, brand fit, holiday spirit and taste. Stand-out submissions and the winner may also be featured on the McCormick website and across the brand’s social media channels, with the winner to be announced on or about December 19.

“McCormick has long been at the heart of holiday meals and traditions, creating sensorial experiences that bring people together and leave lasting memories. To continue to create special moments, we're evoking the tastes and smells of holiday baking and putting a modern spin on the timeless cookie exchange,” says Giovanna DiLegge, vice president marketing, NA consumer at McCormick. “McCormick Cookie Quest will allow people across the country to share the joy of baking, and we can't wait to see what everyone mixes up.”

“When it comes to baking in my home kitchen and the Milk Bar kitchen, from the classics like vanilla and peppermint extracts to cinnamon and pumpkin pie spices, McCormick makes it all possible,” says Christina Tosi. “I love to be inspired by others and their imaginations and taste buds — how they see the same ingredients differently. That's why I'm pumped to help my friends at McCormick bring the modern-day cookie recipe exchange to life!”