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This urban legend Neiman Marcus cookie recipe makes easy and absolutely delicious chocolate chip cookies. Full of nuts, chocolate chips, and an entire chocolate bar, these chewy chocolate chip cookies are total crowd pleasers!
My mama would bake huge batches of Neiman Marcus cookies around Christmas time --holiday orders from folks at her job-- and I remember the entire kitchen was covered with wire racks cooling off cookies.
I absolutely love these cookies; they're basically oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with tons of chocolate, walnuts, and a secret ingredient -- blended oats. They're really easy to make, simply mix the ingredients together, drop the cookies onto your baking sheet, and impatiently wait for the oven to work it's magic!
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The Neiman Marcus Cookie Urban Legend
A lady and her daughter went into the Neiman Marcus cafe for lunch, bought 2 salads and had a cookie. Well, the cookies were so good the mama asked for the recipe, which he replied "It'll cost 'two-fifty'." and brought it to her written out on a napkin.
Well when she asked for the check, she noticed lunch was $270!
"Why would my lunch cost so much? I only bought two salads!"
The waiter told her, "Well, you asked for the recipe for our cookies, which costs $250."
And because she already saw the recipe, her money could not be returned. So when she came home, angrier than hot grease and water, she emailed everyone she knew the Neiman Marcus cookie recipe, so no one could be jipped of $250 by Neiman's again.
Making the Original Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookies from Scratch
This is a super easy chocolate chip cookie recipe 'with a twist'. What makes this urban legend cookie different are two things: the chopped up chocolate bar and the blended oat flour. Oh, and the fact that it's a no-chill recipe, meaning that you don't have to wait for these to chill in the fridge for hours, they go straight into the oven!
Ingredients
Old Fashioned Oats. You'll be blending the oats into a powder to mix into your cookie dough. The blended oats only take a minute to make; just put the oats in your blender and give a whirl until they are a coarse powder. They give the cookies a great texture and make them nice and thick, so if you want those nice fluffy chocolate chip cookies instead of flat ones, this is your secret weapon!
All-Purpose Flour
Kosher Salt
Baking Soda and Baking Powder. Baking soda releases carbon dioxide which helps create a soft, fluffy cookie, while baking powder (which has both leavener and acid for the baking soda to react to) helps the reaction in the dough.
Unsalted Butter
Granulated and Brown Sugars. Brown sugar helps make this cookie soft, chewy, and moist while granulated sugar gives it a crisp bottom and edges. Ran out of brown sugar? Don't worry, I have a recipe for DIY Brown Sugar!
Large Eggs. Make sure your eggs are at room temperature. When all the ingredients are room temperature, your baking goes so much better!
Vanilla Extract.
Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips.
Chocolate Bar. I know the original recipes specified a Hershey's bar, but I personally love a good dark chocolate bar with 60-70% cacao. And don't skip this! Chopping up the chocolate bar makes awesome little tiny chocolate pieces that mix right into the cookie dough along with the big chocolate chunks. You'll thank me when those cookies come out of the oven.
Walnuts. Nuts are a part of the original Neiman Marcus cookie recipe, but feel free to substitute them or omit the nuts entirely!
First cream the butter and sugar together in a stand mixer or with an electric hand mixer. Creaming the butter and sugar is important, it creates micropockets of air in your cookies, making them less likely to overspread, become flat, and makes them a lot lighter, too.
Then add in all the dry ingredients until just incorporated. Don't overwork flour, it starts working the gluten and then you end up with tough cookies.
Fold in all those good bits, the chocolate chunks, the chocolate chips, the nuts. Then cookie scoop them into perfect little mounds onto your baking sheet and bake until they are literally perfect.
Freezing Cookies and Cookie Dough
The best way to freeze your freshly baked cookies is to allow the cookies to cool completely. Place them in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet that fits your fridge to freeze them, then store the cookies in a freezer-safe zip-top bag. Squeeze out all the extra air and place the bag of cookies flat in the freezer, they'll last for 1 month.
To freeze the cookie dough, use the spring-loaded cookie scoop to scoop the cookies onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and then freeze them until firm. Then place the dough into a freezer-safe zip-top bag and squeeze the air out. The cookie dough will last for up to 3 months in the freezer.
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Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookie
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups old fashioned oats, blended to a powder consistency
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup 16 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 8 oz. good chocolate bar, chopped finely or grated
- 10 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 ½ cups chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line 4 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Whisk together the blended oats, all-purpose flour, kosher salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a medium-sized bowl. Set aside.
- Cream butter and sugars together in a stand mixer or electric mixer in a large bowl until well combined and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Add eggs and mix in well, then add vanilla.
- Mix the dry ingredients into the butter mixture with a rubber spatula (or the paddle attachment to your stand mixer on low speed) until all the dry ingredients are just incorporated. Gently fold in the chocolate, chocolate chips, and walnuts.
- Using a spring-loaded cookie scoop, place the cookie dough onto the parchment-lined baking sheets (three in one row, two in the next, repeat the pattern) and bake in the center of the oven for 9-10 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then finish cooling on a wire rack.
Recipe Notes
Freezing Cookies and Cookie Dough
The best way to freeze your freshly baked cookies is to allow the cookies to cool completely. Place them in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet that fits your fridge to freeze them, then store the cookies in a freezer-safe zip-top bag. Squeeze out all the extra air and place the bag of cookies flat in the freezer, they'll last for 1 month. To freeze the cookie dough, use the spring-loaded cookie scoop to scoop the cookies onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and then freeze them until firm. Then place the dough into a freezer-safe zip-top bag and squeeze the air out. The cookie dough will last for up to 3 months in the freezer.Baking Tips
- Make sure you're using fresh baking soda and baking powder. They have an average lifespan of 6 months and without them your cookies will end up flat, hard, overspread, etc.
- The best kind of chocolate bar to use is your favorite kind! I personally like a Godiva bar from the grocery store, but I also absolutely love a chocolate bar from Aldi!
- Use Old Fashioned Oats, not steel-cut and not quick-cooking. Quick cooking will turn to mush and not give you any texture, while steel cut will not cook down properly since it needs longer cooking times and more liquid.
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