Printable Recipe: Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Neiman Marcus Urban Myth Chocolate Chunk Cookies

 This recipe supposedly came about from an urban myth when an email circulated purported to be by a disgruntled woman who had the cookie at a Neiman Marcus restaurant and asked for the recipe.  She said she was told it she could have it for “two-fifty,” and when she got her credit card statement, there was a charge for $250.  She called and protested, but was told she could not have her account credited.  In response, the email said, she was posting the $250 recipe on-line for the whole world.  But as with most email tales, it was apparently an urban myth, as Neiman Marcus supposedly did not sell cookies – at least until after the email circulated.  A marketing plot?  Perhaps.  But after attempting to deal with Neiman Marcus’s customer service for something entirely unrelated to cookies – or for anything I ordered for that matter but found in my mailbox along with the bill – I can only conclude that they should get out of the luxury apparel business and go back to baking cookies.  These are utterly delicious, and freeze beautifully.  I roll the dough into balls and pop them in the freezer; thaw and bake as needed.

Ingredients

1 cup butter

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups flour

2 ½ cups ground oatmeal (grind in a
blender or food processor to a fine powder)

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoons baking soda

12 ounces (1 large bag) chocolate
chips (best quality)

9-ounce chocolate bar, grated

1 ½ cups chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

• In a large bowl, cream together the butter and both sugars, then add the eggs and vanilla.
• Add the flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
• Blend in the chocolate chips, grated chocolate bar, and nuts. Mix until batter is well incorporated.   (Batter will be fairly dry; if it becomes difficult to handle, just knead the nuts and chocolate into the dough like bread, being careful not to overwork the dough or it will be tough.)
• Roll into balls about the size of golf balls and place two inches apart on a cookie sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes.  Cool on wire racks.

Suggestion: use two different kinds of chocolate, such as milk chocolate chips and grated dark chocolate.