Neiman Marcus Cookies

[Magia]

The NeImAn-MaRcUs House Cookies!
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I just got this recipe by e-mail, from a friend that assures this is the secret recipe of some fantastic cookies they have a Neiman Marcus stores.... :?:
I haven't tried them but I sure will give this recipe a go. They do sound YUMMY.

NeImAn-MaRcUs
HoUsE CoOkIeS

(Makes 112 cookies)

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups butter
4 cups all purpose flour
2 tbs baking soda
2 cups white sugar
5 cups powdered oatmeal (measure the 5 cups and then put them in the blender to obtain a thin powder)
24 oz. Semi sweet chocolate chips
2 cups brown sugar
1 ts salt
1 8oz. Hershey’s chocolate bar (shredded)
4 eggs
2 tbs baking powder
2 tbs vanilla
3 cups chopped nuts (optional)

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DIRECTIONS:


1. Mix butter and sugars until you get a smooth creamy consistency. Add vanilla and eggs.

2. Add flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder and baking soda to step 1

3. Add chocolate chips and chocolate bar and nuts to step 2.


4. Shape the batter into small balls and place them, 2 inches apart from each other on a greased cookie sheet

5. Bake for 10 minutes to 375º

 

[Audeo]

Magia, these cookies are very delicious!

As the story goes (and as I remember it)...

Once upon a time, about ten or fifteen years or ago, a lady went into Neiman's in Northpark (north Dallas, ritzy section) and bought a tin of their "Famous Chocolate-Chip Oatmeal Cookies using her credit card. It even included the recipe for making more at home! Once she arrived home, she took a look at the receipt, which showed a $150.00 charge for that tin of cookies! So.... since the tin was already opened, Neiman's wouldn't refund her money....and she embarked upon the vengeful mission of spreading this recipe to the four corners of the earth!

Those cookies really were sold in Neiman's -- I've seen them for years, and I've had them in the Zodiak Room, which is a little bistro inside the Northpark (or was that the downtown) store. Michael in Fort Worth would probably know, with his elephant memory for details.

And they are really, really good!

 

[Alix]

They are yummy and I think they are posted on here a couple more times too! Seems we all love them a lot.

I heard the story a bit differently Audeo. Something along the lines of the lady had lunch there and so enjoyed the cookie that she asked for the recipe. When told it would be One fifty, she thought $1.50 not $150! And the story proceeds from there. I hope she feels she got her moneys worth. I know that my kids LOVE these cookies, I make them all the time.

 

[Audeo]

ROFL, Alix! I imagine, by this time, there are scores of variations out there!!!

Who knows, Mr. Marcus may have "slipped" the recipe himself on purpose!

Too funny!

 

[runninduo]

Audeo, I laughed when I read your version, but I had always heard Alix's version. It's so funny how things get twisted.......it is, no doubt, a cyber version of "telephone".

When I still lived in NY, I worked with someone whose mom was dating Mr. Marcus (or one of the Mr. Marcuses). I wish I had known of the story then, I would have tried to get to the bottom of it.

 

[Audeo]

Runninduo, as they say, timing is everything! Little did we know that we had a means for getting the facts!

Oh well, may the epoch live on and mutate!

 

[LEFSElover]

Funny. I heard it a different way with same end results.
The lady had gotten her credit card bill a month or so later.
She couldn't remember charging up the bill that high and looked deeper into the statement. There she found the Neiman Marcus cookie tin that was recorded at $250. Called screaming and insisted on her money back and they said, "No way Josie." ha ha ha.
I made these once and wasn't impressed with them. Very dry as the butter content didn't seem to match the dry ingredient content. The dough was veryyyyyy dry. I'll try this one. It may be different.

 

[mudbug]

I have heard that this whole story (and its many variations) is a total hoax. Check snopes.com.

 

[Alix]

Way to rain on the parade mudbug! Now we can't feel we are sticking it to the MAN when we bake these babies.

 

[Tasha]

Thank you very much! I came in here specifically looking for this recipe and didn't have to look far! It's one of my holiday baking recipes that I lost in the fire and am glad to have it back
Happy Holidays!

 

[htc]

Hey, I just go the email too.

So, just wanted to find out if anyone has actually ever TRIED MAKING this recipe?? I am thinking about it but hoping someone has tried it first and can give feedback.

 

[Alix]

I make them all the time. They are a fan favourite around here. I think the key is making sure the oatmeal is really fine. Make them, they are the best!

 

[htc]

Thanks for the feedback and tip!

 

[Alix]

My pleasure. Hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

 

[Andy M.]

I've had this recipe for 20 years at least. It became a tradition that my daughters and I made these cookies on Christmas Eve for Santa. They are both over 30 now (my daughters, not the cookies). They turned out so good, Santa always cleaned his plate!

I still make them for the holidays.

 

[htc]

Hey, it says the recipe makes 112 cookies. (yikes)I will probably make the full recipe when I try this.

When you made them, did they actually yield that many? Are the balls the size of a melon scoop? Or more like an ice cream scoop?

 

[Andy M.]

I never got 112 cookies from a batch. I make them closer to a melon scoop than an ice cream scoop... about the size of a ping pong ball.

 

[chefcyn]

It's funny how urban legends do change and mutate--this recipe is identical to one that came as the secret recipe for Mrs. Field's Chocolate Chip Cookie--same sort of story, a disgruntled employee, or just a greedy one(the story varies) sold the recipe for $100, $400, $1000, take your pick.

I wonder where this recipe really originated? It makes a fine tasty cookie!

 

[htc]

Hey, I just made these last night. Man, it was a BIG batch. Filled my whole KA Aritsan mixer. I actually got about 112 cookies, maybe even more. I used a melon scoop and baked for only 8 minutes. They're really good. Though I also used white choc. chips instead since that was all I had.

 

[Constance]

I've read that Nieman Marcus denies that story, and in fact posted their actual cookie recipe on the web.
Years ago, when I was in college, my first MIL to be was bridal manager at the Ft. Worth Neiman's, and I often hung out their on Saturday afternoons.
Their chocolate chip cookies were orgasmic. They also had wonderful strawberry jam.
I had so much fun at that store.
One day, the manager of fine jewlery showed me how he treated the millionaire's wives. He took me into a locked room with an armed guard at the door, opened the safe, and let me try on all kinds of fantastic diamond jewelry, including a yellow diamond solitaire ring that almost hid my knuckle.
They did any and everything to please their customers, and treated everyone who came in the same, because a pauper one day, might be a millionaire the next.
Years later, when I started my own business, I remembered that rule, and I loved seeing the Lincolns and Cadilacs out in my parking lot next to the old beat up clunkers.