The $250 Cookie Recipe

Name: The $250 Cookie Recipe
Total time: 45 min
Yield: About 55 cookies
Ingredients: 1 cup butter; 1 cup dark brown sugar, packed; 1 cup granulated sugar; 2 eggs; 1 teaspoon vanilla; 2 1/2 cups oatmeal; 2 cups flour; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 1 teaspoon baking powder; 12 ounces chocolate chips; 1 4-ounce milk chocolate bar; 1 1/2 cups chopped nuts

By Barbara Whitaker

Total Time: 45 minutes
Rating: 4(7,800)
Comments: Read comments

Almost everybody has heard the one about the woman lunching at the Neiman Marcus Cafe in Dallas, who enjoyed the chocolate chip cookies so much that she asked for the recipe. For "only two-fifty," the waitress said, it was hers. But when the credit card bill arrived, the woman found the total near $300. Turns out the recipe cost $250, the story goes. In 1997, after years of enduring the myth, Neiman Marcus came up with a recipe – and gave it out for free. It's a delicious variation on chocolate chip cookies, using ground oatmeal, nuts and adding extra chocolate with a grated Hershey bar (you can use any brand you love).

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Ingredients

Yield:About 55 cookies

1cup butter
1cup dark brown sugar, packed
1cup granulated sugar
2eggs
1teaspoon vanilla
2½cups oatmeal
2cups flour
½teaspoon salt
1teaspoon baking soda
1teaspoon baking powder
12ounces chocolate chips
14-ounce milk chocolate bar
1½cups chopped nuts

Ingredient Substitution Guide

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Preparation

Step 1
Heat oven to 375 degrees.
Step 2
Cream together butter and both sugars. Stir in eggs and vanilla.
Step 3
Finely grind oatmeal in a blender or food processor. Combine the oatmeal, flour, salt, baking powder and soda in a medium bowl, and slowly add it to the wet ingredients. Beat just until combined. Grate chocolate bar using a microplane grater and add it, along with chocolate chips and nuts to the batter. Mix just to combine.
Step 4
Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls, 2 inches apart, on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes.

Ratings

4 out of 5

7,800 user ratings

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Comments

ellen7 years ago

you can't bake with steel cut! only rolled oats, any brand. Not instant. :-)

Robert Chamut7 years ago

This is similar to my late wife's recipe for chocolate chip cookies except for the chocolate. She used to send me to buy a 5 kg. bar of Callebaut(sp?) chocolate, make me chop up the bar with a cleaver and use the result as her chips. Amazing cookies with that superb chocolate.

murphy7 years ago

If you let it rest 2 hrs to over night, it can improve texture

Justin1 week ago

I've played with this recipe for years and it's become a favorite. I partially blend the oats to where there is some oat flower but mostly just chopped oats. I also found that i like to sub in 1 cup of quick oats, without grinding them. Not sure why it works but it changes the final texture in a way that we like. I also use a cookie scoop to portion out the cookies and press them down half way before baking. I pull them from the oven right before they look done. They taste really good frozen.

Joyce4 weeks ago

When I originally heard the story, I was told the waitress said two fifty and the customer wrote the check for $250.00

Kels1 month ago

Throw the oats in a food processor, but don’t grind them down all the way to flour. Instead of nuts, use toffee. 1 c butter and 1 c sugar, bring it to 300F and let it cool before breaking it into little bits and throwing it into the cookies.

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