The $250 Cookie Recipe

By Barbara Whitaker

The $250 Cookie Recipe
Peter DaSilva for The New York Times
Total Time
45 minutes
Rating
4(7,855)
Comments
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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
Nutritional analysis per serving (55 servings)

156 calories; 8 grams fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 2 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 20 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 13 grams sugars; 2 grams protein; 61 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat oven to 375 degrees.

  2. Step 2

    Cream together butter and both sugars. Stir in eggs and vanilla.

  3. 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.

  4. Step 4

    Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls, 2 inches apart, on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes.

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Ratings

4 out of 5
7,855 user ratings
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Comments

ellen

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

Robert Chamut

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.

murphy

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

V

I converted everything to metric weight measurements using King Arthur ingredient weights. I used salted butter, and also toasted the oats first in a dry skillet, until golden brown then ground them, but not too finely. It lost about 21g in weight, so added in extra liquid into the batter: 1 tbsp of vanilla (instead of 1 tsp) and 1 tbsp bourbon. I rolled the very soft dough into 2 logs about 15.5” each, wrapped tightly and left overnight in fridge to hydrate and firm up. Cut the logs the next day into 1/2” pieces, squished them into a roughly tablespoon size mounds, sprinkled a bit of smoked Malden flakey salt on top, baked on top parchment paper lined baking sheets for 10 minutes. Turned out great. Got 62 cookies I think? Tip for cookie logs: get the cardboard tube inside wrapping paper, cut lengthwise and put the plastic wrapped logs inside. It will make sure you get a nice tight circular shape. Also, I find that it helps if you slap the plastic wrapped logs onto the counter a few times while shaping (before you put it inside the cardboard sleeves) to make sure you don’t have cracks and air holes in the center of the dough log.

Joyce

Made with dark chocolate mint bars, just a hint of mint. Delicious

Bella

TWO cups of sugar?...nup...sheesh!

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