A $250 cookie recipe.

This week I was let in on the secret of the legend of the $250 Neiman Marcus Cookie.
The story goes that a woman was so impressed with a cookie she had in the cafe of the American department store in Dallas that she asked if it would be possible to purchase it. She was told that it would be “two fifty”. They charged this to her card. When she got her statement through, she noticed the charge for the cookie recipe was $250.00.
When she queried this with them, they said that this was fee and it was non-refundable. The woman swore revenge and began an email chain (remember those), where she shared the recipe with everyone she could think of. You can find a million different blogs and websites with the recipe; including here, here and here.

You will be pleased to know that I asked my Iowa mom if I could have a copy of the recipe she used, because I couldn’t stop thinking about those damn cookies, and I’ll share that (in grams) here, now:

You will need:
256g softened butter
256g granulated sugar
256g brown sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla essence
512g plain flour
640g (ground) oatmeal
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
300g chocolate chips
200g grated chocolate
200g chopped nuts (optional)

I blended the oatmeal in a smoothie maker. If you have a blender or food processor then that will probably be easier.

Method:
Cream the butter and both sugars.
Add eggs and vanilla.
Mix together with flour, blended oatmeal, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
Add chocolate chips, grated chocolate and nuts.
Roll into balls and place two inches apart on a baking sheet.
Bake for 10 – 12 minutes at 190 degrees.

The recipe says that this makes 112 cookies. I got about seventy, and I also ate a lot of dough in the process.

My favourite part about this recipe is the story behind it. It doesn’t matter if it’s true, it’s the story that makes it. That and the wonderful deliciousness.