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(7,572)
Notes: Read community notes

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).

Featured in: The $250 Cookie Recipe Exposed

or to save this recipe.
Subscriber benefit: give recipes to anyone
As a subscriber, you have 10 gift recipes to give each month. Anyone can view them - even nonsubscribers. Learn more.
Subscribe
Share
Print Options
Include recipe photo

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

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

7,572 user ratings

Have you cooked this?

Private Notes

Leave a Private Note on this recipe and see it here.

Cooking Notes

ellen6 years ago

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

Robert Chamut6 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.

murphy6 years ago

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

Family Favorite6 years ago

We've been making this for years, using an earlier version that is double these amounts. The cookies freeze well, and the recipe is easy to double and triple if you're baking for an event. I've taken to blending the oats with the chocolate bar(s) in the food processor, which is a big timesaver if you're making a huge batch.

Clare6 years ago

Cookie baking is a hobby with me. Play with this recipe, contents and techniques. As a County Fair Blue Ribbon winner my best hints: always use large eggs, real butter and mix everything by hand. No power mixer. Use your big wooden spoon and your largest bowl. Always make a double batch of dough and freeze a few dozen balls of dough.

Tim King6 years ago

I'm surprised by the extent of the negative commentary on this recipe. This is a half portion of the classic version that was passed down to my wife and me 25 years ago -- we still have the original sheet that had obviously been copied over and over again as evidenced by little notes of various penmenship crammed into the margins. The only differences I can see are the microplaning -- who used a microplane in 1991? -- and the nuts were listed as optional. As is, it makes a fantastic cookie.

Beatlegirl6 years ago

I grind the bar of chocolate in the food processor when I grind the oatmeal. Works great.

ellen6 years ago

You do know that brown sugar is white sugar with molasses added, right?

Scott R6 years ago

I wouldn't recommend cutting the sugar. This is a pretty standard ratio for the fat and flour in the recipe. You'd have consistency and texture issues.

Hermey6 years ago

If you value your dental work, rolled oats.

Janet Snee6 years ago

I've made this recipe many times. Our family calls them the famous Needless Markup $250 Cookies. They are great. Follow the recipe as written. It's not too much sugar.

ellen6 years ago

Wouldn't it be better with DARK chocolate?

Marj6 years ago

There's a Neiman Marcus Cafe on the lower level of the Tysons Galleria store in McLean, Va. It sells cookie boxes for $6, and an NM cookie is included in the $19 "Shoe Box" lunch. OpenTable reviews are generally enthusiastic.

You can find another recipe from Neiman Marcus at the Neiman Marcus Careers website. No nuts, oatmeal, or chocolate bars, but included are semi-sweet chocolate chips and espresso instant coffee powder. The yield is about two dozen.

Mark6 years ago

I routinely cut the sugar in cookie recipes without any problem. Typically I use 260g light brown sugar (about 1.5 C) to two sticks of butter and two eggs (no white sugar).

Gerard van Laarhoven6 years ago

Great recipe and i would like to bake them as soon as positie. Isn't there a way that the recipes can also mention the ingrediënts in the metric system with grams etc. It will Sure make it a lot easier .

Cathy MN1 month ago

I somehow missed the white sugar in the recipe but no matter- I used 2.5 1.55oz grated Hershey bars and they are adequately sweet even with my error.

Joe2 months ago

Cookies came out dry and relatively bland using this recipe. Unacceptable.

Noa gr2 months ago

i love this recipe its so good and so easy i made this with my daughter who is a total and complete sweet tooth and she adored it this is the perfect recipe for a chill day when you just want to relax once again a great recipe.

emma2 months ago

If you feed these cookies to a boy in the middle of the woods in July, he will fall in love with you

Patricia3 months ago

I made these recently and was sorry at the time that I hadn't cut the recipe in half. Now, weeks later I am sorry that they are all gone. I can say with hesitation that these are my favorite chocolate chip cookies. Wonderful. Half of the chocolate was a very good bittersweet and the rest semi-sweet chips. My grated milk chocolate was a simple Hershey's bar.

Tyler T3 months ago

For dry crispy cracker cookies follow the recipe. Will update when I've got them perfectly gooey.

Joe2 months ago

This recipe is terrible. The title dramatically oversells what ends up being a bland and dry cookie.

Linda W4 months ago

We made these cookies over the holiday and it was a success. They are light, flakey, and yummy. We will make them again.

batista5 months ago

Yum!!! Halved the recipe - used rolled oats, pecans, and only about 3.5 ounces of mini chocolate chips and they turned out great!! I ended up mixing the last of the flour mixture and nuts and chips with my hands.

Ashley D.5 months ago

My hopes were so high for this recipe. As a novice baker, it seemed easy enough! As I proceeded along I noticed I was out of all-purpose flour. Not a problem, I’ll just use Almond Flour and less than called for! Dear reader, I was so incredibly wrong. As I pulled these cookies out of the oven, my excitement turned to dread. The cookies had flattened unevenly, with the edges incredibly thin and crisp, and the middles round and undercooked. Even still, the dough itself is absolutely delicious.

Nancy B5 months ago

I use only milk chocolate. I grate most of it (chips) with the oatmeal and add the rest to the batter. Utterly delicious.

bonny6 months ago

I don’t understand the raves. I made these exactly as written and the dough is so thick I had to keep restarting my mixer. Dry! Waste of time and money. I’ll stick with the recipe on the bag of chips.

Kitty Baker7 months ago

I think 375 is too hot. If I’d stuck to my gut instincts and baked them at 350, they wouldn’t have been so crunchy.

Ellen R.8 months ago

The recipe makes a LOT of cookies, so I bake as many as I want for the next few days, and roll the rest into balls and onto a sheet pan to freeze solid. Once frozen, toss them into a ziplock bag and you’ll never be more than 10 minutes away from a fresh, hot cookie. #2: top piping hot cookies with a sprinkling of smoked Maldon salt; it’s masterful at cutting through the sweetness and bringing out the chocolate. Last, I only use Guittard semi sweet chips/bars. I’ll never use anything else!

Teresa10 months ago

Love this picture-perfect cookie- I refrigerated the dough an hour or 2 then scooped balls of dough and froze them in 3 deli containers. Baked a container of 9 frozen balls the next day 16 minutes at 350. Perfect cookie. Followed recipe except I used 6 oz milk chocolate chips & 6 oz english toffee chocolate pieces rather than 12 ozo choclate chips. And hazelnuts & walnuts for the nuts. And no milk chocolate 4 oz bar. IMO these were tastier than a regular cho chip cookie.

Jenna10 months ago

The one recipe I've been making for over 30 years. Perfect combination of flavors and texture. I don't like sweetness overload and it's the best with a glass of milk or cup of hot chocolate. It's healthy with the oatmeal and eggs for the protein and a fiber.

Private notes are only visible to you.