The Neiman-Marcus Cookie

This is a good story. You may have received this in your email at some time, but I just got it the other day and thought I should try the recipe and share the story.

Here is the email I received:


"A little background: Neiman-Marcus, if you don't know already, is a Very expensive store; i.e., they sell your typical $8.00 T-shirt for $50.00. Let's let them have it! THIS IS A TRUE STORY! My daughter and I had just finished a salad at a Neiman-Marcus Cafe in Dallas , and we decided to have a small dessert. Because both of us are such cookie lovers, we decided to try the "Neiman-Marcus cookie." It was so excellent that I asked if they would give me the recipe, and the waitress said with a small frown, "I'm afraid not, but you can buy the recipe." Well, I asked how much, and she responded, "Only two fifty. It's a great deal!" I agreed to that, and told her to just add it to my tab. Thirty days later, I received my VISA statement, and the Neiman-Marcus charge was $285.00! I looked again, and I remembered I had only spent $9.95 for two salads and about $20.00 for a scarf. As I glanced at the bottom of the statement, it said, "Cookie Recipe-$250.00". That was outrageous! I called Neiman's Accounting Department and told them the waitress said it was "two fifty", which clearly does not mean "two hundred and fifty dollars" by any reasonable interpretation of the phrase. Neiman-Marcus refused to budge. They would not refund my money because, according to them, "What the waitress told you is not our problem. You have already seen the recipe. We absolutely will not refund your money at this point." I explained to the Accounting Department lady the criminal statutes which govern fraud in the state of Texas I threatened to report them to the Better Business Bureau and the Texas Attorney General's office for engaging in fraud. I was basically told, "Do what you want. Don't bother thinking of how you can get even, and don't bother trying to get any of your money back." I just said, Okay, you folks got my $250, and now I'm going to have $250 worth of fun." I told her that I was going to see to it that every cookie lover in the United States with an e-mail account has a $250 cookie recipe from Neiman-Marcus..for free. She replied, "I wish you wouldn't do this." I said, "Well, perhaps you should have thought of that before you ripped me off!" and slammed down the phone. So here it is! Please, please, please pass it on to everyone you can possibly think of. I paid $250 for this, and I don't want Neiman-Marcus to EVER make another penny off of this recipe!"

I tried the recipe last night.... and it made a nice and very sweet crunchy cookie. I would alter the recipe by adding some big juicy raisins or some other chewy item to give a different texture. I would even omit the "Hershey Bar" as it really isn't needed.

Recipe

2C Butter
24oz Chocolate Chips
4C Flour
2C Brown Sugar
2C Sugar
2tsp Baking Soda
2tsp Baking Powder
1tsp Salt
1 8oz Hershey Bar Grated
5C Blended Oats
4 Eggs
2tsp Vanilla
3C Nuts(your choice)

*Blend Oatmeal in food processor until fine
*Cream Butter and Sugars, add Eggs and Vanilla
*Mix Flour, Oatmeal, Salt, Soda, Powder and add
to Butter mixture
*Add in the Chocolate, Hershey Bar, and Nuts
*Bake at 375 for 10 min

You will probably need to half this recipe to prepare
it in an average kitchen mixer.