The $250 Cookie Recipe

The $250 Cookie Recipe

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).

Yield: About 55 cookies

1 cup butter

1 cup dark brown sugar, packed

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2½ cups oatmeal

2 cups flour

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

12 ounces chocolate chips

14 -ounce milk chocolate bar

1½ cups chopped nuts

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

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

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.

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