Legend has it that this recipe for Neiman Marcus Cookies sold for $250. After one bite, you will believe these cookies were well worth the price! Made with 3 types of chocolate, blended oatmeal, and blended walnuts, Neiman Marcus cookies are soft, chewy, and oozing with chocolate.
Have you heard the legend about the Neiman Marcus Cookie Recipe?
The story goes that a woman at a famous department store begged for a recipe for a baked good she had eaten at their cafe, only to receive a bill in the vicinity of $250. She expressed her anger for this rather large bill by sharing the recipe with anybody and everybody. Is the legend true? Maybe, maybe not.
Regardless, this cookie recipe is out of this world DELICIOUS! Made with a combination of blended oats, blended nuts, and more chocolate than should be legal, these Neiman Marcus Cookies are soft, yet a bit chewy, and every bite oozes with chocolate. They have a flavor similar to that of an oatmeal cookie, yet are softer like a classic chocolate chip cookie. And the walnuts give the cookies an earthy, nutty taste, yet are blended to keep the cookie soft. They are absolutely perfect.
Notes on Ingredients
- Butter: Be sure to use room temperature, unsalted butter so that the butter will cream evenly into your cookie dough and result in a lighter, fluffier cookie. You can tell your butter is soft enough if you can press gently on the butter and your fingertips leave an indent.
- Blended oats: Blended oats add a hearty taste without the texture of whole oats like you would find in Oatmeal Cookies.
- Blended nuts: Instead of huge chunks of nuts, blended walnuts add so much flavor and earthiness to the cookie.
- Chocolate: Not one, not two, use 3 kinds of chocolate! A combination of dark chocolate chips, semi-sweet chocolate chips, and grated milk chocolate is used to give these Neiman Marcus Cookies the best flavor.
How To Make Neiman Marcus Cookies
Step One: Prepare Ingredients
The first step to making Neiman Marcus Cookies is to prepare the oats, nuts, and chocolate. This recipe relies on blended oats and blended walnut to give the cookie its famous texture. The grated chocolate ensures that every single bite of the cookie features chocolate.
- To make the blended oats, simply place the oats in the food processor or blender and process until the oats turn into the consistency of flour. It is important to measure the oats AFTER you blend them, not before as baking is a science.
- To make the blended nuts, remove the oats from the blender or food processor, and add nuts. Pulse the nuts until broken down into small pieces, being careful to not over-process--or you will make nut butter! Again remember to measure the nuts AFTER processing for correct measurements.
- To grate your chocolate, use a hand grater, box grater, or food processor and grate the chocolate bar into small shreds. It works best if your chocolate bar is cold before grating.
Step Two: Prepare Cookie Dough
Once your nuts, oats, and chocolate are prepared, it is time to prepare the cookie dough.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, blended oats, and blended nuts until well combined.
- Add the chocolate to the dry ingredients and toss to coat. . This will coat the chocolate in the flour mixture, which will help to keep the chocolate suspended throughout the cookie batter, instead of sinking to the bottom of the cookie.
- In a separate large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars together.
- Add in eggs and vanilla extract and beat until creamy.
- Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the butter mixture, being careful to not over-mix or overwork the dough. You just want the flour mixture to be just mixed into the batter.
Step Three: Chill
Refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes. This helps the butter get cold again, which will help prevent the cookies from spreading too much in the oven.
Step Four: Bake Cookies
After chilling the cookie dough, remove it from the refrigerator to shape and bake the cookies. You may find that you need to leave the dough at room temperature for 10-15 minutes to make it easier to scoop.
- Scoop out 1-½ tablespoons of the cookie dough and roll it into a ball. You want to be sure that each cookie is even in size so that they bake evenly.
- Place the cookie dough on a nonstick cookie sheet or parchment-lined lined cookie sheet, spaced out 2 inches apart.
- Bake until the edges of the cookies are just set and beginning to brown, yet the center is still soft. Be careful to not overbake. The cookies will harden a bit more as they cool, so you want them to be JUST set.
- Cool the cookie sheet for two minutes and then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely.
How to Freeze Cookies
You have two options for freezing these Neiman Marcus cookies.
You can bake as directed and cool completely. Freeze the cooled, baked cookies for up to 1 month in an airtight container. Defrost on the counter for a few hours or in the refrigerator overnight and then enjoy.
Or you can freeze the cookie dough to bake whenever ever the craving for a warm cookie hits.
- Prepare the Neiman Marcus Cookie dough as directed up to chilling.
- Roll the cookie dough into balls and place them onto a rimmed cookie sheet that has been lined with parchment paper.
- Place the tray into the freezer and freeze for 1 hour, or until solid.
- Transfer the balls to a freezer-safe storage bag and store them in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- When ready to enjoy, bake at 375 degrees F for 8-10 minutes directly from the freezer.
More Cookie Recipes
If you tried this recipe for Neiman Marcus Cookies, I would love for you to leave a review below.
Neiman Marcus Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups blended oats approximately 3 to 3 ½ cups oats
- 1 ½ cups blended walnuts approximately 2 to 2 ½ cups nuts
- 2 cups unbleached flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 6 oz dark chocolate chips
- 6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 4 oz milk chocolate candy bar grated
- 1 cup butter at room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Prepare the blended oats, by placing the oats in the food processor or blender and process until the oats turn into the consistency of flour. Measure out 2 ½ cups oats AFTER you blend them, not before. It will typically take 3 to 3 ½ cups oats to get 2 ½ cups blended oats.
- To make the blended nuts, remove the oats from the blender or food processor, and add nuts. Pulse the nuts until broken down into very small pieces, being careful to not overprocess. Measure the nuts AFTER processing for correct measurements. It will typically take 2 to 2 ½ cups nuts to get 1 ½ cups blended nuts.
- Mix together flour, blended oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and blended nuts in a large bowl. Add in the chocolate chips and grated chocolate bar and toss with the dry ingredients to lightly coat with flour.
- In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer, cream butter and sugars together until fluffy and light in color, about 7-8 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until well combined.
- Stir the dry ingredients in the wet ingredients until just combined.
- Refrigerate dough for at least 30 minutes or up to 48 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Use a medium cookie scoop or 1-½ tablespoons for each cookie and then gently roll into even balls. Place on a nonstick cookie sheet or parchment-lined lined cookie sheet, spaced out 2 inches apart.
- Bake for 6-7 minutes, until edges are lightly brown and centers are still a bit jiggly.
- Cool the cookies on the cookie sheet for a minute or two before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Equipment Needed
Notes
Nutrition
This post was originally published in 2016 but has been updated in November 2020 with new pictures, tips, and a video. The recipe remains the same.
Cathie Leslie
Got this recipe about 2 decades ago. Substitute half of butter with canned pumpkin, also add cinnamon, ginger, cloves. Always double the recipe. Always a hit.
Kristen Chidsey
I LOVE the idea of substuting half the butter with pumpkin! I will be trying that! Thanks for sharing.
Laurie
Hi Kristen,
I just made these cookies last night, and they don't look at all like yours. An earlier post mentioned that their dough was not as moist as yours was, and I had the same difficulty. The dough was extremely dry. I live in Colorado so I know that can be a problem. Halfway through the baking process, I added a tablespoon or so of water just so the dough would bind. I wonder if processing the nuts was a contributing factor. I followed the recipe to the letter. They taste great, but they don't look like chocolate chip cookies, more like a very round oatmeal cookie, honestly. Any thoughts about how to fix this? Thank you!
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Laurie! I am sorry you had issues with dough. Here is a guide to help with high altitude baking that may help from King Arthur. In the future, please be sure to measure your oats and nuts AFTER blending, and decrease the flour by 2-3 tablespoons to account for higher altitude. Adding water will make the dough a bit gummy and crumbly as well. With the remaining dough, I would roll into balls, and gently press the dough dough with a fork (like pb cookies) to see if that helps.
Mary Featherston
Can I use pecan flour instead of blend walnuts?
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Mary! I have not tried that myself. I think it may result in a dense cookie, but using half the amount may work. Without experimenting, I can't recommend one way or another.
Karen
One of the best if not the best chocolate chip oatmeal cookies we've had. My son loves this recipe! A keeper for sure! Thanks!
Karen
Kristen Chidsey
I love to hear that Karen! Thanks for sharing.
David
Hi Kristen, I am anxious to dive into these cookies... Here's my dilemma (maybe it's no big deal). I am in the middle of making the Neiman Marcus recipe. Just took a look at the photos and noticed if I compare your image of the mixed dry and wet ingredients to my own, yours appears more moist than mine turned out. I hope this isn't going to be a problem. Should I add something to the mixture to make it more wet or leave it alone?
Kristen Chidsey
Hi David! As long as the flour is absorbed and you feel confident you measured correctly, leave the batter alone. I hope you enjoy!
David
Hi again, Kristen. Just want to thank you once again for this recipe. The NM cookies turned out great. I slightly adjusted the cooking time by adding a few more minutes. I'm very pleased. Highly recommended!
amy
are you using salted butter or unsalted butter? surprised to see no one else asked that question !
Kristen Chidsey
Unsalted butter is always best in baking. I will clarify.
Cheryl
I made this cookie in the early 2000's. I believe that the story is true.
It's the best tasting cookie ever.
Kristen Chidsey
It is my fav--so good! Glad you enjoyed too.
Andrew Faber
What is the effective difference in using blended Quick Cooking Oats / Old Fashioned Oats versus Oat Flour?
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Andrew. Oat flour is just ground oats, but often is ground to finer consistency. You can certainly use oat flour if you have that on hand. It is much more affordable to grind your own and you don't have to grind it as fine if you like the texture--which I do 🙂
Julie Huffman
I have a question.Did you use dark brown sugar for this recipe?
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Julie! I have use both dark and light brown sugar with equal success. And I love both ways😊
AMY DRAISEY
Can you leave out the nuts? Allergic.
Kristen Chidsey
Absolutely Amy!! No modifications needed. Enjoy.