There is a legend behind these Neiman Marcus Cookies! It is rumored that the Neiman Cookie recipe 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 of the Neiman Marcus Cookie Recipe?
The story goes that a woman at a famous department store begged for a recipe of 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! In fact, it happens to be my all-time favorite cookie recipe. It has flavor, texture, and is filled with more chocolate than should be legal! It is everything I want in a cookie recipe.
Key Ingredients
In addition to the typical ingredients for cookies like flour, butter, sugar, and eggs, there are 3 things that make these cookies stand out from the rest.
- 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, but these Neiman Marcus Cookies use 3 kinds of chocolate: dark chocolate chips, semi-sweet chocolate chips, and grated milk chocolate. The combination of the 3 types of chocolate is critical for the best flavor.
How to Make Neiman Marcus Cookies
Step One: Process Oats and Nuts
The first step to making Neiman Marcus Cookies is to blend the oats and nuts. I use my food processor, but a blender works as well.
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.
Step Two: Grate Chocolate
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.
Pro Tip: Use a food processor to blend the oats and nuts and to grate the chocolate bars to cut down on dishes.
Step Three: Prepare Cookie Dough
In a large mixing bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, blended oats, blended nuts, and all three types of chocolate together until well combined.
Add the chocolate to the dry ingredients. This will coat the chocolate in the flour mixture, 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 in dry ingredients into 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.
Refrigerate 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
Roll cookies into even 1 ½ tablespoon balls for each cookie. Alternatively, you can use an 18/8, or #40 cookie scoop to ensure all the cookies are the same size for even baking.
Bake until just set and slightly browned on the bottom. Be careful to not over bake. The cookies will harden a bit more as they cool, so you want them to be JUST set.
Cool on 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 for 8-10 minutes directly from the freezer.
Recipe Tips and Notes
- Be sure to use room temperature 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.
- Once cooled, store cookies in a sealed container at room temperature for up to 3 days. They will also last in the refrigerator for up to 7 days. You may just want to microwave them for 10 seconds to warm before enjoying it.
- If you can’t find dark chocolate chips, use additional semi-sweet chocolate.
- For baking these cookies, use either a nonstick cookie sheet or line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
More Cookie Recipes
- Flourless Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Cut Out Sugar Cookies
- Reindeer Cookies
- Homemade Tagalong Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Cookies from Joy Food Sunshine
If you enjoyed these 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 over process. 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 (this keeps the goodies evenly distributed in the batter. )
- 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 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 on cookie sheet for a minute or two before transferring to a cooling rack.
Equipment Needed
Notes
- Quick Cook Oats and Old Fashioned Oats both work in this recipe.
- Be sure butter and eggs are both at room temperature for the batter to cream together properly.
- 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.
- Allow your oven to be preheated to the correct temperature to let cookies bake properly. Do not be tempted to add the cookies to the oven while preheating.
- Do not skip the step of refrigerating the dough for at least 30 minutes to keep the cookies from spreading too much. You can bake the cookies after 30 minutes or store the dough in the refrigerator for up to 48 hours before baking.
- Storing Cookies: store cookies in a sealed container at room temperature for up to 3 days. They will also last in the refrigerator for up to 7 days.
- Freezing Cookie Dough: Prepare the recipe as directed. Once the cookies have been rolled into balls, place them onto a rimmed cookie sheet that has been lined with parchment paper. 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. Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes directly from the freezer.
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.
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.