Neiman Marcus Cookies

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 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! 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 their 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 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

• Cut Out Sugar Cookies
• Snickerdoodle Cookies
• Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
• Shortbread Cookies

If you tried this recipe for Neiman Marcus Cookies, I would love for you to leave a review below.

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.