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Neiman Marcus Cookies are not your average chocolate chip cookie recipe! Loaded with ground oats, blended walnuts, and three kinds of chocolate, these cookies are soft, yet chewy, and every bite has pockets of melted chocolate.
Legend has it that Neiman Marcus charged a customer $250 for their famous chocolate chip cookie recipe. True or not, after one bite you may just believe this recipe was worth the hefty price.
Kristen's Keys for Perfect Neiman Marcus Cookies
Be sure to pay attention to a few key tips to make the very best version of these legendary cookies.
- Blend the oats and walnuts before measuring. Measuring the oats and nuts after processing will keep the dough texture consistent so your cookies aren't dense or crumbly.
- Use room-temperature butter. Soft butter creams properly with the sugar and traps air for a lighter cookie.
- Use three types of chocolate. This recipe calls both dark and semi-sweet chocolate chips AND a grated milk chocolate bar (like Hershey's). The grated chocolate will melt into rich ribbons, flavoring every bite with chocolate. The chocolate chips and richness and create gooey pools of chocolate.
- Chill the dough 30-60 minutes before baking. Colder dough spreads less in the oven, so you get those thick, soft centers and golden edges.
5-Star Reader Review
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 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
How to Make the Famous Neiman Marcus Cookies
Think of this as me in your kitchen giving you tips along the way, without a surcharge.😉
Step One: Prep Your Ingredients
From blending the oats and nuts to grating the chocolate, there is a bit of prep in this recipe, but it is worth the added effort.
- Blend or pulse rolled oats until they resemble a coarse flour. Measure the blended oats as the recipe directs.
- Chop or pulse the walnuts in a food processor until they are very finely chopped up, almost like a coarse flour. Use caution to not take it too far, or you will have nut butter.
👉🏻Speed-Up Prep. Use a food processor fitted with an s-blade to pulse the oats into a flour-like consistency and quickly break down the nuts. Swap out the s-blade for a grating disk and grate the chocolate. It saves on dishes and sweat!
Step Two: Combine Dry Ingredients
Before adding the dry ingredients to the creamed butter and sugar, it is best to combine them separately to ensure everything is evenly distributed throughout the cookies. I also recommend tossing the nuts, grated chocolate, and chocolate chips with they dry ingredients so they stay suspended throughout the cookies.
- Once measuring out oats, add them to a large mixing bowl. Add in flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and whisk to combine.
- Add in ground nuts, grated chocolate, and chocolate chips and toss to coat the chocolate and nuts evenly in the flour mixture.
Step Two: Cream Wet Ingredients
You can opt to use a handheld mixer or stand mixer with the paddle attachment to cream the wet ingredients. A stand mixer will make the process quicker, but is not necessary for great results.
- Beat the butter with the granulate and brown sugar until pale and fluffy, pausing to scrape down the sides as needed. This takes about 5-8 minutes, depending if mixing my hand or in a stand mixer.
- Add eggs and vanilla, mixing just until combined.
👉🏻Don't Speed Up the Creaming. You want the butter and sugar mixture to be really pale and fluffy, not just combined. This helps incorporate air into the batter, which results in a fluffy, tender cookie.
Step Four: Fold Together
Add the dry ingredients to the creamed butter and fold together until the flour is fully moistened and just combined.
👉🏻Time to Chill! At this point, cover the mixing bowl and chill the batter for at least 30 minutes or up to 48 hours.
Step Five: Portion Dough
Scoop out about 1½ tablespoons of dough for each cookie and gently roll into balls. Place the balls of dough onto a parchment lined cookie sheet spaced 2-inches apart.
👉🏻Use a Medium Cookie Scoop. This speeds up the process and ensures the cookies are uniform in size.
Step Six: Bake
Be cautious to not overbake the cookies so they stay super soft and tender. Bake until the edges are just beginning to brown and the centers are set, yet still a bit soft. Let sit on the cookie sheet for a minute before transfering to a cooling rack, where they will finish setting up.
Storage and Make-Ahead Tips
- Baked Cookies: Store the baked cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 7 days. You can also opt to flash-freeze the cookies for an hour and then transfer to freezer bag, Store in the freezer up to 1 month and defrost at room temperature.
- Cookie Dough: Roll into balls as directed, flash-freeze for 1 hour, then store in freezer bag up to 3 months. Bake from frozen 375°F for 8-11 minutes.
More Favorite Cookie Recipes
These triple chocolate oatmeal Neiman Marcus cookies are my personal favorite cookie recipe. But when it comes to cookies, you can never have enough, especially if you are baking Christmas Cookies. Below are a few more favorites.
Neiman Marcus Cookies
Video
Ingredients
- 2½ cups blended oats, ~3½ cups of rolled oats blended
- 1½ cups ground walnuts, ~2½ cups whole walnuts pulsed
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon table salt
- 6 ounces dark chocolate chips
- 6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 4 ounces milk chocolate candy bar , grated
- 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Prepare the blended oats, by placing about 3½ cups of rolled oats into a food processor and blender and process until the oats reach the consistency of flour. Measure 2½ cups blended oats and place them in a large mixing bowl.
- Prepare the ground nuts, by placing about 2½ cups of nuts in a blender or food processor. Pulse the nuts until broken down into very small pieces, being careful to not overprocess. Measure 1½ cups ground walnuts and place them in the same bowl as the oats.
- Add the 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, and ½ teaspoon table salt to the oats and nuts and mix until well combined. Add 6 ounces dark chocolate chips, 6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips, and 4 ounces milk chocolate candy bar (grated) to the flour mixture and toss to lightly coat with flour. Set this mixture aside.
- In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer, cream 1 cup unsalted butter with 1 cup granulated sugar and 1 cup light brown sugar until fluffy and light in color, about 7-8 minutes. Add 2 large eggs and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and beat until well combined.
- Add the dry ingredients to the creamed butter and fold together until the flour is fully moistened and just combined. Cover the dough and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 48 hours.
- When ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 375℉ (190℃). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator. Use a medium cookie scoop or 1½ tablespoons for each cookie and then gently roll into even balls. Place the cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet, spaced 2 inches apart.
- Bake the cookies for 6-7 minutes, until the edges are lightly brown and the centers are just a bit soft.
- Cool the cookies on the cookie sheet for a minute or two before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Equipment
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This post was originally published in 2016 and updated in November 2025.
First time hearing this story. Thanks for sharing. The cookies are great! Not the best cookie baker but I got this. Did not overcook.Love the freezer tip.
Thrilled to hear you enjoyed! Thanks for sharing, Ellen!
Amazing! i made these for our book club party and now I am adding them to my baking list for gifts!
Everyone will love them 🙂 Thank you for taking the time to leave a review.
These are the best cookies! So yummy!