Ooooh....$250 Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love a good story just as much as the next person, and this one is a lot of fun.  There is an old internet urban legend about some extremely expensive cookies.  A few years ago, an e-mail was sent out to recipients all over the world.  Over time, the details (like the location of the event) have changed, but the story basically goes like this:

As I checked my e-mail today I found this story and couldn't resist sending it to everybody I knew and didn´t know…even worse than she expected!!

Here goes… the woman wrote: My daughter and I had just finished a salad at Neiman-Marcus café in Dallas, and decided to have a small desert. Because both of us are such cookie lovers, we decided to try the "Neiman-Marcus Cookie" Neiman-Marcus is a very expensive department store. It was so excellent, that I asked for the recipe, and the waitress said with a frown, "I'm afraid not". Well, I said, then can you sell it to me? With a cute smile, the waitress said "yes" I asked how much, and the waitress said, "only two-fifty, it's a great deal!". I said with approval, just put it on my tab.. Thirty days later, I received my visa statement from Neiman-Marcus and it was $285.00. I looked again, and remembered that I had spent about $20.00 for a scarf, and $9.95 for two salads. As I looked at the bottom of the bill, it said, cookie recipe $250.00. That´s outrageous. I CALLED Neiman-Marcus and spoke to someone in the billing dept., and told them the waitress had told me two fifty, not two hundred fifty. Two fifty does not by any means suggest two hundred fifty dollars. Well, they refused to refund my money, because according to them, "What the waitress told you is not our problem." You have already seen our recipe, and we will absolutely not refund your money at this point. I explained to her the criminal statutes that govern fraud in Texas, and I threatened to report them to the Better Business Bureau, and the states Attorney General, for fraud, and I was in so many words, told "do what you have to do we don't give a crap, and we will not refund your money." Well, then I told the lady that I was going to send the recipe to everyone and anyone who has E-mail.

Well I thought I´d give her a hand, and do the ICQ blanket thing and this way we all can share it with all of our friends. POST IT ALL OVER TEXAS!!!!!! HELP THIS WOMAN GET EVEN!!! Here´s the recipe. Make sure you try it, and pass it on to everyone you can think of!!!! And thanks!!!

This recipe may be halved.

2 cups of butter
4 cups of flour
2 tsp. baking soda
2 cups sugar
5 cups blended oatmeal
24 oz. Choclate chips
2 cups brown sugar
1 tsp. Salt
1 eight oz. Hershey bar (grated)
4 eggs
2 tsp. Baking powder
2 tsp. Vanilla
3 cups chopped nuts (your choice)

Measure oatmeal and blend in a blender to a fine powder. Cream the butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla; mix together with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and soda. Add chocolate chips, Hershey Bar and nuts. Roll into balls and place two inches apart on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees. Makes 48 cookies.

Enjoy cooking the most expensive cookies in the world - FREE!! This is true. Please take the time to read this and send it to everyone you know!!!

Now, this e-mail has been passed around for years; however, Neiman Marcus denies that this event ever happened.  In fact, if you visit the Neiman Marcus website and visit the "About" section, this is what you will find:

"An urban myth is a modern folk tale, its origins unknown, its believability enhanced simply by the frequency with which it is repeated. Our signature chocolate chip cookie is the subject of one such myth. If you haven't heard the story, we won't perpetuate it here. If you have, the recipe below should serve to refute it. Copy it, print it out, pass it along to friends and family. It's a terrific recipe. And it's absolutely free."

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1 cup light brown sugar

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 large egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1-3/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1-1/2 teaspoons instant espresso coffee powder

1-1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

1.	Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cream the butter with the sugars using an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy (approximately 30 seconds)
2.	Beat in the egg and the vanilla extract for another 30 seconds.
3.	In a mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients and beat into the butter mixture at low speed for about 15 seconds. Stir in the espresso coffee powder and chocolate chips.
4.	Using a 1 ounce scoop or a 2 tablespoon measure, drop cookie dough onto a greased cookie sheet about 3 inches apart. Gently press down on the dough with the back of a spoon to spread out into a 2 inch circle. Bake for about 20 minutes or until nicely browned around the edges. Bake a little longer for a crispier cookie.
Yield:	2 dozen cookies

The two chocolate chip recipes are completely different, but if you Google "$250 cookies" the first recipe is the one that will pop up most often.  So, according Neiman Marcus, the above e-mail tail can be placed in the folder marked "Myth" as it has been denounced as a true urban legend.

NOTE: Tiff's Mom has made the "urban legend" cookie recipe several times, and she claims that it is one of the best chocolate chip cookies she has ever eaten.  We don't have any info on the actual Neiman Marcus cookie recipe. Hmmm...maybe we can test those for a later post :)