Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookies

The Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe is the exception to the Great Chocolate Chip Cookie Challenge.   The spirit of the challenge is to compare similar chocolate chip cookies.  The best way to make sure there are no unfair advantages is to eliminate “extra ingredients” like salted caramel, m&ms, or pretzels. We need to know - honest to goodness- which chocolate chip cookie is the best.

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Kitchen Equipment
• Recipe Inspiration: 
• Baker’s Notes/ Observations: 
• Related 
• Recipe

Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookies are in my husband’s top 2 for the Chocolate Chip Challenge.  During the judging portion of the events, he stole a ton of them for “quality assurance”.  He knows dang well that the quality is exceptional.  He just loves anything that involves oatmeal and chocolate. 

Since that Challenge, this recipe has become a staple. The oatmeal laced with espresso powder is absolutely undeniable. It’s almost like a fall oat milk latte in cookie form.  

Ingredients

• Rolled Oats (not the quick ones). Oatmeal in a chocolate chip cookie just feels good.  It’s almost like it’s healthy, somehow.  (It’s really not, but this is what we are going with.  The pure satisfaction that I got from grinding the rolled oats in the food processor was pure magic.  
• All purpose flour
• Leavening agents: baking powder, baking soda and salt. 
• Spices and Flavors: ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, espresso powder and vanilla extract.  
• Brown and Granulated Sugar
• Large eggs
• Unsalted Butter 
• Chocolate Chips. I use a 50/50 combination of semisweet and dark chocolate chips. 

Kitchen Equipment

• Stand Mixer or a hand mixer and large mixing bowl
• Food Processor 
• Measuring Cups/ Spoon
• Spatula
• Baking Sheets
• Parchment Paper
• Oxo Medium Cookie Scoop

Recipe Inspiration: 

The story goes that a woman who was lunching at Neiman Marcus (as one does) loved the chocolate chip cookie  so much that she asked the waitress for the recipe. The waitress  told her that the recipe (along with her other purchases)  would be $250.  In old cookbooks, sometimes similar recipes are called the $250 Cookie Recipe.

I followed King Arthur's “Good As Store Bought” Cookie Recipe in the Cookie Companion.  And by “followed’ I mean I basically skipped a couple parts and added some other things and didn’t really follow the recipe after all.  I wish I were more sorry about it, but the end result is the bomb.com. 

What Did I Change? 

1. I omitted the chocolate that I was supposed to process with the oats.  This came down to the fact that I didn’t have the right chocolate in the house and decided to skip it. 
2.  After whisking the oatmeal in with the flour, I made a decision to add a little spice: cinnamon and nutmeg. 

Baker’s Notes/ Observations: 

Chilling the Dough

• This cookie should chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before baking.  If you don’t have time to chill, the cookies will still turn out perfectly fine. 
• This particular cookie recipe does not freeze well.  When this dough is frozen on the bake the cookies don’t spread at all.  I don’t recommend making these that far in advance. 

Bake Time

• For reference,  in this batch I used my medium OXO cookie scoop, which makes a 1.5 tablespoon cookie.  
• If you like crispier cookies, bake for 13-14 minutes. 
• If you like a softer Potbelly Deli- like oatmeal cookie, bake for 10-12 minutes.  For me the perfect spot is 11 minutes and 30 seconds. 

Related 

Looking for more Cookies?  Well here are a few favorites to inspire your next baking adventure!

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