The Neiman Marcus Cookie

December 28, 2009

To me, this recipe is essential to every food blog out there!

The famed $250  Neiman Marcus Cookie recipe, an urban legend still told and believed by some to this day.

In the legend, a woman and her daughter enjoy a cookie while shopping at Neiman Marcus in Dallas, Texas,

and ask for the recipe. The waiter informs her there will be a “two-fifty” charge, which the woman interprets

as a modest $2.50. Upon receiving her VISA statement, she is shocked to discover she has been charged

$250.00 instead. In revenge, she photocopies the recipe and urges her friends to distribute it for free to

everyone they know so that the store will make no further profit on its sale.

The Neiman Marcus Cookie sold is actually quite different from this recipe, they even show the recipe for

free in their website.

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Its so silly how so many people actually believe in this story, here are a few things that prove it isn’t:

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  • Prior to the emergence of the legend, the store did not have a chocolate chip cookie;
  • A similar story has been around since the 1940s, originally involving a red velvet cake
    recipe from the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. It wasn’t until the 1980s that the story’s focus
    shifted to cookies. The cookie version of the story originally was attached to Mrs. Fields
    cookies, causing that company eventually to post disavowals of the notices at all its stores.
  • Neiman-Marcus for most of its history only accepted its own card and American Express.

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So there you have it folks, not a true story.

However, whoever did invent this recipe sure knew what they were doing, these cookies are DELICIOUS.

So good in fact, that I find it difficult to choose between the classic chocolate chip cookies and these.

…and boy do I LOVE chocolate chip cookies! :D

Like most cookie recipes, its very easy to make. So why not make these for New Years as a delicious treat?

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INGREDIENTS:

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2½ cups rolled oats

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

4 ounces milk chocolate chips

1½ cups chopped walnuts/pecans

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DIRECTIONS:

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1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. Blend the oats in a food processor or blender to a fine powder. In a medium bowl whisk together

the blended oats with the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy,

3-4 minutes. Scrape down the sides and beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Beat in the vanilla extract. On low speed gradually mix in the flour mixture, beating just until incorporated.

With a rubber spatula fold in the chocolate chips and walnuts.

4. Roll the dough into 2-ounce balls (or about 2 heaping tablespoonfuls worth) and place about 2 inches apart

on the baking sheets. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Cookies should be lightly brown and set on the

outside but still look a little undone in the middle. That’s okay – they will finish setting up after you remove them

from the oven. Let cool 2-3 minutes on the baking sheet and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Store in an airtight container.

I would right now be posting yet another 4 weeks of Christmas post, but as to not being at

home – its not gonna happen folks. I’m currently in Inhambane, Mozambique.

It really beats me up inside for bailing on you guys for a whole week, I’ll be home on the 27th.

Today puts an end to the 4 weeks of Christmas recipes.

There should be a finale recipe! Darn.

Anyways, hope you guys liked the few recipes there were  :)

Have a very merry Christmas!

(excuse my failed attempt of drawing a Christmas tree in paint XP)

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I got so frustrated thinking what to call these cookies!… thinking how to start this post

and sounding silly in the process.

I’ve been playing Dragon Age Origins for the past 4 hours now and as a result having “writers block”.

So, as promised, here is yet another 4 weeks of Christmas recipe post!

Yet another sweet recipe, I just can’t get enough of sweets!

Next week I promise to share a savory Christmas recipe, maybe turkey?

This recipe is from Ana Maria Braga, she calls them American Cookies – not the best name, this

explains why I had to think of a new more suitable one. They’re really yummy and sweet, I just love

dunking them in a glass full of cold milk!

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INGREDIENTS:

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2 cups sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 tsp vanilla extract/essence

120 g semi sweet chocolate/dark chocolate – melted

2 eggs

2 cups flour

1 cup icing/powdered sugar

2 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

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DIRECTIONS:

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In a bowl, mix all of the ingredients – leaving out the icing sugar.

Mix well until you obtain a sticky dough. Wrap this in saran wrap

or wax paper and keep in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

With a buttered spoon or a small ice cream scoop, scoop small portions and roll into balls.

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF.

Roll the balls into the plate with the icing sugar, completely covering each ball.

Place the cookie balls onto a greased cookie sheet and bake in the oven for 20 minutes

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So I’m kind of in a hurry today – it’s my b-day!

Heading off to a beautiful beach here in Mozambique with my besty!

So, I leave you guys with one of the best birthday cake’s I’ve made – the best

would be MY birthday cake that I made for today. I’ll make sure to post the recipe

and lots of pictures soon.

As for the 4 weeks of Christmas posts – this week will not be missed, I’ll post a recipe

either on Wednesday or Thursday.

Alright, so that’s about it, enjoy and thank you for all of the recent support and comments!

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INGREDIENTS:

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Cake

2 ¼ cups flour

1 ¾ cups sugar

¾ cup butter/margarine in room temperature

1 ½ cups milk

150 g semi sweet chocolate melted

1 ½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

3 eggs

1 ½ tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla extract/essence

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Swiss Meringue

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup corn syrup

1/2 cup sugar

3 egg whites

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DIRECTIONS:

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Cake

Pre heat the oven to 170º C/340º F

Grease and flour 2 medium cake pans.

Sift flour into a large mixing bowl and add sugar, butter, 1 cup of the milk, the melted chocolate,

baking soda and salt. Beat with a hand mixer for 2 minutes and add the rest of the milk, eggs,

baking powder and vanilla. Beat for another 2 minutes and pour into the cake pans.

Bake for 30 minutes or until you get a clean toothpick once inserted into the cake.

Let the cake cool for an hour before frosting.

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Swiss Meringue

Over medium heat, mix the water, corn syrup and sugar, DO NOT STIR.

Let it over the heat for about 10 minutes, or until you get a stringy texture by putting a

spoon in the mixture and lifting it.

Beat the egg whites until strong peaks form (about 10 whole minutes).

Add the sweet mixture (while its still hot) and beat it all together until it cools.

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Assembling the cake

Spread a thick layer of the meringue on top of a cake layer and “sandwich” the other on top.

Spread the rest of the meringue all over the cake.

Now to make it really pretty, melt 100 g of milk or semi sweet chocolate and pour it generously

over the top of the cake, immediately swirl it with a fork or toothpick.

Store the cake in the fridge for 1 hour before serving.

You’ll get a hard chocolate swirl on top of the most heavenly, rich meringue.

If you want to make things interesting, before frosting the cake, add a couple of drops of rum over

the cake.

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pancakes3

The morning of Christmas is a special one, you smell the gingerbread in the oven, that beautiful

morning sun light – peaking through the windows with that magical glow, presents waiting to be

unwrapped and cinnamon in the air from the hot pancakes on the table.

Oh yes, the pancakes, the fluffy and moist pancakes waiting for you to sink your teeth in.

With a tall glass of milk, you can’t go wrong.

So for this weeks recipe I’m sharing my famous pancakes, the most delicious pancakes!

This summer I attempted to make them in my grandmas house with a friend – they turned out horrible!

Why? Well, I experimented a little with the mixing process and added some new ingredients, thinking that I

could make the recipe better than it already is, I failed and learned myself a lesson.

Not only that, but I embarrassed myself in front of my friend  – expecting for something yummy.

It’s important to follow the recipe, mixing everything in order and not adding any other ingredients!

The great thing about these pancakes is that they contain no oil.

I made these perfect pancakes one day by accident, forgetting to add the oil.

I always thought, the more fat in a recipe, the better flavor, but not in this case.

So even if your a health freak you can make and enjoy these pancakes, just skip the butter you add

on top and in between the layers.

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INGREDIENTS:

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1 1/4 cups flour

1 egg

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

pinch of salt

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DIRECTIONS:

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Its important to mix the ingredients in this manner, to achieve that special fluffiness.

Start by adding the egg, sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Beat this using a metal whisk for about 2 minutes.

Now alternate with the milk and flour, adding a little bit of the flour and a little of the milk, beating thoroughly

until you finish the two ingredients.

Then add the cinnamon and pinch of salt.

Before adding the baking powder, have your non stick skillet lightly greased and heated.

Once its hot, mix in the baking powder (this should always be the last ingredient to add, because baking powder

works by releasing carbon dioxide gas into the batter through an acid-base reaction, causing bubbles in the wet

mixture to expand and thus leavening the mixture, if you leave it in too long, the effect will be less).

If your batter looks too liquid or too thick add in more milk or flour depending on the texture.

Using a ladle, pour a small disk of the batter onto the hot pan, once bubbles start to form around the pancake,

flip it gently with a spatula. Make sure your heat is set to medium – low, you don’t want to burn these babies!

Place the pancake on a plate, drizzle a little bit of maple/golden syrup, add a little piece of butter and keeping on

doing so for each layer.

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