Monday, September 12, 2011

EAT: NEIMAN-MARCUS COOKIES



MAKES 112 | PREP 15 MINS | COOKING 10 MINS | VEGETARIAN

Two years ago a friend forwarded me some junk email that I actually read. So glad I did, because the email contained this recipe. Often with an unknown source, recipes like this could be a total waste of ingredients, but this one is definitely not. In fact, it's so good, I feel badly for not paying for the recipe. Of course, it's a hoax. (But you can still read the story below. Totally entertaining!)
Last week when I had some friend's children over for the day, we did some baking. These cookies (I personally like to call them biscuits, but it's an American recipe) are delicious, and turn out perfectly every time. Definitely worth sharing with you!

INGREDIENTS
5 cups rolled oats
2 cups butter (I use light margarine)
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
4 cups plain flour 
680g chocolate chips
1 tsp salt 
2 tsp baking powder 
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
500g cooking chocolate, grated
3 cups chopped nuts (optional)

METHOD
1 Blend oats in a blender to a fine powder.
2 Cream the butter and both sugars.
3 Add eggs and vanilla, mix together with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and bicarbonate of soda. Add chocolate chips, grated chocolate and nuts.
4 Roll into balls, and place two inches apart on a baking tray covered with baking paper. Bake for 10 minutes at 180 degrees celcius.

Recipe may be halved as this makes heaps. [The above quantities make 112 cookies.]


And here's the story...

If you don't already know, Neiman-Marcus is a very expensive boutique department store in Dallas, USA.

My daughter and I had just finished lunch at a Neiman-Marcus Cafe, and because both of us are such biscuit lovers, we decided to try the Neiman-Marcus cookie. It was so excellent that I asked if they would give me the recipe. The waitress said with a small  frown, "I'm afraid not, but you can buy the recipe."

I asked how much, and she responded, "Only two fifty. It's a great deal".

I agreed to that, and told her to add it to my bill.

Thirty days later, I received my Visa statement, and the charge from Neiman-Marcus was $285. I looked at it again, and I remembered I had only spent $9.95 for two sandwiches and about $20 for a scarf. At the bottom of the statement, it said,  "Cookie Recipe: $250". That was outrageous!

I called Neiman's accounting department and told them the waitress had said it was "two fifty", which clearly does not mean "two hundred and fifty dollars" by any reasonable interpretation of the phrase. Neiman-Marcus refused to budge. They would not refund my money because according to them, "What the waitress told you is not our problem. You have already seen the recipe. We absolutely will not refund your money.

I explained to the Accounting Department lady the criminal statutes which govern fraud in the state of Texas. I threatened to report them to the Better Business Bureau and The Texas Attorney General's office. I was basically told, "Do what you want. Don't bother trying to get any of your money back".

I told her that I was going to see to it that every cookie lover in the world with an e-mail account gets a $250 cookie recipe from Neiman-Marcus for free.

So here it is! Please pass it on to everyone you can  possibly think of. I paid $250 for this, and I don't want Neiman-Marcus to EVER make another penny from this recipe!

13 comments:

  1. Ha! I remember reading this story a while back and wondering if cookies could possibly taste that good. I am so glad someone has trialled it to find out!

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  2. Good for you! I hope this recipe travels far and wide, that'll show them!

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  3. Too funny!! Though I would not have been impressed to see that on my statement.

    They sound scrummy though :)
    x

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  4. Love it! What a great story and what a fabulous cookie!! Am printing this off to make next weekend with the KAT's whilst daddy is overseas, thanks!

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  5. I've heard this story before, love it. Did you ever get around to trying my peanut butter cookies?

    http://myshoeboxlife.com/2011/07/24/peanut-butter-cookies/

    To. Die. For.

    Shell xx

    PS Read your relationships post on Saturday - funny as I already had Bron's blog ready to go and I loved yours too! Nice to know I've got happily married blogging friends. :) xx

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  6. A fabulous bit if marketing from the Neiman-Marcus team. But I reckon I'll try them out anyway if you think they are that good! x

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  7. Oh my goodness me! ahhh this is why i love the internet (most times!) thanks for sharing such a fancy smancy recipe with us, they sure do look amazing!!!! hope your week is wonderful xx

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  8. Nice one - I'm drinking a cup of coffee whilst goofing off in blogland and a couple of those biscuits would go down a treat....

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  9. I love me some good cookies, but not sure I love me some $250 cookies ... but since your friend paid and we didn't, I'm in! Saving the recipe for future :)

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  10. I am going to add the ingredients to my shopping list for tomorrow. They sound divine.

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  11. Do you reduce the recipe? At almost 1.3kg of chocolate and 4 cups of sugar, they are serious biscuits!

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  12. Gosh, I hate to burst everyone's bubble, and far be it from me to be the champion for a big corporation, however, this is an urban legend which has morphed over the years. The last time I heard this exact same story was about Mrs. Field's cookie recipe, and now Neiman Marcus is the bad guy. You can read the chain email on Snopes.com here:

    http://www.snopes.com/business/consumer/cookie.asp

    Snopes is a fabulous source if you're looking to see if something you hear is true or not.

    I'm sure the cookies are great - I may just give them a try myself! But rest assured, no unsuspecting customer was conned. Neiman Marcus even has the recipe on its website:

    http://www.neimanmarcus.com/store/service/nm_cookie_recipe.jhtml

    Sorry for the long comment - I was a news reporter in a past life!

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  13. I read this story years ago as well and had it on my "Roundtuit" list to make them. Your post inspired me to do just that. I halved the recipe as you suggested and it still made 70 biscuits. Oh so delicious! :)

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Thank you for your thoughtful and positive words and taking the time to comment. Love Kymmie. xx