Unfortunately, its an "urban legend", but the recipe is valid.
The store is featured in an urban legend involving a supposed recipe for its popular chocolate chip cookie.[30] 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. Because the story typically was passed along as a photocopy, it falls in the legend subcategory of Xeroxlore. Folklorists have pointed out three chief holes in the story: * Prior to the emergence of the legend, the store did not have a chocolate chip cookie;[31] * 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. Although the story is untrue, Neiman Marcus nonetheless published the cookie recipe to quell rumors. It was perfected in 1995 by Kevin Garvin and is featured on the company's website for free. It also is in the Neiman Marcus Cookbook (Clarkson Potter, $45) by Mr. Garvin and John Harrisson. --- On Sat, 7/11/09, S. Nicole Campbell <nicolesep...@gmail.com> wrote: From: S. Nicole Campbell <nicolesep...@gmail.com> Subject: The Talk2 List FW: an expensive cookie recipe To: "talk2" <talk2@AndreLouis.COM> Date: Saturday, July 11, 2009, 11:23 PM From: ravenia [mailto:rave...@charter.net] Sent: Saturday, July 11, 2009 3:37 PM To: Coco; Lorie Allen; prbrow...@charter.net; carmelo >; GF Portable:; Mario; monique; Sharon Hales; Jenkins, Audrey Subject: an expensive cookie recipe When decent people get screwed over, this is the result! A little background: Neiman-Marcus, if you don't know already, is a very expensive store; I.e., they sell your typical $8.00 T-shirt for $50.00. THIS IS A TRUE STORY ! My daughter and I had just finished a salad at a Neiman-Marcus Cafe In Dallas, and we decided to have a small dessert. Because both of us are such cookie lovers, we decided to try the 'Neiman-Marcus cookie..' It was So excellent that I asked if they would give me the recipe, and the waitress said with a small frown, 'I'm afraid not, but you can buy The Recipe.' Well, I asked how much, and she responded, ' Only two fifty - it's a Great deal!' I agreed to that, and told her to just add it to my Tab. Thirty days later, I received my VISA statement, and the Neiman-Marcus Charge was $285.00! I looked again, and I remembered I had only spent $9.95 for two salads and about $20.00 for a scarf. As I glanced at the bottom of the statement, it said, 'Cookie Recipe-$250.00.' That was Outrageous! I called Neiman's Accounting Department and told them the waitress 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 at this point.' 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 for engaging in fraud. I was basically told, 'Do what you want. Don't bother thinking of how you can get even, and don't bother trying to get any of your money Back.' I just said, "Okay, you folks got my $250, and now I'm going to have $250 worth of fun." I told her that I was going to see to it that every Cookie Lover in the United States with an e-mail account has a $250 cookie recipe from Neiman-Marcus...for free. She replied, 'I wish you wouldn't do this.' I said, 'Well, perhaps you should have thought of that before you ripped me off!' and slammed down the phone. So here it is! Please, please, 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 off of this recipe! NEIMAN-MARCUS COOKIES (Recipe may be halved) 2 cups butter 24 oz. Chocolate chips 4 cups flour 2 cups brown sugar 2 tsp. Soda 1 tsp. Salt 2 cups sugar 1 8 oz. Hershey Bar (grated) 5 cups blended oatmeal 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 112 cookies. PLEASE SEND IT TO EVERY PERSON YOU KNOW WHO HAS AN E-MAIL ADDRESS! THIS IS REALLY TERRIFIC!! Even if the people on your e-mail list don't eat sweets send it to them and ask them to pass it on. Let's make sure we get this lady's $250.00 worth. Enjoy the cookies, they really are good.
