Cooking in KRISTINA'S KITCHEN! :)

This time we are in Kristina's kitchen! She is my friend who won the big blue ribbon in the State Fair for her "Sassy Orange Brownies!" (see previous posts) :)

The Famous Neiman Marcus $250 Cookie Recipe Hoax

The Infamous Neiman Marcus $250 Cookie Recipe Hoax.

The story below is one of the most famous urban legends in history. The story has been going around for over 50 years and it is completely untrue. Every few weeks it comes up again in some newsgroup or listserve.

IT IS UNTRUE BUT IF YOU WISH TO TRY THE COOKIES GO AHEAD.

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"THIS IS TRUE----PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO READ IT AND PLEASE SEND THIS TO EVERY PERSON YOU KNOW WHO HAS AN E-MAIL ADDRESS....THIS IS REALLY TERRIFIC."

My daughter & I had just finished a salad at Neiman-Marcus Cafe in Dallas & decided to have a small dessert. Because both of us are such cookie lovers, we decided to try the "Neiman-Marcus Cookie". {EDITORIAL COMMENT: Neiman's is a VERY EXPENSIVE department store in the United States a.k.a. Needless Markup}.

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." "Well", I said, would you let me buy the recipe?"

With a cute smile, she said, "Yes." I asked how much, and she responded, "only two fifty, it's a great deal!" I said with approval, "just add it to my tab."

Thirty days later, I received my VISA statement from Neiman-Marcus and it 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's outrageous!! I called Neiman's Accounting Dept. and told them the waitress said it was "two-fifty," which clearly does not mean "two hundred and fifty dollars" by any *POSSIBLE* 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 her the criminal statutes which govern fraud in Texas, I threatened to refer them to the Better Business Bureau and the State's Attorney General for engaging in fraud. I was basically told, "Do what you want, we don't give a crap, and we're not refunding your money."

I waited, thinking of how I could get even, or even try and get any of my money back. I just said, "Okay, you folks got my $250, and now I'm going to have $250.00 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 $250.00 cookie recipe from Neiman-Marcus for free. She replied," I wish you wouldn't do this." I said, "Well, you should have thought of that before you ripped me off", and slammed down the phone on her. So, here it is!!!

Please, please, please pass it on to everyone you can possibly think of. I paid $250 dollars for this... I don't want Neiman-Marcus to *EVER* get another penny off of this recipe....

Neiman Marcus Cookie Recipe

(Recipe may be halved):
2 cups butter
4 cups flour
2 tsp. soda
2 cups sugar
5 cups blended oatmeal**
24 oz. chocolate chips
2 cups brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 8 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 112 cookies.

Have fun!!! This is *NOT* a joke --- this is a true story..
Ride free, citizens!

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REMEMBER, PLEASE, PLEASE, THAT THIS STORY IS AN URBAN LEGEND!

IT IS _NOT_ TRUE.

Neiman Marcus Responds

Alongside sewer-dwelling bands of alligators, bugs in bottles of soda, and other urban myths resides the Neiman Marcus $250 cookie fabrication.
NM has never charged anyone anything for a recipe, but the story still persists. Help stamp out untrue gossip by forwarding our free chocolate-chip cookie recipe to any naysayers out there!
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
3 tsp. granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 3/4 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. instant espresso powder, slightly crushed
8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

Cream the butter with the sugars until fluffy. Beat in the egg and the vanilla extract. Combine the dry ingredients and beat into the butter mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips. Drop by large spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes, or 10-12 minutes for a crispier cookie. Makes 15 large cookies.
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Collected by Bert Christensen
Toronto, Ontario