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Famous Department Store Chocolate Chip Cookies
Did you hear the one about the (choose one) Neiman-Marcus, Mrs. Field's etc. chocolate chip cookie recipe?
This story has been making the rounds for years now, and shows no signs of dying down. It seems someone — usually a friend of a friend of the person telling the story — contacted some famous retailer, by phone (or at the store) for their "secret" chocolate chip cookie recipe. Told the charge would be "two-fifty," this person said to charge it to their credit card. Later they discovered the actual charge was $250.00, and then and there they decided to "tell the world" the "secret" recipe, to get even.
Well, it's a funny story, but completely untrue. Neiman-Marcus will gladly let you in on the secret of their chocolate chip cookies at no charge. One good thing has resulted from this story, however; the following chocolate chip cookie recipe.
Ingredients
- 2 cups (32 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 cups light brown sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 5 cups rolled oats
- 4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 3 cups walnuts or pecans, chopped
- 8-ounce semisweet chocolate bar, grated (1 1/3 cups grated chocolate)
- 4 cups chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375°. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Combine the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until smooth.
- Add the eggs one by one, then add the vanilla.
- In a blender or food processor, grind oats until they're a fine powder.
- Add oats, flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda to butter/sugar mixture; mix well.
- Stir in nuts, grated chocolate and chips.
- Drop dough by tablespoonfuls onto your baking sheet (a tablespoon cookie scoop makes short order of this job). Gently flatten each dough ball with the palm of your hand to about 1/2" thick.
- Bake the cookies for 12 to 15 minutes, or until they're beginning to brown. Remove them from the oven, and cool right on the pan.
- Cookies will keep for up to a week in a closed container; freeze for longer storage.
Tips from our bakers
- This version comes from Janet Matz of Norwich, Vermont, a good friend of King Arthur, who got it from "a friend of a co-worker of a friend."
- Too many cookies at once? Scoop all the dough onto cookie sheets, closely packed together. Freeze until solid, then transfer the dough balls to plastic bags. Freeze for up to one month. To bake, let the cookies thaw on a tray while you preheat the oven, and bake as above.
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Reviews
These are some of the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever had. I've baked them with and without nuts but otherwise have followed the recipe (both were good). My only critique is that the end up a little crispier than I would ideally likeeven at the lower end of the bake time. I'm wondering whether reducing the baking temperature to 350 may help.Hi, Ryan! If you would like a softer cookie, you could certainly try lowering the temperature of the oven. We suggest checking them at the shorter end of the recommended baking time as you have been, but with the lowered temperature they may take a few extra minutes to bake through. Happy baking! Morgan@KAF
I have had this recipe for many years, My youngest son was 12 at the time, he is 40 now. This the only recipe that I make for chocolate chip cookies. I made the first batch at home for us a week before our church bake sale to raise money for our youth group. The second batch for the bake sale was made with the additions below. Back then I used a soup spoon that was smaller than most soup spoons but shaped like a tsp. The measurement of the spoon though would have a tiny bit more that your tablespoon scoop but not much larger..I dropped the dough onto the cookie sheet with that size so the cookies were a bit larger but not huge. I put out a dozen cookies quartered, just enough for a nice 1 bite. I was stunned wheh the entire batch sold for $100 provided they got the recipe. The yield was 12 dozen cookies. ADDITIONS MADE TO THE SECOND BATCH OF COOKIES: My spoon that I used to measure the peanut butter is the key to the peanut butter addition I made. I have a stainless steel cooking spoon the bowl of which is 4 inches long, & is barely 1/2 inch in depth and is 2 - 5/8 inches at the widest point tapering down to a rounded end but just short of a pointed end. I used this spoon to add some Jiff ExtraCrunchy Peanut Butter. The only difference in my original recipe from yours is that it simply called for "nuts". For some the idea of pecans didn't "trip my trigger". Ionly Macadamia nuts on hand, they were delicious & I also love walnuts in them. Ingredient Changes 1 heaping spoonful of Jiff Extra Crunchy Peanut Butter, heaped 2 inches higher than if it was a level spoonful. 1 16 oz. package of Toll House semi-sweet chocolate chips** 1 16 0z. package of Toll House milk chocolate chips** 1 1/2 to 2 cups of raisins, simply because we love raisins. **These additions meant that I omitted the Hershey semi-sweet chocolate bar & the 4 cups of chocolate chips from the original recipe. Of course all of these additions made the batter too stiff to stir by hand. So I called my daughter Blanche, who is a professional chef to ask "should I add more eggs or what?" (I was in a panic mode here). She told me to add some honey a little at a time until I got the right consistency. I did not roll them into balls rather I dropped them by rounded spoonfulls onto the cookie sheets. I baked them at the same temperature above for 10 to 12 minutes. I got a yield of right around 12 dozen cookies. I live in a small town & I will be baking a batch for our local fire department & a batch for our police department as a "thank you" gift for them when we receive our pension check on the 30th of this month. Wishing everyone at King Arthur flour, I used King Arthur flour for many years. Your baking products are extremely high in quality; you're only a phone call away when I have a problem or a question. Even at 81 there have been many times through the years I've taken advantage of the phone service. Thank you for being there!
I halved recipe, no nuts, just chopped "milk chocolate" - such a good recipe! The cookies keep getting better and better each week, as I make "cookies drops", freeze them, and bake 1 dozen at a time. The cookies spread so nicely! Thank you so much KAF for yet another good recipe! Appreciate it!
I think these are pretty good; I like them. I halved recipe, eliminated the nuts, and chopped up milk chocolate instead of semi- sweet chocolate chips. They spread out real nice. Hope to try "semi-sweet chocolate chips" next time. Thanks much KAF for another good recipe! Appreciate you sharing recipes with us!
Wow. WOW. These were the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever made. All of the chewy-but-crisp-on-the-outside goodness without the excessive greasiness of ordinary cookies. I cut the recipe in half and got 40 cookies with my 1.5 tbsp scoop. I omitted the nuts and grated chocolate but they were delicious regardless. Mine spread beautifully and looked exactly like typical chocolate chip cookies - not the craggy, textured goodness shown in the picture above. I think this may be because I ground my oats to a fine powder, accidentally melted the butter in the microwave while softening it, and refrigerated the dough for 2 hours before baking. Do carefully watch the oven while baking to make sure they don't brown too much- at 12 minutes my first tray was a nice golden brown.
Delicious cookies! I love that you can make a huge batch and also freeze a couple dozen. I would like to know the nutritional information for this recipe and the serving size.
I have been baking these cookies for years. Following a tip for another chocolate chip cookie recipe i read in the Washington Post Food Section a few months ago, I now refrigerate the dough for 36 hours before baking. Even better.
Love the taste of this recipe, but my cookies will not spread out! Instead of grinding the oatmeal, I'm just using the exact amount of oat flour. Would that have anything to do with them just ending up like little baked mounds? They taste amazing though! I also substitute the King Arthur measure for measure gluten free flour for regular ap flour, but I don't think that has to do with the not spreading-issue. As a gluten free home baker, I substitute with it in all my baked goods recipe, and have never had this issue before.Hi Leslie, 1 cup of oat flour weighs 3 1/4 oz. while 1 cup of rolled oats weighs 3 1/2 oz. If you're measuring out 5 cups of oats and then grinding it in a food processor, you're adding 17.5 oz. of oat flour instead of what would be required, 16.25 oz. This additional amount is likely what caused your cookies not to spread. Try measuring your oat flour by weight for best results next time, or using about 1/3 cup less oat flour. This should give you just the texture you're looking for. Happy baking! Kye@KAF
Been making this recipe for years and still making them. Stick with the recipe. No need to make any changes.
That are so many chocolate chip cookies out there and I have tried quite a few. This is now my BEST CCC! The only change I made is reducing the sugar by 50% as we do not have sweet tooth.
