Neiman Marcus Cookies have earned their fame with good reason. Each bite delivers the perfect balance of crisp edges, chewy centers, and rich chocolate flavor!
WANT TO SAVE THIS RECIPE?
Enter your email below and we’ll send it straight to your inbox. Plus you’ll get great new recipes from us every week!
Indulge in the legendary Neiman Marcus cookies recipe that perfectly blends oatmeal, grated chocolate, and chopped nuts for a decadent treat that’s worth every calorie! These cookies have become famous for their irresistible texture and rich flavor that keeps everyone coming back for more.
The Neiman Marcus chocolate chip cookies is a soft, chewy oatmeal chocolate chip cookie that is perfect with a glass of milk. This recipe is sure to be one that the whole family will enjoy and is a huge hit as a homemade edible gift or to take to parties!
Jump to:
- Why You’ll Love These Neiman Marcus Cookies
- Recipe Ingredients
- The Famous Neiman Marcus Cookies
- Video: How to Make Famous Neiman Marcus Cookie Recipe
- How To Make Neiman Marcus Cookies
- Recipe FAQs
- Expert Tips
- The Story Behind Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Why I Recommend Using Blended Oatmeal in Neiman Marcus Cookies Recipe
- More Amazing Cookie Recipes With Chocolate
- More Delicious Cookie Recipes to Consider
Why You’ll Love These Neiman Marcus Cookies
- Foolproof Results: This recipe consistently delivers perfect cookies every time, even if you’re not an experienced baker.
- Impressive Flavor Profile: The combination of blended oatmeal, chocolate chips, grated Hershey bar, and nuts creates a depth of flavor that ordinary chocolate chip cookies simply can’t match.
- Make-Ahead Friendly: The dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for longer storage, making these perfect for busy moms who need to plan ahead.
- Crowd-Pleasing Appeal: These cookies have universal appeal — kids love them just as much as adults, making them perfect for any gathering or occasion.
- Bragging Rights: There’s something special about serving a “famous” recipe with a fun backstory that makes these cookies a conversation starter at any event!
🍪 When in doubt about what dish to take to an event, I honestly believe you can never go wrong with a cookie containing chocolate!
Recipe Ingredients
- Oatmeal
- All-Purpose Flour
- Baking Powder
- Baking Soda
- Butter
- Brown Sugar
- Granulated Sugar
- Eggs
- Chocolate Chips — use the type of chocolate chips that you like or have on hand
- Hershey Candy Bar
- Nuts — I normally use walnuts or pecans, but you can use what you like or have on hand.
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
WANT TO SAVE THIS RECIPE?
Enter your email below and we will send it straight to your inbox. Plus you will get great new recipes from us every week!
The Famous Neiman Marcus Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups oatmeal blended
- 2 cups flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup light brown sugar firmly packed
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 12 ounces chocolate chips 2 cups
- 1 Hershey bar, grated 4 ounces
- 1 ½ cups chopped nuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Add the oatmeal to a blender and blend into a coarse flour or powder.2 ½ cups oatmeal
- In a medium bowl, mix together flour, blended oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.2 cups flour, ½ teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugars, on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy.1 cup unsalted butter, 1 cup granulated sugar, 1 cup light brown sugar
- Beat in the eggs and vanilla until well blended, scraping down sides of the bowl as needed.2 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Add flour mixture; mix just until blended. Stir in chocolate chips, grated chocolate, and nuts. (Optional: cover dough and chill 30 minutes – add a minute or two to the cook time if using chilled dough.)12 ounces chocolate chips, 1 Hershey bar, grated, 1 ½ cups chopped nuts
- Roll into balls and place two inches apart on cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.
- Let cookies cool for 5 minutes on baking sheet before transferring cookies to racks to cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition
Video: How to Make Famous Neiman Marcus Cookie Recipe
How To Make Neiman Marcus Cookies
Step 1: Add the oatmeal to a blender and blend into a coarse flour or powder. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, blended oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
Step 2: In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugars, on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla until well blended, scraping down sides of the bowl as needed.
Step 3: Add flour mixture; mix just until blended. Stir in chocolate chips, grated chocolate, and nuts. (Optional: cover dough and chill 30 minutes – add a minute or two to the cook time if using chilled dough.)
Step 4: Roll into balls and place two inches apart on cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in a preheated oven. Let cookies cool for 5 minutes on baking sheet before transferring cookies to racks to cool completely.
Pro Baking Tip: To bring your butter to the perfect temperature for creaming, cut the butter into tablespoons and put it in your mixing bowl. By the time you’ve assembled all your other ingredients, your butter will be ready to cream.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, you can! The original recipe specifically calls for a Hershey bar, but any good quality milk chocolate will work. The key is to grate it rather than chop it, as this distributes tiny flecks of chocolate throughout the dough for an amazing flavor experience.
Chilling is optional but recommended! Chilled dough will produce slightly thicker cookies with a more concentrated flavor. If you’re in a hurry, you can skip this step, but even a quick 30-minute chill will improve your results.
Look for golden brown edges with centers that look just slightly underdone. They’ll continue cooking a bit on the hot baking sheet after you remove them from the oven. This ensures perfectly chewy cookies that aren’t overbaked or dry.
Absolutely! You can freeze them in two ways. Either freeze the baked cookies in an airtight container for up to 3 months, or roll the dough into balls, freeze on a baking sheet until solid, then transfer to a freezer bag. When ready to bake, just add 1-2 minutes to the baking time—no need to thaw!
Expert Tips
- The Secret: The secret to this cookie is OATMEAL! And the secret to the oatmeal is popping it in the blender before adding it to the cookies to make a coarse flour out of it. Amazing texture and flavor!
- Measure Your Oatmeal Before Blending: Measure the 2½ cups of oatmeal before you blend it, not after. The volume changes when blended, and proper measurement ensures the right cookie texture.
- Room Temperature Ingredients Matter: Make sure your butter and eggs are truly at room temperature for the best incorporation. Cold ingredients don’t blend as smoothly and can affect the final texture of your cookies.
- Don’t Overmix: Once you add the dry ingredients, mix just until combined. Overmixing develops the gluten in the flour, which can make your cookies tough instead of tender.
The Story Behind Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookies
The classic Neiman Marcus cookie recipe came as a result of a hoax someone pulled against the Neiman Marcus Cafe. It was said that a woman went to the cafe and loved the cookie so much that she asked for the recipe.
The person said that they’d give it to her for “two fifty”. But when her bank statement came she realized that the recipe wasn’t sold to her for $2.50 like she thought, but rather for $250. This story spread throughout the country and it became a big ordeal.
The funny thing is, the Neiman Marcus Cafe wasn’t even offering cookies on their menu at that time. So, in response to the hoax over a cookie that didn’t exist, the Neiman Marcus Group created the Neiman Marcus cookie.
The store actually released a version of their cookie recipe a few years ago. While similar to this one, it contains espresso powder and leaves out one very important ingredient — oatmeal.
Why I Recommend Using Blended Oatmeal in Neiman Marcus Cookies Recipe
Blended oatmeal is the key to the delightful texture of the original Neiman Marcus cookies. It’s the secret ingredient that the store left out of their published recipe.
It only takes an extra minute to make blended oatmeal in your kitchen. Simply add oats to a blender and pulse into a coarse powder.
While oat flour is also a form of oats ground into powder, it’s not a great substitute for the oats in this recipe. Oat flour is much more finely ground than you will achieve in your home blender. It also may change the texture of your cookies.
When choosing oats for these cookies, I always opt for old-fashioned oats, but you can substitute quick-cooking oats if needed. Do not use instant oats!
More Amazing Cookie Recipes With Chocolate
I’m not sure we can ever have too many recipes for cookies that have chocolate in them. Here are some awesome ones that always get gobbled up quickly at our house or wherever I take them!
- Monster Cookies: The best parts of your favorite cookies and make one giant conglomeration. So delicious and everyone loves them.
- Air Fryer Chocolate Chip Cookies: Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, and the best part is that you don’t need to fire up your oven!
- Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies: Brown sugar and higher oven temperature is the secret to thick, soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies every time.
More Delicious Cookie Recipes to Consider
Did you try this recipe? Leave a ⭐️ rating below and share it on Instagram.
Idida
Hi, Do you recommend chilling the dough?
Barbara Schieving
I will often chill my cookie dough before baking for at least 30 minutes. Enjoy!
Deanie
I work at a lovely appliance store. We have several live kitchens displaying each brand in a kitchen set up. I am very blessed to be able to cook and bake and demonstrate the appliances – not to mention get the juices flowing for prospective buyers in the showroom!. I just made these cookies for our showroom guests with amazing success! I did embellish a bit by adding a little cinnamon, used less white sugar and more brown sugar equaling 2 cups, added toasted coconut and heath toffee bits. Just a wee amount of those. I baked them for 10 mins at 350 C0NVECTION. They turned out beautiful & WONDERFULLY DELICIOUS!!! Some of our guests were brave enough to ask for the recipe – which I shared, even with my embellishments. Definitely a keeper recipe.
Barbara Schieving
Sounds like delicious changes. Thanks for sharing Deanie!
Amber Allen
I’m going to make these cookies for the first time today,but I need to know if I should use milk chocolate chips or semisweet chips.
Thanks,
Amber
Barbara Schieving
Hi Amber – you could use milk chocolate but semi-sweet are traditionally used in cookies.
Melissa
These are really good cookies, I make them only once a year cause it requires too much work. I have to blend the oatmeal to a find flour and chop everything up. Its worth it but only once a year and I usually double the recipe. So for people that don’t like oatmeal, they won’t know you put any in them. lol
Barbara Schieving
Thanks Melissa – definitely worth the extra work.
Barbra
I cook these often so I blend a large amount of the oat flour and store in a gallon bag in the freezer.
To save a huge amount of time, I make cookie kits. I measure both sugars and put in a baggie, ditto for the chocolate chips (I combine mini and regular), oat and AP flour goes in its own bag and the nuts in it’s own bag. I have a large white food safe bucket with a lid and keep my cookie prepped kits in there. Whenever I want to make these cookies, I just grab my kit bags and add vanilla, butter and eggs. I can make them so quickly.
Yvette Perez
I have made these and they are delicious. However u am wanting to make double chocolate chip….do you think I can just add cocoa powder?? And if so how much do u think would be enough?
Barbara Schieving
Hi Yvette – If you want a chocolate cookie dough, I would add 1 cup of cocoa powder and only use 1 1/2 cups of the blended oatmeal or you could try only using 1 cup of flour. Based on this recipe https://www.barbarabakes.com/triple-chocolate-smores-cookies/ which my family loves.
Ashley @ Wishes & Dishes
Thanks for linking to my cookies! These look amazing!
Anonymous
hi barbara,
did u grind all the oats to a fine powder? i like the texture of your cookies.
Deborah
I just baked these cookies using l cup whole grain flour and 1 cup all purpose and used chopped pecans. They are fantastic! Thank you.
Judy
This recipe is the ONLY one that my son uses for CCC. I like them very much too.
Amanda
I made these so many years ago I can't even count! LOL They were delicious though, I completely agree 🙂
Melody
The story behind these cookies makes me want to try them more. Thanks!
Kasha
Hey Barbara! Where do I send my $250 check?! Those look amazing! Thank you so much! I hope you have a great weekend!
Netts Nook
Wow Barbara they look just like the ones they serve a Neiman Marcus good job.
CookiePie
Oh yum – those sound so good! I love choc chip cookies, and I bet the oatmeal gives them that extra something-something. Delicious!
mary'smom
I lost this recipe! Thanks for posting it! These cookies are delicious.
Katrina
This used to be my favorite ccc, while I still love it, I've made many since and kind of like making all kinds. Right now the NY Times is my fave. The NM $250 is a great cookie! Yours look awesome.
Elra
Sounds like cookies that worth trying.
RecipeGirl
How funny- I was just browsing this recipe the other day in my chocolate chip cookie file… ended up choosing another one. I've always wanted to try this one too though! Will have to give it a go next time 🙂
finsmom
Ive heard of these and always wanted to try them!
Sara
I've definitely heard of these, but never made them. They look really delicious!