The Neiman Marcus Cookie Recipe

This is the famous Neiman Marcus cookie recipe that’s been delighting families for generations. This recipe makes a huge batch of epic chocolate chip cookies, so you can bake some now and freeze some dough balls for later, or to share with friends.

Why we love this recipe

Rumor has it that Neiman Marcus (probably Mrs. Fields –> Marshall Fields –> Neiman Marcus, in a years-long game of telephone) sold their “famous” cookie recipe to a customer for $250, who had only agreed to buy it because she thought she’d be paying $2.50. Honestly? I think it’s worth the higher price.

We love the Neiman Marcus cookie recipe for so many reasons. The first is the most important: they’re just really good cookies. They’re:

• Crisp at the edges, tender and gooey inside
• Substantial and satisfying
• Beautifully balanced in flavor and texture
• Studded with so many goodies

The second reason we love these cookies is that you can freeze the dough balls and either save some of them to bake later or — as our friend Jordan showed us — bring some in a little cooler as a host or thank-you gift and have the recipient put them straight into the freezer. It’s the best.

I first published this recipe here way back in 2011. If you’re a fan of old-school blog narrative, you can scroll down below the recipe card to read more of the original post.

What you’ll need

Here’s a glance at the ingredients you’ll need to make this recipe.

• Old-fashioned rolled oats contribute both flavor and structure to this recipe. You’ll see some versions of the recipe where the oats are ground before incorporating, but we prefer them with the oats intact.
• Use unsalted butter, or use salted butter and reduce the salt in the recipe by half.
• You can use either semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips. Semi-sweet will give the cookies a slightly sweeter flavor profile.
• Some versions of this recipe call for grating the Hershey’s bars. We prefer them broken into chunks.
• You can use chopped walnuts or pecans — I almost always gravitate toward walnuts for their softer, sweeter vibe. If you need to accommodate a nut allergy or aversion, it’s okay to leave them out.

How to make it

Here’s an overview of what you’ll do to make a fabulous batch of Neiman Marcus cookies. You can see the steps in action in the video that accompanies this post, and get all the details in the recipe card below.

These cookies are fun to make with kids. In fact, my slightly older kids (one of whose hands are featured alongside mine in the how-to photos and video) tend to make them on their own. I’m here to say they’re also fun to just eat.

1. Cream the butter and sugars, then the eggs and vanilla.
2. Whisk together the dry ingredients.
3. Switch to a spatula or wooden spoon to stir the dry ingredients into the wet ones. Then stir in the oats, followed by the chocolate and nuts.
4. Shape into golf balls and bake. That’s it!

Expert tips and FAQs

More of our favorite classic cookies and bars

• Levain Bakery chocolate chip walnut cookies
• Quaker oatmeal raisin cookies
• Brownie cookies
• Snickerdoodles
• Brownies
• Blondies

How these cookies came into our lives

When our friends Jordan and Pierre showed up for a weekend visit, Jordan had a tiny, unfancy insulated cooler hung over her wrist. It didn’t have rhinestones or peacock feathers or other such come-hither accoutrements. It wasn’t pink. It wasn’t even purple. But I set my sights on it right away. And the minute I spied that baby, I knew I had to have whatever was inside. Maybe it’s not surprising that a girl who’s all about the fifth taste would also have a sixth sense. Sure enough, I do.

The high-stakes world of edible hostess gifts

I dispensed with the usual pleasantries faster than usual. “Hi-how-are-you-guys-SO-great-to-see-you!” issued forth at once, the tongue moving with manic agility. And then, a little too loudly, “What’s in THE COOLER?!” With an adorable one-year-old in the mix, I knew I was hedging my bets against an answer like, “Oh, just some breast milk I pumped in the car.” But as they say in the high-stakes world of edible hostess gifts, no risk, no reward.

My risk was rewarded handsomely. 

The $250 cookie recipe

The $250 Neiman Marcus/Mrs. Fields cookie recipe has confounded a lot of people over the years, but I think it’s safe to say that no one has fallen farther into its clutches than Jordan herself.

Jordan didn’t fall for any run-of-the-mill con game like the rest of us. Nope, she was the victim of an elaborate, personally targeted ruse hatched by her own mother. When Jordan’s mom came home with the recipe courtesy of a neighbor we’ll call Mrs. Garibaldi, she told Jordan that it was called Mrs. Fields’ Cookies because, while ensconced in a former, ultimately unsuccessful marriage with a gentleman by the name of Mr. Fields, Mrs. Garibaldi had started a small cookie company which subsequently grew into a multinational conglomerate.

Jordan was overjoyed to know that she moved about in the same circles as a world-renowned cookie maven. What could she say? The 1980s were a beautiful time to be a kid in America.

a.k.a. Gigi’s Super Cookies

Mrs. Garibaldi, though, did not approve. An upstanding Southerner, and a Catholic, to boot, she was horrified that the young, impressionable Jordan thought she was a divorcee. A divorcee! A scandal of that magnitude wasn’t nearly as shelf-stable as Mrs. Fields’ cookies, and Mrs. Garibaldi (N/F/K/A Mrs. Fields) soon laid that rumor to rest. The recipe lived on in Jordan’s family, but in a rebranding effort aimed at wholesomeness and grandmotherly love, it’s now called Gigi’s Super Cookies.

The most fabulous hostess gift

Back in the modern era, having arrived for the weekend, Jordan quickly redeemed herself by replacing any hint of gullibility with pure genius. The cooler contained one of the most fabulous hostess gifts ever known to womankind. Jordan had scooped raw Gigi’s Super Cookie batter into perfect little chocolate- and nut-studded golf balls and frozen them so we could bake them at our leisure.

It may have been the buzz of frozen cookie ball potential energy coursing through the cooler walls that tipped me off in the first place. It could have been kinetic energy, even, frozen cookie balls dancing like frenzied atoms until we unzipped the lid and they stopped on a dime, playing dead for the gullible people-folk.

When cookies have a storied history like these do, you can never be sure what you’re in for. Luckily for guests and hosts alike, a gift of frozen cookie balls (especially ones that come with a bonus tale of fame, fortune, and deception) immediately rights all wrongs. It sets you up for a memorable weekend visit and even has a 99.9% success rate of getting you invited back.

And if you believe that one, have I got a cookie recipe for you.