The $250 Cookie Recipe
We try a mythic recipe for chocolate chip cookies and the verdict is…very tasty!
At a recent family dinner, which included my son and daughter-in-law who were visiting from California and my son-in-law who is also an American, we got to talking about desserts, and mention was made of the $250 cookie. We Canadians had never heard about this recipe or cookie story, which supposedly originated at a Neiman Marcus restaurant, and involved a woman asking for the recipe for the chocolate chip cookies she was served and getting charged $250.
Apparently the story is a hoax since Nieman Marcus claims they gladly give their recipes away for the asking. And in the 1930s a similar fake story circulated about the Red Velvet cake served at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel (though in this case the charge was only $100!)
At any rate, being the chocolate chip cookie lovers that we are, and in the interest of the public good, we thought we’d better test drive this version.
The ''$250 cookie'' recipe is a variation on oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, using ground oatmeal and adding grated extra chocolate to the batter.
Cookies!
We didn’t wait long to taste test these.
Yield: About two dozen cookies
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cup oatmeal
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
6 ounces chocolate chips
2 ounces chocolate from a bar
3/4 cup chopped nuts (I used toasted pecans)
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Cream together butter and both sugars. Stir in eggs and vanilla.
Finely grind oatmeal in a blender or food processor. Combine the oatmeal, flour, salt, baking powder and soda in a medium bowl, and slowly add it to the wet ingredients. Beat just until combined. Grate chocolate bar using a microplane grater and add it, along with chocolate chips and nuts to the batter. Mix just to combine.
Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls, 2 inches apart, on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes.
Note: I found microplaning the chocolate a bit of a chore so ended up using only one ounce, which seemed to be plenty. Also, my tester agreed that the nuts are a standout feature of these cookies.
