Neiman-Marcus Cookies

Did you know that guys can bake too? Let us introduce you to a young man who is an expert at making a great tasting cookie! His name is Matt and he is a University of North Dakota graduate in meteorology and he likes to do some cooking and baking on the side.

Here is his well tweaked, yummy cookie recipe! Enjoy.

NEIMAN-MARCUS COOKIES

1 Cup Butter

1 Cup Sugar

1 Cup Brown Sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

2 Cups Flour

2 1/2 Cups blended oatmeal

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

12 oz. chocolate chips

4 oz. Hershey Bar (grated)

1 1/2 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 40-48 3 inch round cookies

Notes:

After following this recipe and other chocolate chip cookie recipes, I have found (through the art of experimenting) some creative ways to alter this recipe for the health conscious, to the following. And it tastes good too!

1 Cup Butter

3/4 Cup Sugar

3/4 Cup Brown Sugar (I use the dark brown sugar and usually add slightly more brown sugar than white sugar)

2 eggs

1 ½ tsp. Vanilla (I like to add a little extra vanilla to cookie recipes, but be careful not to add too much!)

2 Cups Flour – I have used 1 Cup unbleached white flour and 1 Cup of whole-wheat flour. Sometimes I add a tablespoon or two of extra flour to this flour amount.

2 1/2 Cups blended oatmeal

1/2 tsp. Salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

12 oz. chocolate chips or you may use carob chips

1 Cup chopped pecans – Reduced to retain the chocolate/nut balance

I found that 12 oz. of chocolate chips is plenty of chocolate for these cookies. If you are a chocolate lover, you can put back in the 4 oz. of grated chocolate, but the cookies may fall apart if you choose to make softer cookies.

I have baked these cookies in a variety of ovens and have found each one to be different when it comes to baking times. If you want softer cookies try baking them at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes (using the top two racks in the oven and switching the pans after 8 minutes).

If you want to have golden brown cookies, slightly raise the temperature (somewhere between 350-375) for 15-20 minutes.

This makes 40-48 cookies. I roll them into 1 3/4 inch balls and slightly flatten them and they turn into 3-inch round cookies.