Oatmeal, Nut & Chocolate Cookies (Neiman Marcus)

The BEST chocolate cookies you have ever tasted, guarateed! They are crunchy, sweet and filled with chocolaty goodness. These are my go-to cookies for birthday parties or any celebrations as I know they will be enjoyed by all -kids and adults alike. They are an adaption of the famous Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookies where the urban myth is that a guest ended up paying for $250 for the recipe in a restaurant. $250 is a bit much to pay for a recipe but these are nearly worth it. And here you have it for free!

Please note that you will get quite a large portion of cookie dough if you follow the quantities listed here. You can either half the ingredients, or you can do as I do, and make the entire portion and then only bake 20-30 cookies and freeze the rest of the cookie dough in portions. That way you can quickly whip up a batch of freshly baked cookies for surprise guests or whenever you need a quick and easy treat. This chocolate cookie recipe is not the simplest or fastest to make as the oats have to be blended and the nuts and chocolate have to be chopped, but the effort is well worth it in the end -trust me! If you need an easier recipe for the kids to make on their own see my recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies

I use vanilla essence in this recipe. A teaspoon of vanilla sugar will also do the trick (see here how to make your own in less than 5 minutes) but if you live in India, then vanilla beans aren’t very common or easy to find so it’s often easier to use vanilla essence. Try to use good quality brands like Bush Vanilla Essence. The vanilla flavour may still be artificial but at least it tastes of vanilla unlike other supermarket brands. You can get Bush Vanilla in two sizes -either 20ml bottles or a big 500ml bottle if you bake a lot.

There is no cocoa powder in this recipe or even melted chocolate, but I usually find that some of the chocolate pieces melts as you mix them in and that will give the darker colour to the cookies. I usually mix them by hand so maybe it’s a combination of hot hands and a hot Goa that does it. I like it like this though and always mix until the cookie dough is brown.

Yield: 100 cookies