The Neiman Marcus' $250 Cookie Recipe

Neiman Marcus has been a famous department store since it opened in the early part of the twentieth century, but the era of the internet became preoccupied with the Neiman Marcus over an urban and internet legend about the controversial Neiman Marcus $250 chocolate chip cookie recipe.

According to the story, a woman was shopping at Neiman Marcus and dined in its café.  She commented to the waitress hat she enjoyed the chocolate chip cookies so much that she really had to have the recipe. The waitress gave her the recipe and said "That will be 250. It's a great deal." The woman said she thought she meant $2.50, but he charged $250 to her Visa. When the customer realized what had happened upon receiving her Visa bill, she called the Neiman Marcus accounting department which said it would "absolutely not" refund her money. When she threatened to report Neiman Marcus to the Better Business Bureau, the employee was firm in refusing to refund the money, and according to the story, said "I wish you wouldn't do that" when she threatened to send the expensive recipe to "every cookie lover in the country" via mass e-mail.

The Neiman Marcus $250 Chocolate Chip Recipe

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bochalla/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

As the legend goes, the customer made good on her threat, and she publicized this "$250 Neiman Marcus chocolate chip cookie recipe" through mass-emailing as a way of getting revenge against the department store. Even though this story has been debunked as an urban legend, it still persists in the minds of cookie lovers everywhere. First of all, Neiman Marcus did not have a chocolate chip cookie prior to this story and never accepted Visa cards, only American Express and its own card. The story is a variation of a tale told about a $25 red velvet cake recipe which a customer unwittingly purchased from the Waldorf Astoria in the 1940s.

Neiman Marcus has denied the story as a legend, which is the most likely explanation, and has posted its chocolate chip cookie recipe for free on its website. The recipe looks like an ordinary chocolate chip cookie recipe, except for the addition of some espresso coffee-an addition of simple elegance so characteristic of Neiman Marcus. This recipe was created as a response to the urban legend and is different from the one circulated in the e-mail, which has Hershey's chocolate and oatmeal listed among the ingredients. Rather than casting a shadow on the department store's reputation, the cookie legend put Neiman Marcus once again in the spotlight and was perhaps free publicity for the famed department store, even though the "scandal" made Neiman Marcus the subject of satire and jokes from late-night comedians. Nevertheless, the Neiman Marcus name (and cookie) weathered the e-mail storm.