The Two.. Emails....

The Cookie That Refuses To Crumble
The Neiman Marcus $250 Cookie Recipe

The Claim: A woman, claiming to have been ripped off by upscale U.S. department store Neiman Marcus, distributes a $250 cookie recipe far and wide for revenge.
The Truth: Neiman Marcus has never sold a recipe, much less a $250 cookie recipe. In fact, until recently, they didn't even serve cookies in their restaurants.

The story goes like this: A restaurant patron orders a dessert, and likes it so much that they ask for the recipe. After being told that the recipe is for sale for a nominal cost, and agreeing to it, the customer ends up with a shock when he is charged an exorbitant cost. He tries to resolve it with the restaurant without success, and distributes the recipe as widely as he can for revenge.

The story goes back as far as the 1930s, when a customer was charged $100 for the recipe for the (now defunct) Waldorf-Astoria Hotel's "Red Velvet Cake." Versions of the story have circulated since then. Now that the chocolate chip cookie has become the unofficial national cookie of the United States, recent versions of the story involve cookie makers, such as Mrs. Fields and Famous Amos.

The latest incarnation of this story involves the upscale U.S. department store Neiman Marcus. For those not familiar with NM, their merchandise is of the highest quality with prices that match; some people call them Needless Markup. In any case, the story has NM refusing to refund $250 to a person who asked for a chocolate chip cookie recipe.

My daughter & I had just finished a salad at Neiman-Marcus Cafe in Dallas & decided to have a small dessert. Because both of us are such cookie lovers, we decided to try the "Neiman-Marcus Cookie." It was so excellent that I asked if they would give me the recipe and the waitress said with a small frown, "I'm afraid not." Well, I said, would you let me buy the recipe? With a cute smile, she said, "Yes." I asked how much, and she responded, "Only two fifty, it's a great deal!" I said with approval, just add it to my tab.

Thirty days later, I received my VISA statement from Neiman-Marcus and it was $285.00. I looked again and I remembered I had only spent $9.95 for two salads and about $20.00 for a scarf. As I glanced at the bottom of the statement, it said, "Cookie Recipe - $250.00" That's outrageous!!

I called Neiman's Accounting Dept. and told them the waitress said it was "two- fifty," which clearly does not mean "two hundred and fifty dollars" by any *POSSIBLE* interpretation of the phrase. Neiman-Marcus refused to budge. They would not refund my money, because according to them, "What the waitress told you is not our problem. You have already seen the recipe - we absolutely will not refund your money at this point." I explained to her the criminal statutes which govern fraud in Texas, I threatened to refer them to the Better Business Bureau and the State's Attorney General for engaging in fraud. I was basically told, "Do what you want, we don't give a crap, and we're not refunding your money." I waited, thinking of how I could get even, or even try and get any of my money back. I just said, "Okay, you folks got my $250, and now I'm going to have $250.00 worth of fun." I told her that I was going to see to it that every cookie lover in the United States with an e-mail account has a $250.00 cookie recipe from Neiman-Marcus...for free. She replied, "I wish you wouldn't do this." I said, "Well, you should have thought of that before you ripped me off," and slammed down the phone on her.

So here it is!!! Please, please, please pass it on to everyone you can possibly think of. I paid $250 for this...I don't want Neiman-Marcus to *ever* get another penny off of this recipe....

(Recipe may be halved)

2 cups butter, 4 cups flour, 2 tsp. soda, 2 cups sugar, 5 cups blended oatmeal**, 24 oz. chocolate chips, 2 cups brown sugar, 1 tsp. salt, 1 8 oz. Hershey Bar (grated), 4 eggs, 2 tsp. baking powder, 2 tsp. vanilla, 3 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 112 cookies.

Have fun!!! This is not a joke --- this is a true story. Ride free citizens!

These are the facts:

NM has never charged anyone for a recipe.
For those dishes for which recipes are available, they are free of charge and available on request.

There is no Neiman Marcus Café at any of the chain's three Dallas stores.
The restaurants at those locations are called Zodiac, Zodiac at North Park, and The Woods. (Dallas, by the way, is home base to NM.)

NM hasn't served cookies in their restaurants until quite recently.
That's when, in a very classy way, they developed a chocolate chip cookie recipe specifically to act as a counter-hoax. The hoax itself has been circulating for longer than that.

NM's name is no longer hyphenated.

NM does not take Visa, contrary to what the letter states.

As I alluded to above, prices are upscale at NM.
The letter claims that the person bought a scarf for "about $20." According to the Los Angeles Times, scarves at NM start at about $40 and quickly work their way into triple figures. I seriously doubt that scarves would ever sell for as low as $20, even at a sale price.

So, if you ever receive this recipe in your e-mail box, do not pass it on. At the very least, don't represent it as Neiman Marcus'; it never was theirs. Nothing prevents you, though, from saying it's your mom's not-so-secret recipe. From what I understand, it makes a pretty good cookie.

And now the Malaysian version...

My daughter and I had just finished a muffin at Famous Amos Café in
Bangsar & decided to have some cookies. Because both of us are such a
cookie lovers, we decided to try the "Hawaiian Nut Cookie".

It was so excellent that I asked if they would give me the recipe and the waitress said with a small frown "I'm afraid cannot". Well I said, "Would
you let me buy the recipe?"

With a cute smile, she said "YES". I asked how much and she responded,
"only two fifty, it's a great deal!" I said with approval, "Just add it to
my bill"

Thirty days later, I received my VISA statement from Famous Amos and it
was RM285.00. I looked again and remembered I had only spent RM9.95 for
two muffins and about RM20.00 for a pie. As I glanced at the bottom of the
statement, it said, "cookie recipe - RM250.00". That's outrages!!!

I called the Famous Amos's Accounting Dept. and told them that the
waitress said it was "two-fifty", which clearly does not mean "two hundred
and fifty dollars" by any POSSIBLE interpretation of the phrase. Famous
Amos refused to budge.. They would not refund my money, because according to them, "What the waitress told you is not our problem. You have already seen the recipe - we absolutely will not refund your money at this point."


I explain to her the criminal statues which govern fraud in Malaysia. I
threatened to refer them to police for engaging in fraud. I was basically
told, "Do what you want, we don't care, and we're not refunding your
money." I waited for a moment, thinking of how I could get even, or even
try to get any of my money back. I just said, "Okay, you people got my
RM250.00, and now I'm going to have a RM250.00 worth of fun." I told her that I was going to see to it that every cookie lover in Malaysia with an
email account has a RM250.00 cookie recipe from Famous Amos...for free.
She replied, "I wish you wouldn't do this" I said, "Well you should have
thought of that before you stole from me", and slammed down the phone on
her.

So, here it is!!! Please, please pass it on to everyone you can possibly
think of. I paid RM250.00 dollars for this...I don't want Famous Amos to
ever get another cent off of this recipe.....