Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe yields about 33-34 cookies, using a regular small cookie dough scoop. Pro tip: I only bake about 6 or 8 cookies and freeze the rest. To do this, simply form and shape all of your cookie dough balls and place into a gallon sized zip top bag (with some parchment or wax paper on the bottom) and freeze laying flat. To bake, preheat your oven to 375 degrees and add on about 3-4 minutes to the baking time. No need to defrost! Also, I think the "bake from frozen" cookies taste better! You'll notice more depth of flavor from the vanilla and the sugar will taste sweeter. In terms of texture, chilled cookie dough produces a more evenly golden-brown cookie with a crisper edge and chewier center. Read more about this in my blog post above.
Equipment
- stand mixer or electric hand mixer
Ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter * cubed, read notes below*
- 1 cup light or dark brown sugar
- 1 cup white granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 1/2 cups rolled oats blended fine in a food processor
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 12 ounces chocolate chips** I highly recommend a blend of semi-sweet + bittersweet
- 1 (4 oz.) milk chocolate bar grated; optional ** (see notes below)
- 1 to 1 1/2 cups chopped nuts walnuts or pecans; chopped (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven the 375 degrees and prep a lined baking sheet.
- Using your stand mixer or hand mixer, cream together the butter and both sugars. Stir in the eggs (one at a time), mixing after each addition, and the vanilla.
- In a separate large mixing bowl, combine the finely ground oatmeal, flour, salt, baking powder and soda, and slowly add it to the wet ingredients, a little at a time, while your stand mixer is on low. Beat just until combined. Add in the chocolate chips, grated chocolate if using, and the nuts to the batter. Mix just to combine.
- Roll into balls and place two inches apart on your prepared cookie sheet. Bake for about 12 to 14 minutes***. Remove from oven, let cool for a few minutes and enjoy! See my notes below re: freezing the cookie dough, which I highly recommend!
Notes
*Tip: "To bring your butter to the perfect temperature for creaming, cut the butter into tablespoons and put it in your mixing bowl. By the time you’ve assembled all your other ingredients, your butter will be ready to cream." from Barbara
**As I stated above, if you've never tried it, you really need to try combining semi-sweet + bittersweet chocolate chips. I love the Guittard and the Ghirardelli brands for chocolate chips and baking wafers. This is what I do for any chocolate chip cookie recipe. For this recipe, I used semi-sweet chocolate chips and then chopped up (and grated) some bittersweet chocolate (the Guittard bittersweet chocolate baking wafers). Supposedly the original recipe grates a Hershey's milk chocolate bar and mixes that with some semi-sweet chocolate chips! Will try this next time!
*** if baking larger sized cookies, bake for 15 to 18 minutes!
Pro tip: I only bake about 6 or 8 cookies and freeze the rest. To do this, simply form and shape all of your cookie dough balls and place into a gallon sized zip top bag (with some parchment or wax paper on the bottom) and freeze laying flat. To bake, preheat your oven to 375 degrees and add on about 3-4 minutes to the baking time. No need to defrost! I baked mine for 18 minutes from frozen and they were perfection!
Also, I think the "bake from frozen" cookies taste better! You'll notice more depth of flavor from the vanilla and the sugar will taste sweeter. In terms of texture, chilled cookie dough produces a more evenly golden-brown cookie with a crisper edge and chewier center. Read more about this in my blog post above.