"Out of Office," Part 2: The Neiman-Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookies

As you read this, I am somewhere on the globe, traveling from my current location of habitation to the place of my birth.

While I did not go cat adopting during the 4th of July weekend, I did take some time out to go grilling with some friends in the park. We attempted to get a view of the fireworks that evening too but the skyscrapers downtown were blocking our view so it was pretty lame and we made a run for it before it ended so we didn't get stuck in traffic getting out of the park (quite a large crowd had come out to see the fireworks).




And of course I couldn't help myself and baked a batch of chocolate chip cookies--a new recipe no less.

Urban legend has it that a lady had some awesome chocolate chip cookies at a Neiman-Marcus department store cafe and asked for the recipe, which she was promptly given but was then charged $250 for it (instead of the $2.50 that she thought she'd be charged). She got so pissed (because apparently she couldn't get the charge canceled) that she decided to get revenge by spreading the recipe all over the Internet (back in the day it was probably a chain E-mail type thing).

Neiman-Marcus had the sense of humor to post a chocolate chip cookie recipe on their website to refute this story, and this is the recipe I used. Some day I might try the recipe associated with the urban legend too.

These were awesome cookies! There was surprisingly little wet ingredients for the amount of dry ingredients but the dough held together fine, although stiffer than many other recipes. The other interesting thing was that you bake it in a "low and slow" fashion--300 degrees for 20 minutes! But this results in a texture that actually very much resembles commercially-made cookies. They're cooked all the way through, even just a bit crunchy on the edges, and nice and chewy in the middle, but very little browning. And the espresso powder definitely adds a depth of flavor you can notice.

Definitely a keeper recipe--and free! See you back here again in 2 weeks! Next post: July 28.