Neiman Marcus Cookies on a Walmart Budget

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine invited me and a few friends to join her for lunch at the Zodiac Room located in Neiman Marcus. It's one of her favorite lunch spots. Sadly, she's had a bad run of luck over the last few years, so a lunch out was not an extravagance that she could afford. But, thankfully, things are beginning to look up, so a lunch out was a real treat and it was fun for everyone to get together as well. At the end of the meal, our friend wanted to do a little something to thank us all for coming, so she ordered a box of chocolate chip cookies. To our surprise, there was a recipe card tucked inside the box.

Well, you can guess who was elected to bake up a batch :) I am not a huge chocolate chip cookie fan, but these are good. The secret, well not so secret now ;) ingredient is espresso powder. I did a little looking around and I found this site where you can download a nice print out version. Please note that the oven temperature is incorrect on this version. The oven temperature for baking should be 300 degrees. You can also just print from this post as well.

The Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookie

Ingredients;
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons instant espresso coffee powder
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Cream the butter with the sugars using an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy (app. 30 seconds). Beat in the egg and the vanilla extract for another 30 seconds. In a separate mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients and then beat into the butter mixture at low speed for about 15 seconds. Stir in the espresso powder and the chocolate chips. Using a 1-ounce scoop or a 2 tablespoon measure, drop the cookie dough onto a greased cookie sheet about 3" apart. Gently press down on the dough with the back of a spoon to spread out into a 2" circle. Back for about 20 minutes or until nicely browned around the edges. Bake a little longer for a crispier cookie. Makes 2 dozen cookies.

My changes;
*I increased the espresso coffee powder to 2 teaspoons.
*I added 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts to my dough.
*I did not make my cookies as large as the recipe calls for. I used a tablespoon to measure out my dough. So I ended up with 3 dozen cookies rather than the 2.

You really can't taste the espresso powder, I think it just enhances the taste of the chocolate. The cookies were very easy to make and they turned out beautifully. My husband told me that he could sit down and eat 10 of them without a thought. He REALLY liked them a lot!
So if you can't get to the Neiman Marcus Zodiac Room for lunch, then just bake up a batch of their cookies!