The following is an example of the 'two-fifty cookie recipe' urban legend.

Click here to find out why this is an urban legend.

My daughter and I had just finished a salad at a Neiman-Marcus Cafe in Dallas and 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 but, you can buy the recipe." Well, I asked how much, and she responded, "Only two fifty, it's a great deal!" I agreed with approval, just add it to my tab I told her.

Thirty days later, I received my VISA statement 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 was 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 you money at this point."

I explained to her the criminal statues which govern fraud in Texas. I threatened to refer them to the Better Business Bureau and the State Attorney General Office for engaging in fraud. I was basically told, "Do what you want, it doesn't matter, 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!

NEIMAN MARCUS COOKIES (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.

Add chocolate chips, Hershey Bar and nuts. Roll into balls and place twoinches apart on a cookie sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees.

Makes 112 cookies.

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