I’m the type of person who likes a lot of flavor in their bite.
It’s always Ben&Jerry’s New York Super Fudge Chunk over chocolate, Everything bagel over plain, truffle fries over regular, oh, and you offer a special sauce? Throw it on there! The only thing I take plain is my black coffee.
And this is especially true with my sweets. How many of my favorite things can we go about fitting into this one morsel?
Alas, my favorite cookie growing up at Baked&Wired was the Neiman Marcus cookie. A classic old lady cookie that was packed with treats. Why is it called the Neiman Marcus cookie? I’m glad you asked.
According to the urban legend, a lady, let’s call her Karen, had lunch at Neiman Marcus in the 90s and just loved the cookie she was served for dessert. Karen asked the waitress for the recipe and the waitress politely told her she could not disclose it. So Karen asked if she could purchase the recipe. The waitress responded with a smile, “yes! it will be two-fifty.” Karen thought this was a great price and agreed. When she looked at her Visa bill a couple weeks later, she saw that the waitress really charged her $250, not $2.50. Karen was pissed and called Neiman Marcus to complain. They refused to refund her since she was told it was two-fifty after all, and she already had their secret recipe anyway. So she thought she would get “revenge””””” and email the secret recipe to everyone she knew.
So thank you, Karen! It’s the one time your petty rage paid off, because then we all got to enjoy this recipe. We’ll let you have this pass. THIS TIME!!!
And her recipe sharing enabled me to create a baked good that is jam-packed with flavor - I came up a variation of the Neiman Marcus cookie, and I call it the Everything But Cookie. It’s not too sweet, because I love a cookie that I can eat all times of the day Plus I don’t have dental insurance. And yes, I do eat this cookie with my coffee for breakfast.
Which brings me here. Because sharing recipes should be done out of love, not for some weird way to get back at a major retailer. And I just love y’all.
I want you bake these recipes because it’s my hope it will transpire joy - to yourself and to all of those who get to eat the fruits of your labor. And if you like these recipes, I hope you do send them around. We need all the happiness and joy we can get right now.
Just like this cookie, jam-pack your joy with all the flavors you have available. Put on your favorite song while you bake. Dance around your kitchen. Belt out the lyrics even if you’re tone-deaf. Do it naked. Let it all out.
my baking song this week is “water got no enemy” by fela kuti.
The Everything But Cookie
makes ~18 cookies
note: this cookie recipe requires that you refrigerate the dough overnight, then roll into balls the next day, and then freeze the balls for a few hours. get ready for a 24 hr+ commitment - but trust, me, it’s freaking worth it.
Ingredients
1 ½ cups pecans, chopped and toasted
1 ½ cups rolled oats, toasted and processed in a blender/food processor
8oz (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour (I do 50% all-purpose and 50% wholewheat. You can also sub for Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free 1:1 Baking Flour if you want to make these gluten-free! Thank you, Jill for the tip!!!!)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
4 oz chocolate bar, grated
1 cup shredded and sweetened coconut
Let’s go!
Set your oven to 350 F. Toast the roughly chopped pecans and the oats in the oven until they are nice golden color.
Put your oats in a food processor/blender and process a few seconds to break them down - you don’t want it to be sawdusty either.
Cream the butter and sugars with an electric mixer until you see a nice ribbon form.
Add the eggs and mix in until incorporated. Add the vanilla extract and mix until incorporated. This is going to be your “wet” mixture.
Whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt) in a separate bowl. This is going to be your “dry” mixture.
Pour the dry mixture and the ground oats into the wet mixture and beat until just combined with electric mixer.
Add the coconut, grated chocolate bar, and pecans, and beat with electric mixer until just combined.
If you want bakery-style cookies that hold their form and don’t get flat in the oven (trust me, you DO want this!) then get ready to commit…
Form in the log, wrap with plastic wrap, and put in the fridge overnight.
The next day, form into balls and put into the freezer for at least 6 hrs.
I like to keep a big bag of cookie dough balls in the freezer and then pull out a few here and there to bake off fresh whenever I’m in the mood. Once these cookies are frozen, they can stay there forever (okay, but hopefully you’re not actually leaving them there forever next to that sad pack of frozen samosas you once bought on impulse).
Place on a parchment sheet lined baking pan and bake at 350 F for 13-15 mins.
You’ll know they’re ready when the sides start to pull away from the pan a little and turn golden. They probably will feel a little mushy to touch, but that’s okay, they’ll harden and bake a little more out of the oven.
And there you go. Enjoy while dancing in your kitchen alone or with your friend on a stoop hang.
Happy baking, love ya mucho.
Tessa