JC read this over the air, and we had tons of calls asking for the recipe. We also had tons of calls telling us we were victims of a cruel cookie-hoax. We just thought we'd print the story (and, yes, the recipe!) here and let you decide. (But if this recipe turns out to make love brownies or brick mortar, we take no responsibility.)

THIS IS A TRUE STORY:

My daughter and I had just finished a salad at Neiman-Marcus Cafe in Dallas, and we decided to have a small dessert. Because both of us are such cookie lovers, we decide 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 a 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 to that, and told her to just add it to my tab.

Thirty days later, I received my VISA statement, and the Neiman-Marcus charge was $285! I looked again, and I remembered I had only spent $9.95 for two salads and about $20 for a scarf. As I glanced at the bottom of the statement, it said, "Cookie Recipe - $250." I called Neiman's Accounting Department and told them the waiteress said it was "two fifty", which clearly does not mean two hundred and fifty dollars by any reasonable interpretation of the phrase. Neiman-Marcus refused to budge. They would not refund the 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 your money." At this point, I explained to the Accouting Department lady the criminal statues, which govern fraud in the state of Texas. I threatened to report them to the Better Business Bureau and the Texas Attorney General's office for engaging in fraud. I wa basically told, "Do what you want. Don't bother thinking of how you can get even, and don't bother trying to get any of your money back: I just said, "Okay, you folks got my $250, and now I'm going to have $250 worth of fun." I told her that I was going to see to it that every cookie lover the the US with an e-mail account has a $250 cookie recipe from Neiman-Marcu for free. She replied, "I wish you wouldn't do this." I said, "Well, perhaps you should have thought of that before you ripped me off!" and slammed down the phone.

So here it is! Please, please pass it on to everyone you can possibly think of. I paid $250 for it, and I don't want Neiman-Marcus to EVER make another penny off this recipe!

NEIMAN-MARCUS COOKIES (recipe may be halved)

2 cups butter
24 oz. chocolate chips
4 cups flour
2 cups brown sugar
2 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
2 cups sugar
18 oz. Hersey Bar (grated)
5 cups blended oatmeal
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, and soda.
Add chocolate chips, Hershey bar, and nuts.
Roll into balls and pace 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet.
Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees.
Makes 112 cookies