A jar full of Neiman Marcus cookies that WW2 made for my vacation leaf raking time!!!

The Neiman Marcus cookie story is a famous urban legend that gained widespread popularity through chain emails and internet forums in the 1990s. The story, though false, became so well known that it prompted Neiman Marcus to create and officially release its own cookie recipe for free.

The urban legend

According to the persistent myth, the story unfolded as follows:

A woman was having lunch with her daughter at a Neiman Marcus café and ordered a chocolate chip cookie for dessert.
She was so impressed by the cookie that she asked the waiter for the recipe. The waiter politely declined, but offered to sell her the recipe instead.
The woman asked the price, and the waiter replied "two fifty." Assuming this meant $2.50, she had it added to her store account.
Upon receiving her credit card statement, she was shocked to see a charge for $250, not $2.50. After being denied a refund, the enraged woman sought revenge by sharing the recipe for free via a chain letter, urging others to do the same.
The facts behind the myth

While entertaining, the story is entirely fabricated. Neiman Marcus officially debunked the rumor and highlighted several inconsistencies in the tale.

The company never sold recipes: Neiman Marcus has stated that it has never charged customers for its recipes.
No cookie recipe existed at the time: At the time the rumor first circulated, Neiman Marcus did not even have a standard recipe for chocolate chip cookies in its cafes.
Similar older legends: The story is a modern version of older urban legends, such as the "$100 Cake" from Mrs. Fields Cookies, where a customer was supposedly overcharged for a recipe.
The revenge recipe: The revenge recipe that circulated online is not the same as the one eventually published by Neiman Marcus. The viral recipe often included unusual ingredients like blended oatmeal and grated chocolate from a Hershey's bar, leading to a distinct, chewy cookie.
Neiman Marcus's response

As the myth gained traction online, Neiman Marcus became inundated with hate mail and requests for the expensive recipe. In 1997, the company decided to put the rumor to rest by developing and releasing its own authentic chocolate chip cookie recipe to the public for free. The official recipe is notably different from the one that had been circulating for years.