The BEST buttery, rich and chocolatey Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookies with a hint of coffee flavor from the Neiman Marcus Cooks cookbook, but improved with a few tiny tweaks to make them ultra chewy, gooey and delicious. Plus NO CHILL TIME required so you can have chocolate chip cookies ASAP!
Have you heard of Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookies? Yes, that Neiman Marcus. Because what over priced department store doesn't have a famous cookie?
Urban legend has it that a customer was charged $250 for the cookie recipe after asking her server over lunch one day. That's just a myth, but they do have an official recipe, available for anyone to use, in the Neiman Marcus Cooks cookbook.
Now, as you very well know if you're reading this blog post, the Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe is pretty darn good. But if you want an insanely delicious, best chocolate chip cookie you've ever had in your entire life, you need the Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookie 2.0.
What Makes These Chocolate Chip Cookies The Absolute Best. Ever.
The original recipe already had a few amazing things going for it:
- Coffee in the dough. If you haven't done it, do it. It's amazing.
- Plenty of chocolate. More is always better when it comes to chocolate.
- NO CHILL TIME. I repeat, no chill time. That means cookies in a matter of minutes, not hours.
However, my Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookies 2.0 have a few tweaks that take them from amazing to best-cookie-you've-ever-had amazing:
- Bigger scoops, less cook time. Honestly, this is the biggest change that makes a world of difference. The original recipe calls for a 1 tablespoon scoop baked for 20 minutes, resulting in hard cookies once they cool. The fix? A large scoop (I use a #16 or #20, 4T and 3T, respectively) and a shorter cook time, yielding perfectly chewy, gooey centers (even 2 days after being cooked) and crispy edges.
- Chopped dark chocolate. Swapping semi-sweet chocolate chips for chopped chunks of dark chocolate makes these cookies downright luxurious.
- A sprinkle of flaky salt. A small touch that elevates your cookie experience by lightyears. Try it, just trust me. (I use Maldon flake sea salt.)
How To Make Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookies 2.0
- Beat together room temperature butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
- Stir vanilla and espresso powder together. Add to the butter mixture, along with the room temperature egg, and beat to combine, stopping to scrape down the sides as needed.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add them into the butter and sugar mixture and beat on low speed until combined.
- Stir in the chocolate chunks.
- Scoop into large balls using a 3 tablespoon scoop and place on a cookie sheet lined with a silicone baking mat or parchment.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes (or a couple minutes longer for refrigerated dough or a larger scoop).
- Remove cookies from the oven and sprinkle with flake salt. Let them cool 5-10 minutes to set up before enjoying.
Tips For Making The Absolute Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies
- DO NOT OVER BAKE. I cannot stress this enough. The cookies will not look done when you pull them from the oven, but they will set up as they cool, and they will set into perfectly chewy little discs of gooey, chocolately heaven that won't get hard if they sit out for a couple days. (HAHA -They won't last that long!)
- I've found that 10-12 minutes is perfect for a 3 tablespoon (#20) scoop, and 13-15 minutes is perfect for a 4 tablespoon (#16) scoop. If the dough has been refrigerated add a couple of minutes to the cook time.
- The original recipe from Neiman Marcus Cooks says to use ground Sanka coffee. I have no idea what that is. I use either espresso powder or instant coffee, and it works out perfectly. Don't use regular coffee grounds. You will end up with chocolate chip cookies with awkward little pieces of coffee in them.
- I use white whole wheat flour to make these chocolate chip cookies, but feel free to go the all-purpose flour route.
- Do the sprinkle of flaky sea salt at the end. It's the difference between amazing cookies and out of this world amazing cookies. I like to use Maldon flaky sea salt (you can get it on Amazon here).
- Chopped super dark chocolate makes for the most divine chocolate chip cookie experience IMO, but feel free to use semi-sweet chocolate chips if you'd like.
Using Room Temperature Ingredients
- Room temperature butter and eggs are important for this recipe for a couple of reasons. Cold ingredients don't blend uniformly, so you won't have as good results. Butter that is too warm will spread too much, yielding super flat cookies. Room temperature, okay?
- Room temperature butter isn't super mushy. It should give slightly when pressed with your finger, but not slip and slide or be greasy/shiny. It will be slightly cool to the touch.
- Let butter sit on your counter for 1-2 hours to soften, or to bring to room temperature quickly, you can place cubed butter into a warm microwave (a microwave that has been previously used and is still warm) for about 10 minutes or microwave cubed butter on 20% power for 10-15 seconds. Do not microwave on full power.
- To bring eggs to room temperature quickly, place them in warm water for 5-10 minutes.
Because this will 100% be your new go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe, you can definitely double the recipe to keep some dough on hand. Store dough pre-scooped in a zip-top bag in the refrigerator up to 5 days or in the freezer up to 3 months. Enjoy!
Did you make this recipe? Please leave a star rating in the comments!
PrintNeiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookies 2.0
The BEST buttery, rich and chocolatey Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookies with a hint of coffee flavor from the Neiman Marcus Cooks cookbook, but improved with a few tiny tweaks to make them ultra chewy and delicious. Plus NO CHILL TIME required so you can have chocolate chip cookies ASAP!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: About 1 dozen 1x
- Category: dessert
- Method: baked
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- ½ cup salted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ½ tsp espresso powder or instant coffee
- 1 ¾ cups white whole wheat flour or all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
- 1 ½ cups chopped dark chocolate
- flaky sea salt, for topping (optional but highly recommended)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven 300° F. Line a cookie sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment.
- In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, or in a large bowl, cream butter, brown sugar, and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Stir vanilla and espresso powder together. Beat egg and vanilla mixture into butter and sugar for 30 seconds longer, or until well mixed, using a spatula to scrape down the sides as necessary.
- Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add flour mixture to batter and mix on low speed until it's fully incorporated.
- Stir in chocolate chunks.
- Using a large cookie scoop (I use a 3 tablespoon scoop, or a #20) scoop the cookie dough onto the prepared cookie sheet about 3-inches apart.
- Bake 10-12 minutes. Do NOT over-bake. The cookies will not appear done when you take them out, but they will set up as they cool.
- Sprinkle with flaky sea salt and let cool for 5-10 minutes before transferring the cookies to a cooling rack.
Notes
- Use room temperature ingredients. For why, and how to soften quickly, see the note about room temperature ingredients in the post above.
- For bigger cookies (a #16 or 4 tablespoon scoop), bake 13-15 minutes.
- For thicker cookies, chill the dough overnight and bake for 15-17 minutes.
- DO NOT OVER BAKE. I cannot stress this enough. The cookies will not look done when you pull them from the oven, but they will set up as they cool.
- I use white whole wheat flour to make these chocolate chip cookies, but feel free to use all-purpose flour.
- Chopped super dark chocolate makes for the most divine chocolate chip cookie experience IMO, but feel free to use semi-sweet chocolate chips if you'd like.
Keywords: Neiman Marcus cookies, Neiman Marcus chocolate chip cookies, no chill chocolate chip cookie recipe, the BEST chocolate chip cookies
Kris says
Could Cafe Bustelo be used instead of espresso powder?
Kaleigh says
I'm not familiar with Cafe Bustelo so I'm not sure. If it's instant coffee, then yes!
Kris says
It's a really fine Cuban-style espresso coffee you can brew like regular coffee. I'm just not sure if I've seen espresso powder in the stores. I've put it on the grocery list as these cookies sound amazing but I don't want to muck them up with improper ingredients!
g says
I think this recipe calls for too much flour... the cookies have a very strong flour flavor. Would using 3 and 1/4 cup (2x scale) work better maybe?
Kaleigh says
I don't recommend changing the amount of flour as that will change the structure of the cookies.
Samantha says
My go-to chocolate chip cookie! I always double the batch because they go fast in my house and I give a lot away! I follow the recipe exactly and they come out perfect.
★★★★★
Kaleigh says
I'm so glad you love them, we do too! Thanks for leaving a review!
Sean says
These cookies are straight fire. The salt really bring out the best in all of the flavors. Don't be skimpy with it either. I can't put into words how the salt and chocolate do this wonderful dance of flavor in your mouth. You just have to trust me. Thank you for this wonderful recipe!
★★★★★
Kaleigh says
What a kind review, thanks Sean!
Laura James says
Is 300 degrees Fahrenheit correct ?
Kaleigh says
Yes, 300!
Hope Lattin says
Hi, just wondering if 300° is accurate? Most recipes I've seen are 350 or 375... Minor in the oven now at the 300. Hoping I don't have some seriously underbaked cookies, fingers crossed!
Kaleigh says
Hi Hope, 300 is correct. It seems, low but it works! Enjoy!
vC says
my cookies were greasy and floppy. won't try this one again
Diana says
Best chocolate chip cookie I’ve ever made ( my husband agrees) I didn’t have instant coffee, so I subbed in Postum ( a toasted wheat -bran & molasses mix) I won’t have to look further for the best chocolate chip cookie recipe out there; this is it! THANKS!
★★★★★
Kaleigh says
Hi Diana, I'm so glad you liked them! They're our favorite, too.
Sally says
Just made these wonderful cookies! I added a sprinkle of kosher salt after baking to the tops; wow! What a wonderful coffee flavored cookie. Just what I was looking for. Thanks so much.
★★★★★
Kaleigh says
Aren't they the best? So glad you liked them!
Mj says
😁 yes one of the first, if not the first instant coffee, i remember my grandma drinking it back in the 50's (along with postum which i think was an instant non coffee substitute)
Kaleigh says
Oh! Thanks for sharing 🙂
rachel neiger says
Thank you for posting. I found this recipe several years ago and after moving twice it was lost. (thank you internet) This is the best chocolate chip cookie recipe i have ever made.
★★★★★
Kaleigh says
I'm so glad you found it again here!
Shay Dave says
Also am I making the cookies too big? Bc there's no way I can get 3 dozen cookies out of this recipe. Maybe half of that if I'm lucky.
Kaleigh says
Hi Shay, This recipe is straight from the Neiman Marcus Cooks cookbook. You might make sure you're scooping the flour correctly (into the measuring cup with a spoon then level off). One once is roughly 2 tbsp of dough, so they are on the smaller size.
Shay Davd says
The ratio of these ingredients seems off. My batter is very crumbly.
Cynthia Rosa says
I remember drinking Sanka instant coffee. It was very good.
Carol says
Sanka is instant coffee. I don’t most places carry it any more but you can get it on Amazon.