Neiman Marcus Cookies

Makes about 12-15 cookies.

Ingredients

½ cup butter

½ cup sugar

½ cup plus 3 tbsp brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup and 2 tbsp flour

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

1 ¼ cup + 3 tbsp rolled oats.

1 cup + 1 tbsp semisweet chocolate chips

⅓ cup really good chocolate bar pieces

1 cup chopped pecans

¼ cup milk

Instructions

• In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, sugar, and brown sugar until they’re lightened in color and texture.
• Lightly beat the eggs and mix them in, along with the vanilla.
• In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
• Tip the dry ingredients into the wet ones. At this point, switch to a wooden spoon or silicone spatula to mix. (This helps to incorporate the dry ingredients without risking overmixing and overdeveloping the gluten in the flour, which could lead to tough cookies.)
• Stir in the oats. This batter gets pretty thick at this point, but it’s all good.
• Stir in the chocolate chips, Hershey bar pieces, and nuts.
• Preheat the oven to 375°F with a rack in the center.
• Use your hands or a couple of spoons to drop golf ball-sized cookie dough balls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. These cookies don’t spread out a ton, but it’s still good to leave about two inches between them.
• Bake for 8-9 minutes (or more, depending on your oven), until they’re just starting to brown around the edges and on top, and they’re still nice and soft.
• Leave them on the baking pan for a few minutes to firm up slightly, and then transfer to a cooling rack.

From The Adventure Team (Nina & Mat Zale, and Eli MacCullagh)