This is a True Story "Victory Nigh Celebration (Vanity)"

hoaxinfo.com ^ | October 21, 2004 | Crushelits

[crushelits]

An urban myth is a modern folk tale, its origins unknown, its believability enhanced simply by the frequency with which it is repeated. NM signature chocolate chip cookie is the subject of one such myth. If you haven't heard the story, NM won't perpetuate it. If you have, the recipe below should serve to refute it. Copy it, print it out, pass it along to friends and family.
It's a terrific recipe. And it's absolutely free.

Ingredients 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened 1 cup brown sugar 3 tablespoons granulated sugar 1 egg 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1-3/4 cups flour 1-1/2 teaspoons instant espresso powder, slightly crushed 8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips Directions Cream the butter with the sugars until fluffy. Beat in the egg and the vanilla extract. Combine the dry ingredients and beat into the butter mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips. Drop by large spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes, or 10 to 12 minutes for a crispier cookie. Makes 12 to 15 large cookies.

Here is an example of one of the Neiman Marcus e-mail messages circulating:

THIS IS A TRUE STORY:

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

Thirty days later, I received my VISA statement and it was $285.00. I looked again and I remembered I had only spent $9.95 for two salads and about $20.00 for a scarf. As I glanced at the bottom of the statement, it said, "Cookie recipe -$250.00" That was outrageous! I called Neiman's Accounting Dept. and told them the waitress said it was "two-fifty," which clearly does not mean "two hundred and fifty dollars" by any "POSSIBLE" interpretation of the phrase. Neiman-Marcus refused to budge. They would not refund my 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 you money at this point. I explained to her the criminal statues which govern fraud in Texas. I threatened to refer them to the Better Business Bureau and the State Attorney General Office for engaging in fraud.

I was basically told, "Do what you want, it doesn't matter, we're not refunding your money."

I waited, thinking of how I could get even, or even try and get any of my  money back. I just said, "Okay, you folks got my $250, and now I'm going to have $250.00 worth of fun." I told her that I was going to see to it that every Cookie lover in the United States with an e-mail account has a $250.00 cookie recipe from Neiman-Marcus...for free. She replied, "I wish you wouldn't do this." I said, "Well, you should have thought of that before you ripped me off," and slammed down the phone on her. So here it is!!!

Please, please, please pass it on to everyone you can possibly think of.
I paid $250 for this...I don't want Neiman-Marcus to "ever"get another penny off of this recipe....

[crushelits]

Circulating from time to time is a letter claim that Neiman Marcus unfairly charged someone an exorbitant rate for their chocolate chip cookie recipe and now you are charged with sharing it with everyone as revenge on Neiman Marcus.

Neiman Marcus never had a chocolate chip cookie recipe. At least not until this e-mail generated so much mail to the Neiman Marcus Company that they actually developed one and published it on their site for free. Primarily they did it to take advantage of all the publicity this hoax was generating.

So there is no need to forward the e-mail to try to "get even" with Neiman Marcus, but you might want to send some of your cookie baking friends the recipe from the Neiman Marcus site. I understand the cookies are quite good!

[Little Ray]

I got one, but it had oatmeal in it. Didn't believe the story but it made darn good cookies!

[Blue Screen of Death]

You have already posted this. Why post it again?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1252260/posts

[crushelits]

I have no idea how the first one got posted. I was editing the HTML and when I finished I could not preview the post, so I opened a new window and posted the the second one w/o realizing that the first one had been posted.

I am truly sorry!