My variation of Neiman Marcus Cookies

OK you have probably at one time or another heard the urban legend of the lady that has lunch at Neiman Marcus (or one of its ilk) and LOVES the cookies. She asks for the recipe, the waiter asks the chef hes says "sure, for three-fifty". The Lady says great, gets the recipe, then get the bill for three hundred fifty dollars (too bad she didn't have Mr. Alba for math, she would have clued in). She tries to return the recipe, but is told no she had already seen the secret recipe, so she decides to get even and share it with the world. Regardless of the story, these are great cookies, and I've tweaked them so I like them even better!
for more visit http://www.snopes.com/business/consumer/cookie.asp
Neiman Marcus actually developed a cookie in response to the legend and posts its recipe free on its website. Follow the link at snopes if you want it.

First some of my cookie rules:
Unless a cookie is supposed to be crisp, like a ginger snap NEVER bake it above 350*. I prefer 325*
Never over bake a cookie. If anything under bake and let it sit on the cookie sheet for a couple of minutes
Papa John is right. Better Ingredients, Better Pizza. The same applies to cookies. You can't put cheap in and expect to get fabulous

2 cups butter (real butter, please!)
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
4 cups flour
5 cups of blended oatmeal
measure the oatmeal and then blend. I like it with a little bit of texture, not flour like
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
24 oz chocolate chips - I prefer milk chocolate Guittard
8 oz milk chocolate bar- A Hershey's bar works, but if you want something great go to IKEA and get the Marabou bars ( I like the one with Daim, it adds little bits of toffee that melt as you bake it)

Cream butter and both sugars well. Add eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl mix together flour, oatmeal, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Mix into the butter/sugar/egg mixture. Grate in the chocolate bar. Add chocolate chips. Roll into balls and place 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet. bake for 11 minutes at 325*. Makes 12 dozen cookies. Pull these out of the oven just before they are done and let them sit for a couple of minutes to finish "baking" on the pan out of the oven. This helps to keep them soft and chewy

OK so now you are wondering what to do if you don't have a bowl or mixer with that kind of capacity. Before I did, I used to mix the butter, sugar eggs in one large bowl, then I mixed the dry ingredients in another, then divided them to mix 2 smaller batches then added the grated chocolate. Then I divided them again with each other (half from one bowl went into the other bowl and vice versa) to make sure the blend was even. That way I still just used the two bowls that were already dirty, but got an even blend. Then I mixed the chocolate chips in, sometime turning it out onto the counter and "kneading" them in.

Enjoy!