Stop us if you've heard this one: A woman lunching at Neiman Marcus ordered a cookie for dessert, and liked it so much she asked for the recipe. She happily agreed to pay the "two fifty" charge the waiter quoted, only to find later that the restaurant had charged her $250, not $2.50. When the store refused to reduce the bill, she mailed the recipe to everyone she knew, asking them to pass it on. A stirring tale, but an untrue one. Variations of this story have been applied to many a dessert recipe since the 1940s (the Waldorf-Astoria's red velvet cake was infamously known as the $100 cake), and though the dollar amounts have changed to reflect inflation, the basic tale of just deserts remains a constant. To carry on the tradition of righting Neiman Marcus's imagined wrong, you may wish to copy this recipe and mail it to all your friends and family.

16 tbsp. (2 sticks) butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 1⁄2 cups oatmeal, processed in blender to a fine
  powder
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1⁄2 tsp. salt
2 cups (about 12 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips
1 1⁄2 cups walnuts, chopped
4 oz. Hershey's chocolate, grated

1. Preheat oven to 375°. Using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugars together in a large bowl until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add vanilla and eggs and beat until combined, about 30 seconds. Add oatmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and beat until combined, about 30 seconds. Stir in chocolate chips, walnuts, and chocolate.

2. Roll dough into 1 1⁄2" balls and place 2" apart on large baking sheets. Bake until light golden but still soft in the middle, 10–12 minutes. Transfer cookies to a rack and let cool.