The origins of these chocolate chip cookies is actually based on an urban legend that circulated widely via email in the mid-1990s. I loved the recipe so much and made an egg-free, nut-free chocolate chip cookie recipe for us to enjoy. It’s also easy to make dairy-free as needed.
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Jump to RecipeUrban Legend: $250 Chocolate Chip Cookies
Here’s a quick summary in case you haven’t heard about the $250 Chocolate Chip Cookies from the mid-1990s. A woman and her daughter were dining at a Neiman Marcus cafe in Dallas and they enjoyed some chocolate chip cookies so much, they asked the server if they could have a copy of the recipe. The server told them that it would cost “two fifty” and they agreed.
The woman eventually discovered that the charge was actually $250 but she couldn’t get her money back. The woman decided to get even by sharing the recipe with all chocolate chip cookie lovers and encouraged everyone to make copies to share. People forwarded the recipe to everyone they knew via email until the story was debunked as an urban legend hoax.
Out of curiosity I made the $250 chocolate chip recipe back in 1996 and loved it so much. The $250 chocolate chip recipe is different from typical chocolate chip cookie recipes for a few reasons:
- The $250 chocolate chip cookie uses ground up oats to replace some of the wheat flour. You get some extra fiber but without the coarse texture of typical oatmeal cookies. I use my blender to pulse some oatmeal to make the oat flour.
- My original copy of the $250 chocolate chip cookie makes an enormous amount of cookies. I’ve halved the recipe and it barely fits inside my stand mixer. I make giant cookie dough balls which bake into immensely satisfying cookies.
- I realized that the reason that the cookies turn out great is that I added some of the chocolate chip cookie baking tips I learned from home economics (LOL).
- Be sure to chill the dough, that’s an important step! The cookies will taste and look a lot better if you chill them at least 30 minutes.
- Make ahead tip – shape the dough into balls and freeze them on a cookie sheet. When the cookie dough balls are frozen, transfer them into a freezer bag. Be sure to label the bag with the cookie name, date, baking temperature, and how long to bake them. Then you can make nut-free chocolate chip cookies whenever you want!
Allergy Aware Chocolate Chip Cookies
This recipe is free of peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, soy, fish, and shellfish as written.
I’ve adapted the recipe so that it’s egg-free by replacing eggs with my favorite egg substitute for cookies, a combination of oil, water, and baking powder. It’s also easy to omit the nuts to make nut-free chocolate chip cookies. I added raisins for extra flavor and chewiness.
When I need to bake milk-free, I replace butter with Earth Balance buttery sticks. Of all the products I’ve tried, that has the best taste and performs the best but contains soy. You can probably substitute the butter with olive oil, which I discovered tastes great in my Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies, Nut-free & Dairy-free recipe!
If you don’t like raisins, you can make this recipe with cranberries and swap the chocolate chips with white chocolate chips for a completely different cookie experience. If that sounds delicious to you, definitely read my recipe for Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies & Friendships.
Nut Free and Allergen Friendly Holiday Cookie Exchange!
Kourtney, at Allergy Girl Eats, coordinated a cookie recipe exchange among a group of food allergy bloggers so go visit her site to see what we all shared. We swapped recipes and made each other’s recipes. That was really fun to do and gave me a push to try something new. I made Amanda’s Spiced Sunbutter Cookie recipe.
Amanda’s recipe is a relatively small batch, so I used a hand mixer to mix the dough. It’s really fast to make, probably took me less than 30 minutes from start to finish. The cookies are really soft when they’re fresh out of the oven but the firm up to a nice chewy texture the next day with a nice nutty taste from the Sunbutter but without any actual nuts. The recipe calls for a sprinkle and a pinch of different spices, I recommend generous sprinkles and a big pinch for more flavor.
Nut Free Cookie Recipes From Sharon & Blogger Friends
- Baking with Children: Chocolate Crinkle Cookies Recipe
- Delicious Lemon Vanilla Crinkle Cookies Recipe That is Nut-Free & Egg-Free
- Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies, Nut-free & Dairy-free
- Meyer Lemon Bar with Brown Butter (Nut-Free) Recipe
- Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies & Friendships
- Magical Snickerdoodles, a Nut-Free & Egg-Free Cookie Recipe
- Everyday Allergen Free – Spiced Sunbutter Cookies
- My Berkeley Kitchen – Orange Blossom Coconut Macaroons
Nut-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies aka $250 Cookies Recipe, Egg-Free
Ingredients
- 2.5 cup old fashioned rolled oats
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter 2 sticks
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons oil + 3 tablespoons water + 2 teaspoons baking powder equivalent to 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 12 ounces chocolate chips I used 6 oz chips and 6 oz chopped
- 4 ounces chocolate bar grated (I subbed in mini-chips)
- 1 cup raisins optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 375 degrees Fahrenheit and line 3 cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicon liners.
- Measure 2.5 cups of oats and blend/pulse in a blender or a food processor until the oat is finely ground into a powder.
- Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and pulse, set aside until ready to use.
- Cream the butter in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer or stand mixer for about 1 minute until creamy.
- Add granulated and brown sugars and cream until fluffy (about 5 minutes), scrape down sides as needed.
- Combine oil, water, and baking powder in a small bowl, add to the butter mixture, add vanilla extract and cream until blended.
- Add half of the flour and oats mixture and mix, add the rest and mix.
- Scrape down the sides, add the chocolate chips, grated chocolate, and raisins (if using), and mix on low speed.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30-60 minutes (or longer).
- Scoop about 2 tablespoons of dough, roll into a ball, and place about 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet.
- Bake for about 14-15 minutes until golden brown, take the cookie sheet out of the oven and allow the cookies to cool slightly for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wired rack to cool completely.
- Makes about 36 3-inch cookies.
Notes
Nutrition
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These look yummy! This was fun!