Featured Recipes

We've selected a few fabulous recipes that have been featured in Texas Highways Magazine. You can find more on our site's RECIPE DATABASE. Some also appear in the Cooking With Texas Highways Cookbook.

The Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookie

No matter how downright untrue the Neiman Marcus cookie urban legend is, cookie-lovers can agree that this recipe for imagined revenge tastes pretty sweet. This recipe, courtesy of the Neiman Marcus Cookbook (2003), yields 2 dozen cookies.

  • ½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened
  • 1 cup light brown sugar
  • 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 ½ teaspoons instant espresso coffee powder
  • 1 ½ cups semisweet chocolate chips 

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cream the butter with the sugars using an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy (approximately 30 seconds).

Beat in the egg and the vanilla extract for another 30 seconds.

In a mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients and beat into the butter mixture at low speed for about 15 seconds. Stir in the espresso coffee powder and chocolate chips.

Using a 1-ounce scoop or a 2-tablespoon measure, drop cookie dough onto a greased cookie sheet about 3 inches apart. Gently press down on the dough with the back of a spoon to spread out into a 2-inch circle. Bake for about 20 minutes or until nicely browned around the edges. Bake a little longer for a crispier cookie.

Dutch-oven cooking goes hand-in-hand with Texans' love of the outdoors, and the recipes that can be made in that cast-iron pot (with a flanged lid for coals) may surprise you. With so many Dutch-oven enthusiasts in Texas, we thought we'd share a few of our favorite recipes.

Shirley's Peach Cobbler and Dutch Oven Potatoes. (Photo by J. Griffis Smith)Dutch Oven Potatoes

James Stuart, owner of J-S Chuckwagon, says one of the secrets of successful Dutch-oven cooking is to keep less heat under the bottom of the pot than you do on the top. Serves 20-25

  • 1 1/2 lbs. thick-sliced bacon, cut into 1-inch squares
  • 4 medium onions, sliced
  • 2 cloves elephant garlic, crushed
  • 10 lbs. potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/8-in thick
  • 2 8-oz. jars Cheez Whiz
  • 1 c. milk (if potatoes seem dry)
  • 6-8 slices American cheese
  • paprika

Stir-fry bacon, onion, and garlic until bacon is done. Add potatoes to mixture, and stir gently until potatoes are coated with bacon fat. Remove from heat. Put mixture into heated 14-inch Dutch oven. Place lid on oven, and place hot coals on the lid. Cook over hot coals 15-20 minutes. Add Cheez Whiz (and milk, if needed), and stir gently. Heat thoroughly. Add layer of cheese slices on top, and heat until cheese in melted and lightly browned. Sprinkle with paprika.


Shirley's Peach Cobbler

Stuart credits his wife, Shirley, with developing this recipe years ago. James won first place with this cobbler in the dessert division of the 1994 Nance Ranch Cook-off in Canyon.  Serves 40.

  • 1 recipe Vinegar Pie Crust, divided
  • 1 6-lbs.10-oz. can sliced peaches in light syrup
  • 2/3 c. butter or margarine
  • 3 c. water
  • 2 tsp. vanilla
  • 1 c. flour
  • 3 c. sugar
  • 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1/2 nutmeg

Grease bottom and sides of 16-inch Dutch oven, and dust lightly with flour. Roll out one-half of pie crust dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Line bottom of Dutch oven with pie crust, and set aside. In a separate pot, heat peaches, margarine, water, and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients, and stir slowly into peach mixture, mixing well. Cook until hot. Remove from heat, and pour into pie crust-lined Dutch oven. Roll out remaining pie crust dough to 1/8-inch thickness, and place on top. Place lid on Dutch oven, and put hot, live coals on lid. Bake 15-20 minutes or until top is golden brown, making sure to rotate Dutch oven often. (Baking time varies according to the amount of wind.)

Vinegar Pie Crust
  • 4 c. flour
  • 1/3 c. sugar
  • 2 tsp. salt
  • 1 3/4 c. shortening
  • 1/2 c. water
  • 2 T. cider vinegar
  • 1 egg

Combine flour, sugar, and salt. Cut in shortening until mixture in crumbly. Combine water, vinegar, and egg, and beat well with a fork. Add a shortening mixture, and mix well. Chill at least two hours before using. (Make enough crust for one Peach Cobbler or two 9-inch double-crust pies.)