Christmas Cookies for Thanksgiving? The New One's Debut!

The Fab Four: Saving the Best for Last

Quadruple Chocolate Cookie
I am very proud of this cookie, because it's mine all mine.  Kinda.  I was looking around for something new, something different to put in the Saturday Cookie Rotation.  I had been watching an America's Test Kitchen DVD and they baked a pretty good looking chocolate cookie.  I'm not a fan of too much chocolate, but I decided to give them a go.  I printed out the free recipe at America's Test Kitchen's website -- but I also have a premium content membership so I found a couple of more recipes.  I read them all through and decided that there were way too many ingredients and way too complicated for a lazy Saturday afternoon and decided to take a nap instead. 

Later that afternoon, my husband called and woke me up (and because I felt guilty for sleeping when he was out working) I changed my mind about baking.  When he asked if I needed anything from the store, I tried to remember the ingredients and rattled off several things that I know I needed.  Unfortunately, what happened is that all four recipes had fused in my mind and I didn't have all the ingredients to make any one recipe.  And this is what happened:

INGREDIENTS:

• 5 ounces of unsweetened chocolate, chopped
• 1 4 ounce bar of bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 7 tablespoons of unsalted butter cut into cubes
• 1/4 cup Dutch processed  cocoa
• 2 teaspoons instant coffee
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1.69 ounce pack of Plain M & Ms (this is the size you get at the check out line at the grocery store)
• 3/4 cup roughly chopped pecans

INSTRUCTIONS

• Melt the unsweetened chocolate and bittersweet chocolate only along with the butter in a heatproof bowl set over a simmering pan of water, stirring often, until completely smooth and glossy.  Remember to not let the water in the pan touch the bottom of the bowl.  Set aside to cool a little while you continue on.
• Stir the coffee powder and vanilla extract together in a small bowl until the powder is dissolved. Set aside. 
• In a large bowl, at medium speed, beat the eggs and sugar until very thick and pale.  Depending on your mixer that could take up to 4 minutes. 
• Add coffee/vanilla mixture and beat until incorporated -- about 20-30 seconds.
• Reducing the mixer speed to low, add the melted chocolate mixture and mix until totally combined -- approximately 30-40 seconds.
• In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.  Whisk together. 
• Fold flour mixture, the semi-sweet chocolate chips, M&Ms and chopped pecans into the batter.
• Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 - 30 minutes.  Batter will really firm up.
• Adjust oven rack to middle position.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Cover cookie sheet with parchment paper.
• Using one heaping tablespoon of batter per cookie, place cookies about 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheet.
• Bake for 11 - 14 minutes, until the cookie is glossy and cracked on the top.  Inside the cracks, the cookie will still look quite raw. 
• Let the cookies sit on the cookie sheet for 2 or 3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. 

Yields about 2 dozen cookies.