Double Chocolate Cookies

Let me paint a picture for you... It's Sunday at 10 a.m. Shoprite is packed with everyone and anyone, rushing and pushing their carts through the aisles. I am in the dairy aisle, grabbing the last of my items when I realize I forgot bread. BREAD. The one item on the exact opposite side of the store. Ugh. So I start the polite "Excuse me!", "Pardon me!", "Oops, sorry I bumped you with my cart (even though you are standing and taking up the whole aisle and I am not sorry, I'm just saying it!)" routine as I attempt to make my way to the bread. I quickly grab a loaf, I see the check out area, and right there at aisle 7 there is no line! NO LINE! So I start rushing, basically sweating, to beat all the other crazies. And then it happens. I stop. Dead in my tracks. And I stare. Cookies. Double chocolate cookies. Just like the kind my mom used to buy. Oh god... I'm drooling. They are in the bakery section, neatly wrapped up, a hand length away. But aisle 7 is empty!! Cookies? Or quick check out? Cookie? Or quick check out? Well... you can guess which one I went with.... quick check out! Fooled you, right? You thought cookies for sure. Well you're wrong. HA! I mean, sorry, that's not correct! :)

After this event (true story by the way... slightly shameful to admit, but true none the less) I have been dying for some double chocolate cookies. I decided to make a recipe and use up some of the Halloween candy we have left. We have so much left... it's sick... but that's a story for another day. This Martha Stewart recipe was delightful. The cookies are delicious, easy to make, and quite pretty too. They are thin and chewy which is an interesting combination. Overall, huge success, and worth the quick check out and lack of cookies on that Sunday morning!

On a side note- this is my 300th post! 300 recipes in a year and 1 month. Not too shabby. Thank you for reading, I appreciate you reading my blog more than you could ever imagine!

Source: Slightly adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
4 ounces milk chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 bags of M&M candies

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside. Melt 4 ounces coarsely chopped chocolate with the butter in a small heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water; let cool slightly.

Put chocolate mixture, sugar, eggs, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until combined. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture. Fold in M&Ms.

Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop, drop dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies are flat and surfaces crack, about 15 minutes (cookies should be soft).

Let cool on parchment on wire racks.

Cookies can be stored between layers of parchment in airtight containers at room temperature up to 3 days.