Oh, the legendary Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies. Even if you have never had one, you’ve probably seen or heard about these jumbo-sized cookies. If not, you might be wondering what’s so special about them…
The cookies have a lot going on with them. They’re loaded with a dose of dark chocolate that oozes out of the cookie when you take a bite. The edges of the cookies are tender, buttery, and crisp. As you eat your way in a bit from the edges, the cookie becomes dense, soft, and chewy. Then when you get to the very center, you hit a lava of melted chocolate and gooey, under-baked cookie dough madness. It’s a medley of textures and everything you need in a chocolate chip cookie.
So… you want to know the secret to Levain Bakery cookies? The secret to getting that ‘crisp, chewy, doughy’ texture starts with the size of the cookie.
Levain Bakery’s cookies weigh in at six ounces! Less than six ounces will diminish the wonderful cookie dough lava in the center, and more than six ounces will make too much of the cookie remain under-baked. So make sure you have a kitchen scale on hand to measure out the dough.
Another big part of the cookie magic has to do with the temperature of the butter. While most cookie recipes rely on softened butter or melted butter, but this recipe calls for cold butter. It helps the cookies not to spread too much in the oven.
This “small batch” recipe makes four giant Levain Bakery-sized cookies. So, what are you waiting for? Make these immediately, and say hello to your new favorite cookie.
TIPS FOR MAKING COPYCAT LEVAIN BAKERY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
- Use COLD ingredients. That means your butter and egg should be straight from the fridge. Not room temperature or softened.
- Toast your nuts. Levain Bakery uses walnuts in their cookies, but you can make these with other nuts, such as pecans and almonds. Whichever nut you use, just make sure to toast them first for maximum flavor! If you don’t want to add nuts, add an extra 1/2 cup of chocolate chips.
- Shape the cookies by hand. Because these cookies are very thick, it’s easier to weigh the dough and shape them by hand. You want to form them into a one-inch thick hockey puck.
- Chill your cookie dough. The dough should chill for at least 30 minutes before being baked off in the oven; this helps the cookies keep their thickness and ensures the perfect copycat Levain texture!
Copycat Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter cold and cubed
- ½ cup dark brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg cold
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ¾ cup cake flour *
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp cornstarch
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp coarse sea salt
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup toasted walnuts coarsely chopped
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using an electric hand mixer, cream together the butter and sugars until combined and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until well incorporated.
- Add the flours, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt, and use a rubber spatula to gently fold until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips and walnuts.
- Separate the dough into four large, 6 oz hockey-puck-shaped cookies about an inch thick, then place onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
- Bake for 15-16 minutes or until light golden brown on the top. Let them rest for at least 10 minutes to set.
Notes
Nutrition
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The cookies came out really good, and they are humongous! Will they still come out ok if I made smaller portions? Also, I only had self-rising flour, but they still seemed to come out ok.
I’m not sure if you’ll be able to achieve the same overall gooey/chewy/crisp texture but the cookies will come out fine! They’ll likely take less time to bake as well, however, I didn’t test smaller cookies myself so I can’t say for sure!
Do you think freezing the shaped, unbaked dough to bake later would be ok?
Absolutely! You can bake the shaped dough directly from the freezer, just add an additional 2-3 minutes of bake time. 🙂
Hi Mike.. Thank you for sharing this recipe..
I’ve baked this couple of times and the kids absolutely love them… I was just wondering what type of oven do you use? When baking these cookies, do you use only the bottom heat; or what mode in the oven do you use?
Hi Lisa! So glad to hear that!! I have a very tiny (& old) gas stove that heats from the bottom only. 🙂
Is it okay To use light brown sugar if I don’t have dark drown ?
Absolutely!
Hi Mike,
would you say that this recipe is overly sweet? if I want it to be less sweet, how much sugar should I cut down?
You could take out 1/4 cup of sugar and be okay. I haven’t tested anything less than that!
Would bread flour work instead of cake flour?
I would advise against using bread flour as it has a much higher protein content. You can either make your own cake flour using all-purpose flour & cornstarch (14 tbsp flour + 2 tbsp of cornstarch sifted together will yield about 1 cup of cake flour) OR you can just substitute it with all-purpose flour in the recipe! Hope this helps!
You don’t know what you’re missing!
The first time I made these, it was 11pm and my boyfriend kindly let me pause the movie we were watching. I had a craving! But 1 hour later, due to it being the first time baking in my new flat – the cookies were very dark and crumbly after only 9min of baking. This is when I knew: the oven was absolute trash. Did I still eat and love the cookies? Absolutely! But little did I know their full potential…
A few days ago, I made them again, at my parents house (I wasn’t risking it again). Everyone sang high praises. My boyfriend dislikes chocolate – he ate half a cookie! My mom and I are over the moon about these cookies.
Sure, I’ve never had the original, but these cookies are divine and a gift. Share, but hide one cookie for yourself – they’re that good!
Leonie, I’m so glad you gave these another go and they came out perfectly!! They’re slowly becoming my favorite cookie recipe!