This Copycat Levain Bakery Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies recipe is pure chocolate heaven! It’s the ultimate make at-home version of the popular cookie sold in NYC and definitely lives up to the hype.
After posting my Copycat Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe, I got quite a few requests asking how to make the chocolate version! And since there are few things I love more than chocolate and peanut butter (see: Small Batch Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Buttercream Frosting and Peanut Butter Brown Sugar Layer Cake with Chocolate Fudge Buttercream), I figured why not also post this recipe here!
If you are a true chocoholic, you can substitute the peanut butter chips for dark, semisweet, or milk chocolate chunks, which will give you a true Copycat Levain Bakery Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. You’re getting 2 for 1 here, people!
TIPS FOR MAKING COPYCAT LEVAIN BAKERY DARK CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER CHIP COOKIES:
- Use cold butter. Now, I am not saying to throw a stick of cold butter into the mixer and hope it will incorporate with the sugars. Nope. The key is to cut the butter with a knife into small cubes, making it easier to cream with the sugar.
- Use good high-quality cocoa. These cookies don’t require a lot of ingredients, so the ones you use should be really great.
- Use a mix of cake flour and all-purpose flour. When you use cake flour, it creates a more TENDER crumb on the cookie which creates a mouth-watering texture.
- Bake at high heat. You want to shock these cookies with high heat so they don’t spread too rapidly. It helps keep their shape and makes those crispy edges.
Copycat Levain Bakery Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 115 g unsalted butter cold and cubed
- 110 g dark brown sugar
- 50 g granulated sugar
- 1 large egg cold
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- 2 tbsp black cocoa powder
- 65 g cake flour *
- 95 g all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp cornstarch
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp coarse sea salt
- 170 g peanut butter chips
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 mix until well incorporated.
- Add the cocoa powder, black cocoa, flours, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt, and use a rubber spatula to gently fold until just combined. Fold in the peanut butter chips.
- Separate the dough into four large, 6 oz hockey-puck-shaped cookies about 1.5 to 2-inches 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 14-15 minutes or until the cookies are puffy and the exterior appears set. Let them rest on the cookie sheet for at least 10 minutes to fully set before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition
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Hi Mike! How do I make sure that the peanut butter chips are melted just like the ones in your pictures? Which type and brand of chips should I use? Thanks so much for this recipe! I’ve tried the chocolate chips version of this and it’s the best out of all the copycat Levain recipes I’ve tried.
I use Reese’s peanut butter chips and never have an issue with them melting! 🙂
Awesome recipe. I accidentally left out the white sugar and still LOVED these. They were plenty sweet. I had added some dark chocolate chips as well as the peanut butter.
I also wanted smaller cookies so used a scooper and pressed each down a bit. Baked for 12 minutes and they were PERFECT!!
Can’t wait to try other recipes.
Hi, it says 65 CUP cake flour and 95 CUP all-purpose flour under the metric measurement. Is it safe to assume that those are supposed to be 65g and 95g?
Extremely safe assumption! 🙂
Love these cookies! I have made these half a dozen times and they never disappoint. I used Valhrona dark cocoa (which I use all the time). I have made these with butterscotch chips too and we liked those even more. Thanks for the fabulous recipe!
Hi Michael , This cookies look Amazing and I wanna do it, but in my country they don’t sell light brown sugar, can you think that maybe can i use light brown sugar and muscovado?
You can use granulated or caster sugar as indicated and then muscovado sugar to replace the dark brown sugar!
Hello, do you flatten the dough before baking? Mine comes out unflat. Thankyou
I would recommend watching these IG story highlights to see a step-by-step of exactly how I made the ones you see in this post: https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17881249345577716/
Completely Delicious! I unfortunately didn’t have black cocoa powder but I will next time they are made in the Nugget Kitchen. Thanks, Mike!
These are delicious! I couldn’t find peanut butter chips but did find really mini chocolate covered peanut butter cups (super mini) and used those instead. Went with smaller size cookies and just adjusted the time with no bad results – still soft and delicious. Next time, will make size outlined so I can state I only ate one cookie. Thank you so much for the recipe.
Lalita, do you have any tips on how you went with the smaller size cookies? What size/temp/time did you bake them at?
Mike, thank you for this recipe, it was absolutely delicious! Tried baking these after making the “original” flavoured copycat Levain cookies which were also amazing!! Hoping to make some half size versions to share around at work 🙂
Cat, I just made the recipe exactly as-is, but made 8 cookies and baked for exactly 10 min 😊
Thanks so much for the tip Jess!
I tried your original copycat chocolate chip Walnut cookies and they were amazing. Best texture of a copycat recipe I’ve tried. I would love a Red Velvet version with cream cheese and a cookies N cream version!
I wanted you to know I made these today! First time I’ve used black cocoa powder. I used chocolate chunks instead of the peanut butter chips. And I used my mixer to mix in the dry ingredients – rather than fold them in. These cookies are WONDERFUL! Can’t wait to have them with coffee tomorrow morning too. Thanks so much.
Hey , I don’t have peanut butter chips . can I substitute peanut butter for regular butter ?
Unfortunately, no! The only substitute for the peanut butter chips would be another type of chip like chocolate, butterscotch, or cinnamon!
Can I use flax egg instead of regular egg?
I’m not sure; I don’t test my recipes using flax eggs, sorry!
These look amazing. Do you have any recommendations for cocoa powder and black cocoa powder?
I really like King Arthur Flour’s black cocoa! And I usually get my Dutch-processed cocoa powder from either KAF, Guittard, or Anthony’s Goods (Amazon).
These are UNBELIEVABLE. Simply put this recipe is a masterpiece !!!!
What can I use instead of black cocoa?
You can replace the black cocoa with an equal amount of regular cocoa powder!
I just made these! I gotta say, they were absolutely phenomenal!!!
I didn’t change a single thing in the recipe, followed it to a T, and the cookies came out like some of the BEST cookies I’ve ever had!!! This recipe is a keeper
SO GLAD! <3