Levain Bakery chocolate chip cookies are known for being chewy, chocolatey, and absolutely massive! Thankfully you can enjoy the world's most famous cookie at home with this easy recipe.
Going to New York is always fun. My hubby Brian was raised there, and the hustle and bustle of the big city is crazy, especially for a little Southern lady like myself. The first time I went to New York City I was seven months pregnant and Brian was completely against me waiting in line for one $4 Levain cookie.
I was devastated, but we went to Joe's Ginger and had a table full of xiao long bao soup dumplings (my all time favorite dim sum ever) and all was well. I'm easy to appease with good food, y'all.
Levain Bakery is famous for their cookies. They're the size of a toddler's head and full of chocolate. The owners created the recipe while training for a marathon and wanted something substantial to eat after training sessions.
Anyway, I decided that I am not going to sit around and wait til the next time we go to New York. I never go for vacation, always just there for a few hours for work, then right back home, and never get a chance to run to Levain Bakery and grab one of their massive chocolate chip cookies. A homemade version would have to do. So I watched mini-documentary after mini-documentary about Levain Bakery and their famous cookies...and the recipe testing began...
Y'all. I think I ate my way through five pounds of cookies before my husband grabbed one and said, "This is it." We then ate a sixth pound of cookies.
The recipe is honestly really, really simple. The cookies are extra t h i c c, guys. At least an inch high. And I made them big, but not huge like the Levain Bakery ones.
Why? Well, one, they make them exactly .6 oz each. I know not everyone has a kitchen scale, but most people have an ice cream scoop; the average ice cream scoop is 4 oz, so it's still a large cookie, much larger than the typical cookie. Using the ice cream scoop makes the cookies more uniform, and they'll bake evenly so each cookie comes out perfect rather than rolling them into a ball by hand.
And two, there're more cookies. I mean, would you rather have eight big cookies or eighteen big cookies?
I think we all know the answer to that.
Let's go over what makes this copycat Levain Bakery chocolate chip cookie recipe so good:
There's an entire bag of semi sweet chocolate chips in the dough.
Did I mention they're Extra T H I C C?
The cornstarch added to the flour bring a lightness to the cookies, which help make them more tender and soft instead of a dense cookie.
When you open up one of these cookies, the chocolate oozes out. They're slightly under-baked, so the inside is soft and chewy. The walnuts bring that perfect light crunch and texture that a chewy cookies needs. And when you reheat them (because melty chocolate is the best) they don't become hard or dry.
Everything about these cookies is basically chocolate chip cookie perfection.
Looking to bake up more cookie perfection? Check out:
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Lemon Glazed Cookies
White Chocolate Cherry Cookies
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Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookie Copycat
Ingredients
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- 2 ¾ cup all purpose flour + 2 tablespoon flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 ½ cups chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Line two large baking sheets with a silicone mat or parchment paper, then set aside.
- In a medium bowl, sift or whisk together the 2 ¾ cups flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the on low butter until it comes together and becomes creamy, about 1 minute. Add in the sugars and beat for another 2-3 minutes, until the butter and sugar become homogeneous.
- Mix in the eggs and vanilla and beat on medium low speed until just incorporated. Gradually add in the flour mixture, about ½ cup at a time, mixing until only a small amount of unincorporated flour remains.
- In a medium bowl, toss the 2 tablespoon flour with the walnuts and the chocolate chips until they are coated in the flour. Fold the chocolate chips and walnuts into the dough by hand with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, making sure to distribute the ingredients evenly throughout the dough.
- Using an ice cream scoop, scoop out the dough and place each cookie onto the prepared baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Refrigerate for at least one hour but up to 12 hours before baking.
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Bake cookies for 13-15 minutes, until light golden brown. Do not over bake; the cookies will continue to cook as they cool.
- Cool on a wire rack until manageable, then serve warm.
Nutrition Information
Recipe adapted from Brown Eyed Baker.
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