We decided to tackle the monumental challenge of recreating an Instagram-worthy, stand-in-line-for-hours, life-changing treat: Levain chocolate chip cookies with walnuts.
Weighing in at close to a third-pound per cookie, loaded with gooey chocolate chips, and studded with big walnut chunks, it’s clear why these ultra-thick chocolatey behemoths are New York City’s most famous cookie. You’ve likely seen pics of these giant cookies floating around the internet and featured on numerous food and travel shows.
No plans to venture to the Big Apple any time soon? While you can have real Levain cookies shipped to your house or try the frozen Levain cookies at your local grocer, a better plan would be to make them fresh yourself.
Use our spot-on copycat Levain cookie recipe and make all your cookie dreams come true!
What Makes Levain Cookies Special
What makes Levain Bakery chocolate chip cookies special? Pam Weekes and Connie McDonald, Levain’s owners and the masterminds behind the original recipe, created a cookie that took subjectivity out of the chocolate chip cookie. It truly pleases all.
This cookie is somehow soft and chewy and simultaneously crisp and crumbly at the same time. There’s a perfect ratio of melty chocolate to gooey cookie dough and they’re almost the size of your face. What’s not to like?!
To replicate the magical Levain cookie recipe, we focused on a few key things:
Limiting Cookie Spread
A lot of people are leery of thick chocolate chip cookies because they tend to be dense and cakey. This is usually because too much flour was used in the recipe and subsequently over mixed. Here’s how we limited spread in our copycat Levain cookie recipe.
- Less sugar: In this recipe, we achieved a mile-high cookie that was still delicate and tender by using a low proportion of sugar to flour. Sugar is a big driver in cookie spread, so using a lower ratio of sugar was key.
- Dark brown sugar: Related, while we think Levain likely use light brown sugar in their recipe, we opted for dark brown sugar in our version. Not only did we find that it produced a more flavorful cookie with a richer color, but dark brown sugar also reduced their spread and improved their overall rise. Note that the batches made with light brown sugar were still delicious. So if you don’t keep dark brown sugar on hand feel free to use light brown sugar.
- No chopped chocolate: Chocolate chips contain additives that enable them to hold their shape better during baking and thus help the cookies stand tall.
- Whole nuts: Opting for whole walnut halves added height and bulk to the dough to keep the cookies thick.
High-Quality Ingredients
If you want to make the best Levain cookie recipe, opt for the best ingredients possible. After testing with “the best” we can confirm the proof is in the pudding—erm, cookies.
Use these cookies as an excuse to buy the “good” chocolate chips. Since there is so much chocolate in these cookies investing in quality chocolate chips is well worth the investment. Here are our favorite chocolate chip brands.
Levain Cookie Ingredients
Ingredients
- Unsalted butter
- Dark brown sugar
- White sugar
- Kosher salt
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Eggs
- All-purpose flour
- Dark and semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Walnut halves
Editor’s Tip: Where’s the vanilla?! The owners of Levain have repeatedly stated that they do not use vanilla extract in their recipe, so we elected to skip it too to try and be as authentic as possible. If you are loyal to team vanilla (if so, here are our favorite vanilla brands), feel free to add 1/2 tablespoon to the recipe. We tried it and thought the cookies were still stellar.
Directions
Step 1: Whisk dry ingredients
Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
Step 2: Cream butter and sugar
In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the sugar, salt, and butter; about 8 minutes on medium-low.
Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until fully combined into the dough after each addition
Editor’s Tip: Take care to properly cream your sugar and butter. This will limit cookie spread, improve the rise of the cookies and enhance their final baked texture. Seriously, don’t rush this process—you really want to see the mixture go through an obvious change in your mixer. Properly aerated butter and sugar should be fluffy and noticeably lighter in color.
Step 3: Add dry ingredients
With the mixer on low, stir in the dry ingredients until just combined.
Editor’s Tip: Conversely, when adding the flour, mix until it is just barely incorporated into the dry ingredients—do not overmix your cookies. Overmixing will overdevelop the gluten in the flour causing the cookies to be tough, dense, and cakey—not an attractive look for Levain-style cookies.
Step 4: Fold in mix-ins
With the mixer on low, fold in the chocolate and walnuts mixing until evenly combined and the walnuts have become partially broken up a bit by the mixer’s paddle.
Editor’s Tip: Want to take these cookies to the next level? Toast the walnuts first.
Step 5: Portion out the dough
Using a food scale, portion out twelve roughly-hewn 5.5oz (156g) balls of dough (they’re more like globs if you want to be technical).
Editor’s Tip: No baseballs! Resist the urge to compact the dough into tight balls when dividing the dough. Keep them loose and craggy to achieve that iconic Levain appearance and texture.
Step 6: Chill
Transfer to a large parchment-lined container with a lid and chill the cookie dough for at least 6 hours or overnight for best results.
Editor’s Tip: You may wonder if you can freeze the dough for less time rather than refrigerate it and get the same results. While the cookies will still be divine, you won’t get quite the same results. While we want the dough to be cold when it goes in the oven, we’re also working to hydrate the flour which has more to do with time than it does with the temperature. Be patient. It’s worth the wait—we promise.
Step 7: Arrange the dough and bake
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Transfer the chilled “globs” of dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart. We could fit 6 cookies per pan, though this may vary depending on the size of your pan.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until the internal temperature of the cookies registers 180° when using an instant-read thermometer. The cookies should appear almost fully set and have a warm golden color on their top and edges.
Editor’s Tip: Resist the urge to open and close the oven door while baking. Doing so will cause the temperature to drop which may increase your baking time leading to cookies that are overcooked on the outside and raw on the inside.
Step 8: Cool
Let the cookies cool for 5 to 10 minutes on the sheet pan and then transfer to a wire rack to cool for another 5 to 10 minutes before digging in.
Editor’s Tip: Fair warning, if you dig in too soon the center of the cookies will contain essentially molten chocolate; they’ll be delicious but they may also burn your tongue.
How to Store Levain Cookies
The low proportion of sugar to flour in this recipe means these cookies tend to dry out quicker than others. For this reason, we recommend only baking the amount you intend to eat within one sitting.
If you do bake the full batch of cookies and have to store leftover cookies, store them at room temperature in a container with a tight-fitting lid for about two days. To enjoy, we recommend warming them up in a 350° oven for 3 to 5 minutes before serving. You could also microwave for 30 seconds.
How to Freeze Levain Cookies
Unbaked portioned cookie dough can be wrapped tightly in plastic and refrigerated for up to 1 week. Alternatively, the portions can be individually wrapped, then placed in a freezer-safe zip-top bag, and frozen for up to six months. Thaw frozen cookie dough overnight in the refrigerator, unwrap and bake as directed.
Levain Cookie Recipe Tips
Do you need to weigh the cookie dough?
Because these cookies are so massive, making sure you have cookies of uniform size will ensure each and every cookie bakes evenly. We scaled ours to 5.5 ounces to yield 12 cookies. Bonus tip: Measure your ingredients by weight too!
Do you have to refrigerate the dough?
Other Levain-style recipes skip this step, but we found it really made a huge difference in both taste and texture. Chilling the dough fully hydrates the flour which reduces spread, keeps the cookies ultra-thick, improves their color as they bake and enhances their chewiness.
How do you know when the cookies are done baking?
Use an instant-read thermometer. The cookies should register between 175 and 180° in the center. For gooier cookies, you could even go with a temperature of 170°.
