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Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies
The BEST Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies. The Famous Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe that everyone goes crazy over!
I’ve got issues.
I am a cookie junkie of epic proportions.
There’s probably a support group somewhere for people like me.
When I was a teenager, I would go to the library and thumb through cookbooks to find every single chocolate chip cookie recipe and would beg my Mom to try out the recipe creations almost daily. Issues, I tell you.
I started off by following recipes and then I thought….let’s take a walk on the wild side and start experimenting by throwing stuff in and see what happens. What’s the worst that can happen? Well, that’s another story. Little tweaks here and there were the difference makers – browning the butter, raising or lowering the temperature of the oven, and trying out some interesting ingredients.
When I won a trip to NYC to film a perfect cookie segment for the Cooking Channel’s Perfect 3 Show in the Food Network studios, I went online to seek out the best bakeries in Manhattan. The highest rated cookie was awarded to Levain Bakery and I knew that it had to be mine. Pronto.
Oh, and it was legit. Legit and different. Unique in such a way that I had to figure out how in the world they did it. I became a mad scientist in the kitchen to figure out the how to make the Famous Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies.
I developed a massive crush on a cookie.
I have never, ever worked on a recipe as much as this one. Another trip had to be made to NYC in the name of food science to do some more investigative research. A trip to the Truvia Baking Star competition in NYC meant multiple trips to buy my favorite cookie. We rode our bikes in the freezing cold just for that one bite. By the time we arrived, my feet were frozen, but sacrifices have to be made, right?
I came home and tweaked some more and then it happened…. that glorious batch was perfection and I finally had it.
I was taught in kindergarten that it’s nice to share so that’s what I am doing. Sharing my years of experimenting so we can all have Levain at home. It’s just the right thing to do.
Let’s start with the basics.
Use cold butter. Cut into small cubes. Since you are collecting it straight out of the fridge, you need to cut it into small pieces so the butter and sugar can become friends and make a creamy masterpiece. It takes about 4 minutes for them to warm up and become besties.
This is where it’s all over for me….cookie dough. It’s my kryptonite, unfortunately, and I blame my hips on this goodness. Who else loves this stuff?
Now, these aren’t some ordinary bite-size cookies. No these are a full-on meal. Well maybe for some people. Here’s the deal – you make them big. Really big. Like only four can fit on a cookie sheet, BIG. These are the BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES EVER. Yep, I said it.
Usually, with thick cookies, they turn out like hockey pucks – cakey messes that hardly resemble a gooey cookie.
This is where these are different. We are going to crank up the heat in the oven to cook the outside quickly and leave that center nice, warm and gooey. As a cookie should be.
There are a few ingredients and techniques that set these cookies apart. First, you use cornstarch to add thickness without making the cookie dry. It does wonders in these cookies! Using cake flour also lends to a more tender cookie but you can also substitute all-purpose flour. Here’s one of my favorite cake flours — King Arthur Cake Flour
I am a huge fan of using nonstick silicone baking mats (Silpat) placed on top of the cookie sheets, which allows the cookies to be easily removed from the pan and to bake nicely. My cousin gave me a set as a gift years ago and I had no idea what I was missing out on! These are ones I have loved —Silicone Baking Sheets – 2 pack
You may want to eat these Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies the second they come out of the oven, but patience is a virtue and you must exercise some with these cookies. They need to “set up” so give them at least 10-15 minutes before you devour them. The amazing part of these cookies is that they are the only cookies I have ever made that are still cookie perfection even after a few days.
If you LOVE these cookies, you will love these other Levain Bakery copycat recipes:
- Levain Bakery Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies
- Levain Bakery Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Levain Bakery Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
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Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Crush Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup Cold Butter cut into small cubes
- 1 cup Brown Sugar
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 2 Eggs
- 1 1/2 cups Cake Flour*
- 1 1/2 cups Flour
- 1 teaspoon Cornstarch
- 3/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 3/4 teaspoon Salt
- 2 cups Chocolate Chips
- 2 cups Walnuts roughly chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 410 degrees.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together cold cubed butter, brown sugar, and sugar for 4 minutes or until creamy.
- Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each one.
- Stir in flours, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Mix until just combined to avoid overmixing. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts.
- Separate dough into large balls and place on lightly colored cookie sheet. They are bigger than you think! You will fit 4 cookies on one large cookie sheet. The dough makes 8 extra large cookies.
- Bake for 9-12 minutes or until golden brown on the top. Let them rest for at least 10 minutes to set.
Video
Notes
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Now go make some Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies! You need one (or two or three….no judging here) of these warm, gooey cookies, a big glass of cold milk and a to-do list with nothing on it except catching up on Netflix or those cheesy Holiday Hallmark movies that somehow keep playing on my TV.
If you are a huge fan of Levain Bakery cookies or just eating the best chocolate chip cookies, you will love my other copycat recipes — Levain Bakery Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies and Levain Bakery Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies.
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Happy Baking!
Should salted or unsalted butter be used??
Hi Sofia! You can use either one. I tend to use unsalted butter in my baked goods so I can control the amount of salt in the recipe. If you use salted, just reduce the salt by 1/4 teaspoon. Hope that helps! –Melissa 🙂
Hi there! I’m so happy to find a recipe for this cookie. The directions list cake flour as well as “flour”- do you mean all purpose flour?
Hello there CashCanCook! You are exactly right — the flour is all-purpose flour. Hope that you love them! –Melissa 🙂
BEST COOKIES I HAVE EVER MADE! My 3 kids and I just ate them warm. We are all in heaven! I may need to hide them from my husband. 🙂 Thank you!
Oh Heidi thank you for such a kind comment! It always makes my day to hear about success in the kitchen….especially with cookies. Thanks for taking the time to write me. Have a great day! – Melissa 🙂
Those cookie are soooooo delicious! That´s the first cookie’s recipe that turned out amazing! I googled and found out that 1 cup of butter is the same as 225g of butter, but I used only 200g. I think my cookies could be sweeter, probably because I used dark chocolate chips.
But I have a question about the oven temperature. My oven was in 210 celsius degrees until it reached 400 celsius degrees. Then, I cranked up the temp of my oven to something like 300 celsius degrees and put my cookies to bake: it took 9-11mins to get my cookies ready. Is that what I was supposed to do or not?
Hi Isadora! Yay I am so happy that you made them! If you would like them to be a little sweeter, add 2 Tablespoons of Brown Sugar and use a combination of semisweet and milk chocolate.
The recipe calls for 410 degrees farenheit which is 210 degrees celsius. You don’t want it to be too hot as it will burn the bottoms and tops without cooking the inside of the cookie. I hope that helps! 🙂 -Melissa
The first time I made these they were perfect. But I’ve made them twice since and both times the cookies went flat. I follow the recipe to a T. What could be wrong?
These cookies SOOO amazing!!!!!!! They turned out EXACTLY as pictured!
Thank you for putting in all the time an effort to recreating Levain cookies!
Thank you so much, Cheryl! What a kind thing to say and I appreciate it so much. I am so happy that you loved them! – Melissa 🙂
OMG, woman! You truly deserve a medal for this A-M-A-Z-I-N-G receipe! I have eaten the cookies from Levain Bakery in New York, and I’m quite certain that you have cracked the “Levain Cookie Code!” You are a genius! These cookies are the best I’ve ever made! Thank you!!!
You made me laugh, Anna! I love your passion! I feel the same way about chocolate chip cookies. They invoke a passion in me too. Thank you for the kind compliment. I worked hard researching and tweaking the recipe so I am so happy that you loved them! You made my night. -Melissa 🙂
Great recipe! Thank you for posting this!! A few notes:
I felt they were under salted and so did my bf. we fixed it by sprinkling salt on top and might try using salted butter next time.
The creaming instructions are shenanigans — no way would the butter cream straight out of the fridge. I had to give it about 15-20 minutes to melt
Hey! I’ve tried so many recipes, all of them turned into flat horrible cookies… But now I really want to try yours, but due to several times that my cookies failed because of the wrong measures, I want to ask you… 1 cup of butter it’s the same as 2 sticks of butter (200g)? Many recipes call for room temperature butter, and well… I live in Brazil, our room temp butter is pretty much like a “softened” butter, so I really think that I was wrong about the butter temp and the flour measures…. Could you help me? I’ve never eaten Levain cookies, but here in the city I live in Brazil, we have a BIG and very chewy cookies, it’s just amazing, melts in our mouth, and I think it looks a lot like Levain’s cookie, so I’m definitely trying! Thanks a lot!
Hi Isadora! Love to see that you are from Brazil! My nephew just spent two years living there and loved it! Yes, you are correct with the butter. For this recipe it is important that your butter is very cold. Cut it into small cubes. These cookies should not go flat as they are large, hearty cookies. Let me know how they turn out. Thanks so much! -Melissa 🙂
I was wondering if I could sub tapioca starch for the cornstarch. I’ve never been to Levain, but my family in New York raves about it! Excited to bake these cookies.
Hi Angie! Great question! I have never tried using tapioca starch in them so I can’t vouch for it in these cookies but it is listed as a substitute for cornstarch. It says to use 2 parts tapioca starch to 1 part cornstarch. Hope that helps! Let me know how they turn out. Thanks! -Melissa 🙂
I finally made these today. Sooooo freaking good, thank you for sharing!! I made a total of 12 so they were a bit smaller/thinner. I noticed that the second tray cookies didn’t fall apart as much when I let them sit for 20 min instead of 10. But they still weren’t as sturdy as yours look. Like I saw that you can pick one of yours up and break it in half whereas some of mine fell apart into multiple pieces when u picked them up. I chilled the dough for 12 hours in the fridge. Are they more fragile if you make them bigger or is it opposite? Other than me being picky about the appearance, they were amazing.
Hi Pat! Way to go with your research. I love when my readers try different methods. When I make them large, they are more hearty cookies and definitely not fragile. Did you let them sit for awhile before picking them up? I always let them sit for awhile to set up.
When you chill cookie dough, the liquids are soaked up by the other ingredients so the dough is usually more crumbly. I usually have to press the dough back together after chilling so that may make a difference. If you do chill for a long period of time, try pressing the dough together when making your balls.
I hope that helps! Thanks for your comment and have a great night! -Melissa 🙂
Do you use salted or unsalted butter?
Hi Amy! I generally use unsalted butter. If using salted butter, decrease to 1/2 teaspoon of salt. I am a huge fan of sea salt on my cookies so even if I am using salted butter, I keep it at 3/4 teaspoon but it’s up to you. I hope that helps! -Melissa