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Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
The best Levain Bakery chocolate peanut butter chip copycat cookie recipe
I just arrived home from the Big Apple at 2:30 am New York City time and couldn’t wait another minute to share this recipe with you!
These Levain Bakery Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies will knock your socks off… I promise you!
People may think I am lying but I swear it’s the truth, this cookie is dang good.
My husband and I decided to do something BIG for our daughter’s 16th birthday. She’s a sweet girl who is super low-maintenance, so we wanted to completely surprise her with an epic trip to New York City. And of course, the majority of the trip revolved around food. Duh, I am a food blogger for a reason!
My kids LOVE food too but my this daughter is a real health nut and chooses her sweets carefully. However, a visit to Levain Bakery was high on the list for this girl.
As we rode our bikes to the bakery and peered around the corner of 74th Street and Broadway, we saw the line was at least 50 people deep. If you’ve never been to Levain Bakery, you would be amazed to see how tiny the storefront is for this very popular bakery. The day we arrived, our time was limited so we couldn’t brave the line. But there was always the next day and we were determined! We had to exercise some serious patience!
Monday morning we tried again and were pleasantly surprised to see a much shorter line. Hallelujah! We purchased our Chocolate Chip and Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies, which by the way cost $4 each, and sat on the bench and devoured them. I must have studied the cookies for what seemed like forever to my kids, who just wanted to take a bite of them for the very first time. I had to remind them it’s all about the research!
My kids have been taught to be brutally honest about food because they are my ultimate taste testers. As they opened up their warm cookie and took a bite, they said that the cookies tasted just like mine. Oh, happy day!
Here’s my original Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies if you haven’t tried them yet — Levain Bakery Copycat Chocolate Chip Cookies If you can’t just hop on a plane and fly to NYC yet want to make Levain Bakery cookies at home, well then I am here to help you. Here are my Levain Bakery Copycat Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies and Levain Bakery Copycat Oatmeal Raisin Cookies .
Helping people is good. We should all help people.
So I am sharing the recipes that I have spent months tweaking in order for all of us to have fabulous Levain Bakery Cookies at home.
Let’s clap our hands together!
Levain Bakery is LEGIT and no joke with their cookies. Since I had already tweaked and experimented with my own copycat version of their ever so popular Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookie, it was time to go for the chocolate. There are small things that set these apart from just any ordinary chocolate cookie and I am sharing my baking secrets with you!
This Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie is full of rich chocolate and studded with peanut butter chips to give it that prized peanut butter chocolate combination. Where are my Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie fanatics?
The fascinating thing about Levain Bakery cookies is their ability to be thick without being cakey. If you read my other Levain Bakery copycat cookie post, you will know that those cookies are my husband’s favorite cookie of all time. I think the reason is that they aren’t over the top sweet. They are rich and decadent without putting you into a sugar coma.
If you are a true chocoholic, you can substitute peanut butter chips for dark, semisweet or milk chocolate chunks, which will give you a true Levain Bakery Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie copycat recipe. You are getting 2 for 1 here, people.
How to make Levain Bakery Chocolate Peanut Butter Copycat Cookies:
- Use cold butter. Now, I am not talking about throwing two cubes of cold butter into the mixer and hoping the butter will incorporate into the sugars. Nope. The key is to cut the butter with a knife into small cubes, making it easier to cream with the sugar. We want them to become one and meld together to break down the graininess of the sugar. Cream for at least 4 minutes on high until light and fluffy.
- Use good high-quality cocoa, if at all possible. Levain uses dark cocoa for these cookies. If you can find that in your grocery stores, use it! Hershey’s makes a dark chocolate cocoa that would be fantastic. If you follow me at all, you know I am a huge fan of Callebaut cocoa. It’s found in the bulk bin section at Winco and is very reasonable. I wish it was as cheap on Amazon as it is at Winco. Trader Joe’s also makes a fabulous baking cocoa.
- Use a mix of cake flour and all-purpose flour. Why cake flour? You know how I talked about Levain being a thick cookie without tasting like a scone? When you use cake flour, it creates a more TENDER crumb on the cookie which creates a mouth-watering texture.
- Another game changer is cornstarch. It also helps to create and soft and tender cookie.
- Bake at high heat. You want to shock these Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies with high heat so they don’t spread too rapidly. It helps keep their shape and make those crispy edges. These are my favorite silpats — Silpat Brand and Amazon Basics.
Here are more famous Levain Bakery cookie recipes:
- Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Levain Bakery Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Levain Bakery Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
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Levain Bakery Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup Cold Butter cut into small cubes
- 1 cup Brown Sugar
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 2 Eggs
- 1/2 cup Dark Baking Cocoa
- 1 cup Cake Flour
- 1 1/2 cup All-Purpose Flour
- 1 teaspoon Cornstarch
- 3/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 1 1/3 cup Peanut Butter Chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 410 degrees.
- In a large bowl, cream together cold butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
- Add cocoa, cake flour, all-purpose flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt and stir until combined. Stir in peanut butter chips (or can substitute chocolate chips).
- Chill dough for 10 minutes.
- Separate dough into large balls and place on lightly colored cookie sheet. Lightly press on top of dough to smooth out. 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 8-11 minutes or until golden brown on the top. Let them rest for at least 10 minutes to set.
Video
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
When I arrived home from New York City, I pulled these Levain Bakery Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies out of the freezer where I store my stash of cookies (always need to be prepared), and was able to satisfy my cookie cravings in one bite. These Levain Bakery copycat cookies are the closest to the originals that you are going to get!
Happy Baking, my friends! xoxo
Hi! Just made these, but chilled for 90 minutes, and chose to make 16, rather than 8 cookies. Baked at 410• for about 12 minutes. They’re great, but the chips didn’t really melt. Is there such a thing as chilling them TOO long, or does it just sound like my oven runs cold?
Hi Vicki! That is a great question! When you chill the dough, the chips definitely harden us as well. I used to freeze my chocolate chips and then realized that my chips were never melting and I figured out the reason. You can always chill the dough and add the peanut butter chips after you remove the dough from the refrigerator. That would get them nice and melty. You could also chill them for only 30 minutes. Hope that helps! – Melissa 🙂
I made the other levain cookie recipe you had last night and my bf already reserved 3 cookies to bring to work today! He’s choosy when it comes to cookies but he said your recipe is absolutely perfect even with walnuts!! *He hates nuts* Thank you so much. I don’t think i’ll buy cookies from the store anymore. Also, what cocoa powder do you recommend for this one? I’ve been to NY but didn’t get the chance to taste original levain cookies. You are a blessing! Sending lots of love from Seattle! <3
Hi Paige! You are so sweet! Thank you for your nice message. I am so glad that you and your boyfriend loved the cookies. That is awesome! As far as cocoa powder goes, I have a few favorites. Do you have a Winco grocery store near you. If so, they carry Callebaut cocoa powder in their bulk section (call ahead to make sure your store carries it) and it is 1/4 of the price on Amazon.com. It’s so inexpensive and such high quality! Trader Joe’s also has a good one. I hope that helps! Let me know how they turn out Paige. Have a fabulous Saturday! 🙂 – Melissa
Hi Priscilla! Great question! You can do it either way. I do the mixer for about 3 seconds and then will hand mix the rest of the way to make sure that I get the bottom of the bowl as well. I would love to hear how they turn out! 🙂
Quick question! When you mix the dry ingredients in, do you use your mixer or do you mix by hand to avoid over mixing? I’d like to make these, but want to make sure they turn out right!
Thank you, thank you for taking the time to figure out this recipe! 5 of us went on a girl’s trip to NYC last week. I’d never even heard of Levain but after one bite of the cookies and I was a hooked! After we got home, I contemplated ordering them from their website….so expensive though! Now I can have their cookies anytime without the travel or expense. I’ll be following your blog for more great recipes!
Hi Wendy! NYC is the best place for a girls trip! Hope you had a great time. Thank you so much for taking the time to comment. I have worked on two Levain Bakery recipes so you can try out both of them. They are a family favorite and oh so good! My husband and I ate Levain Bakery cookies again in July and he couldn’t taste a difference. 🙂 Have a great night!
I have been looking for Levain copycat recipes for YEARS and tested quite a few that just weren’t up to par. I literally cannot wait to try both of your recipes. I’ve been to Levain twice now and am completely in love with their cookies. Any chance you’d be able to replicate their oatmeal raisin? I’m thrilled I just came across your blog and can’t wait to try a ton of your recipes! Thank you for the inspiration!
Hi Erin! I am so glad to hear that you love it as much as I do! I have spent way too much time studying their cookies…haha! Let me know how they turn out for you and if you have any more questions. I am always happy to help! I definitely want to do an oatmeal raisin copycat recipe. It’s on my to-do list so I will let you know when I get it perfected. Have a great night! – Melissa
Made these today, my family said they were amazing!!!! Made smaller ones and they came out great! Just baked 8 minutes!
So good to hear, Gina! Thank you for taking the time to write a comment and I am so glad that your family loved them. Thank you for sharing the modified baking time when making them smaller. I appreciate it! 🙂 – Melissa
Hi Gina!
When you say smaller, like how small? How many were you able to make in a batch of this recipe?
So delicious!!! Our family loved these cookies. Thank you!
Hi Brent! Yay so glad to hear that the fam loved the cookies! You guys are cookie connoisseurs so I take that as a high compliment. 🙂 Thanks so much!
I just made a batch; made them smaller and got 18if he most delicious cookies. The raw dough was even great. I baked the cookies for 9 minutes. I wonder, how many Weight Watcher’s points thees are? Too many to count, I am sure.
I don’t know how to convert to points, but after adding up the calories in the ingredients I got 5,728 calories. That’s 318 calories if you made 18 cookies. I made 24 and knowing all that I know…I want another one before bed! Yum!! I used arrowroot powder instead of cornstarch. That addition of extra starch makes them so soft!
hello! How are doing? I’m Brazilian. I made this cookie recipe. It was delicious! Here at home all loved. I’m getting ready to open a cookie shop in Brazil. I’m sure it will be a success! you want to be my partner ?! Thank you.
Hi Cornelia! That sounds so exciting to open a cookie shop in Brazil! Good luck with your adventure! Thank you so much for taking the time to comment and I am so glad that you loved them.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this recipe! We did a similar thing for my son’s 21st birthday. We took him and his sisters to NYC and took bikes to Levain. I vowed I would NOT leave the city without trying these famous cookies. I feel lucky, the line was like 5 deep when we went. Yes, $4 and worth every bite! I will definitely be making these as soon as the weather is cooler (no AC in my kitchen.)
How fun that you took your kids to NYC as well! It’s so fun for them to experience something so different. Let me know how you like them once it cools down. It’s always a little harder to bake in the summer and heat up the kitchen for sure. Have a great Sunday!
Hi,
I want to try this recipe so badly.
do you have the measurement in metric please?
Thankyou.