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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
Has anyone ever tried these with regular cocoa and not dark? I thought I had everything here but we only have regular cocoa powder. I am sure it would probably alter the taste too much wouldn’t it? Thanks!
Hi Ashley! Regular cocoa will work just fine. Levain Bakery uses a dark cocoa powder but I have used both and they still turn out great. The regular cocoa just creates a lighter chocolate cookie. I hope that helps! — Melissa 🙂
I made these tonight following the recipe exactly and they are amaaaazing. So incredibly rich and peanut buttery. I had tried a Levain cookie once a while ago and remember it being great so I searched for a copycat recipe. These are MASSIVE cookies so we cut into them like cakes while they were still warm from the oven. I was stuffed after eating just half of one. Now I need to experiment with storage and reheating methods because we won’t be able to finish them anytime soon. I plan to give just one to people as holiday gifts because they are just so substantial and delicious! Thank you so much for this recipe!
Hi Melissa (great name, btw)! Thank you so much for trying out my recipe. I am SO glad you loved them. These cookies are actually good to make ahead of time since they keep well. I am amazed that they are still soft 1-2 days after I bake them. Have a great night! — Melissa 🙂
THANK YOU! I baked these at 375 degrees for 14-15 minutes and they came out soooo good! Very close to the original. I had tried 410 degrees on a few cookies, but discovered that that burned my peanut butter chips. But this may have been because I thought the cookies were too soft at 11-12 minutes, and left them in there for 4-5 more minutes. I also decreased the sugar by 1/4 cup sugar — perfect for me!
Hi Rita! Thanks so much for your kind comment. I am glad to know that they worked out for you at 375 degrees. Some ovens run a hot so it may be beneficial for you to turn down the heat. Have a great Saturday!
Hi,
Do you pack the brown sugar in the measuring cup?
Hi Su. Yes, I do lightly pack down the brown sugar in the measuring cup. Hope that helps!
I have yet to visit Levain bakery and when I do, I am pretty sure I am going to eat all of the cookies. This looks phenomenal – I can’t wait to try baking it for my PB-loving husband!
Hi Melissa! A trip to Levain Bakery is definitely a must if you visit NYC but these cookies are just as good as the original. 🙂 Have a great Saturday!
Hi Melissa! Im wondering what brand of peanut butter chips you use :). Thanks for all of the wonderful recipes!
Hi Sarah! Thank you so much! I use either the Reeses or Nestle Peanut Butter Chips. I hope that helps! Have a wonderful day! – Melissa 🙂
Hi Melissa, having just returned from a trip to new york i am so excited to find your recipe! I was just wondering the quantity of butter in weight? Never seem to get it right when i try estimate a cup of butter! Thanks
Hi Alice! I apologize for the delay in getting back to you as my comment link wasn’t working for awhile. 1 cup of butter equals 226.80 grams. Hope that helps and have a great day! – Melissa 🙂
Hi Melissa, living in NYC I know really well how Levain cookies are unique. So I decided to try your chocolate cookie and walnuts recipe. OMG! They turned amazing!!!! As somebody else mentioned, I took the cookies to work and my friends also think that it might even be better than Levain.
One question for you. When you say you freeze the cookies, do you freeze them after bake or the dough? If it is already baked, do you bake them all the way and they freeze or some minutes less and then finish at the oven when you want to eat?
Thank you!
Hi Carolina! Sorry for the delay in my response — I have been having issues with my comments and it is finally fixed! Thank you so much for taking the time to comment. I am so happy that you loved the cookies! To answer your question about freezing the cookies, you can do it both ways. I have frozen the dough for months with zero issues and just take it out and let it defrost for about 45 minutes before baking. After you bake the cookies, you can also freeze the cookies. I cook them all the way through, put them in a Ziploc freezer bag, and place in the freezer. When I have a craving, I remove from the bag and let it naturally defrost for about 20 minutes on the counter or place in the microwave for about 12-15 seconds. They are still warm and gooey that way! Hope that helps! – Melissa 🙂
Hi Melissa,
What a wonderful trip this sounds like. I am wondering if I could substitute chocolate chips instead of the peanut butter chips. My hubby does not like peanut butter. Thanks in advance for your response!
Hello Catherine! You can absolutely substitute chocolate chips for the peanut butter chips and they will still come out fabulous! I have another recipe on my blog that is a double chocolate cookie recipe so you can try both! https://www.modernhoney.com/hunka-hunka-triple-chocolate-cookies/ Have a great day! – Melissa 🙂
Thank you so much Melissa, this are both on my baking list for this weekend. Can’t. Wait.
Hi Melissa. I’ve made these cookies with your recipe twice, and they were amazing both times — maybe even better than Levain! I want to make them again for a holiday party, so I’m gonna try to make them into smaller cookies. Just wondering if have any suggestions on the temp and baking time for a smaller version, using, say two tablespoons of cookie dough. I know they won’t be as magical as the baseball-size originals, but I figure it’d be hard to go wrong when using dough this good. Please let me know what you think. Thanks!
Oh Stephanie you made my day! Thank you so much for your kind comment. So happy that you love the cookies! My Mom makes this cookie recipe all of the time and usually makes them smaller. They still work out great! I would suggest reducing the baking time by 3-4 minutes and watching them like a hawk. Most likely, you will need to cook them for about 2 minutes less. Hope that helps! – Melissa 🙂