Levain Cookie Recipe

If you’ve traveled to, or live in New York City, you have probably heard of Levain Bakery and their famous chocolate chip cookies. On my last trip back east, I made a stop at the popular bakery on West 74th Street to see for myself if this was indeed the best chocolate chip cookie in the world!

Levain Bakery is rumored to have the best chocolate chip cookies in the world. Yes, in the world. Hmmmmmmm. This is a highly debatable subject. What determines if a recipe is the best recipe in the world?

It’s all a matter of personal opinion and preference. Follow along and I’ll give you my observations and the results of my taste testing and baking research.

Last September, I took a trip with my oldest daughter Corrine to NYC. She was there for Fashion week and I was there for support, choosing restaurants and overall sightseeing. Levain Bakery was high on my list of places to visit this trip. We purchased each of the four types of cookies they sell. My favorite was the Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookie.

I Instagrammed a photo (below) of the cookie while we were in NYC and received almost 100 of comments from readers professing their love for Levain cookies, recipe requests and even comments stating a copycat recipe would be an answer to prayers!

In the interest of answering prayers and helping everyone who doesn’t live close to NYC (or even those who just want a make a batch of Levain style cookies) I’m going to share my version of the Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookie recipe (and also the no-nut version, read end of post). But first, I’ll give you the story of how this recipe came to be…

Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Crush Cookies

The BEST Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Copycat Cookie Recipe.

Prep: 10min

Total: 21min

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)

Instruction:

1. Preheat oven to 410 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together cold cubed butter, brown sugar, and sugar for 4 minutes or until creamy.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each one.
4. Stir in flours, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Mix until just combined to avoid overmixing. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts.
5. 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.
6. Bake for 9-12 minutes or until golden brown on the top. Let them rest for at least 10 minutes to set.

Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies

Prep: 10min

Total: 21min

Yield: 8

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter cut into tablespoons (I prefer unsalted)
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup cake flour
• 1 1/2-1 3/4 cup all purpose flour* see notes
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
• 2 cups walnut halves
• 2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips* see notes

Instruction:

1. Pre heat oven to 400 degrees and set rack in middle of oven.
2. Place butter into bowl and turn mixer on low. If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment.
3. Add sugars and beat butter until smooth on medium speed. This should take about 1 minute. Mix until the butter pieces are completely blended with the sugar and is no longer visible in pieces.
4. Add the eggs and beat on medium just until incorporated with butter and sugars, about 30 seconds.
5. Turn the mixer off. Add the cake flour, all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Pulse the dry ingredients on low until the wet and dry ingredients are mixed together.
6. Pour the walnuts into the batter all at once. Pulse the batter 5-6 times.
7. Pour the chocolate chips into the batter and pulse again 5-6 times.
8. Pour the batter out onto a clean surface. Fold the dough together a few times until all of the chocolate chips and walnuts are mixed into the batter.
9. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces about 6 oz each. Use your hands to shape cookies. Do not use a cookie or ice cream scoop. The cookies are meant to be roughly shaped. Do not flatten the dough.
10. Bake 4 cookies per pan, for 11 minutes on regular bake or 400 convection bake for 8-9 minutes.
11. The cookies are done when the top is a bit golden and the bottom is also golden.
12. Do not over bake. Let cool for 15 minutes before serving.
13. To make the cookies without walnuts, see recipe notes below!

Recreating Levain Chocolate Chip Cookies Feat. Binging with Babish