Almost 1/2 pound of the most indulgent chocolate chip cookie ever! Our Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe was founded after hours and hours of research, testing and of course, tasting. This is the make-at-home version you will make over and over again!
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 loads 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…
Cut to the chase:
I know some of you probably just want the cookie recipe. If you are one of those people, skip to the bottom of this page and I’ll spare you my three thousand word essay on the who/what/why of recreating the Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookie. If you want the back story, here it is…
History:
Levain Bakery was opened in 1994 by two women, Pam McDonald and Connie Weekes, who trained for triathlete/Ironman competitions together. They were often hungry after training and wanted a treat that would fill them up. During the training process they talked about creating the best chocolate chip cookie in the world. Over 20 years later, they are still baking cookies (and muffins, breads, pizza, sticky buns) and wowing New Yorkers and tourists every day.
They have 3 (now) 7 locations! There is almost always a line out the door, and their locations even sport a line cam giving you a look at the length of the line. Not that a long line seems to deter anyone from buying Levain’s cookies! We visited the West 74th street location and waited in line for less than 20 minutes.
Why is the Levain Chocolate Chip Cookie so popular?
Size: Huge. 6 oz (almost half a pound) of cookie. Everything is is big and flamboyant in NYC, and Levain cookies are no exception. The cookies are enormous. If you are forking out $4 per cookie (price in 2016 when this post originally went live), you want a cookie you can sink your teeth into.
I’ve purchased big cookies in the past, only to be disappointed that the flavor didn’t match up to the size of the cookie. The Levain cookies deliver in both the size and deliciousness categories!
Texture: Perfect combination of crisp outside and incredibly gooey center. The cookie is baked at a high temperature, and mounded high, allowing the outside of the cookie to crisp up perfectly while the middle barely gets baked and creates puddles of chocolate in the cookie dough.
Hype: New Yorkers love to wait in line! No really. Anything with a long line in NYC= (usually) an experience you don’t want to miss. This isn’t a tourist-only line. New Yorkers faithfully stand in the Levain line, patiently waiting for their cookie fix.
Why recreate the Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookie?
Reason 1. They are delicious- See all of the above reasons. A big melty hunk of a cookie.
Reason 2. Cost- At $4 per cookie, if I lived in NYC and could run down the street to buy a cookie whenever I had a craving, it would be an easy choice. Four dollars a cookie is a reasonable price, given the size of the cookie. I mean, it’s a meal for $4. So one cookie or two or three are affordable. But when you consider you can make 8 at home for about a dollar per cookie, the make at home option starts to look very attractive.
Reason 3. Location- If you don’t live in NYC, (and who does?) I mean, only about 8 million people, but most of them don’t read this blog, which brings us to the out-of-towner option, having the cookies shipped. See reason 4.
Reason 4. Affordability of shipping: The mail order option, in my opinion, is not very affordable for most people. And who wants to wait 2 days when they have a chocolate chip cookie craving? Levain cookies are sold four to a package in the smallest package available. The least expensive shipping option (to Utah, 2 day air) will set you back approx $64 or about $16 per cookie. For two day old cookies. Gulp.
or
The next option is $81.50 for next day air, which is about $27 per cookie. Fairly fresh, but still a day old.
or
Last, but not least, next day (early) delivery is $108.50 or $34.94 PER COOKIE. Did you just pass out? I’ve eaten a lot of cookies in my lifetime. Probably more than my share. I don’t ever recall eating cookie that was worth $35 per cookie.
The shipping is what increases the price of the cookies. If you have a friend visiting NYC, having them hand deliver cookies is a sweet option. Unless they leave the cookies on the plane. Oops. See Reason 6.
Reason 5. Everyone asks for the recipe. Many of you have been to Levain, and NEED this recipe. After eating one of the Levain cookies, I knew it was my duty to create a make at home version of the Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookie.
Reason 6. I want to help you keep your integrity intact. These cookies are a HOT item. Don’t leave them unattended, or else. True story. My friend Maria was visiting her kids in New York last year. We were texting back and forth and talking about some of the fun restaurants and treats they were enjoying in the city, including Levain cookies. At one point, I asked her to pick up a cookie for me if she was close to the bakery again before returning home… for research purposes.
Maria was kind enough to buy a few cookies, had them packaged up and carried them back on the plane to SLC in a cute little Levain Bakery bag. After she left the plane, she realized she had left the cookies onboard. Maria tried unsucessfully to re-board the plane. Her husband saw a man leave the plane with the cookies in hand…
He approached the man and said “I believe that is my wife’s bag of cookies she left on the plane.” (awkward, right?) The man looked startled, but acted like they were his cookies, although he had no story to share or no retort for the insistence by Maria’s husband that they were Maria’s cookies.
Picture me, reading this text from Maria, about what happened to the cookies, and saying over and over again, “OH MY GOSH” Grant thought maybe someone had passed away. No, just a cookie casualty… Maybe this gentleman did purchase the cookies, but it sounds like a possible cookie heist to me. Don’t take something that doesn’t belong to you. Just bake a batch at home instead.
Observations, baking tips and how I came up with this copycat Levain Bakery recipe…
In order to make a cookie that tastes, looks and has the same texture of the Levain cookie, I started by watching an episode of Bobby Flay’s Throwdown, where the Levain Bakery owners and Bobby Flay bake up a batch of cookies and judges pick their favorite cookie.
Pam and Connie (Levain founders) show up to the throw down with their dough already made, so it was difficult to do much observing of the actual cookie making process in the video clip.
I did take a look at the texture of the dough, which seems to be fairly sticky, leading me to believe there is not an excessive amount of flour in the dough. They also state a few times during the segment, they like to “keep it simple”. Bobby Flay’s cookies include Muscavado sugar and gourmet chocolate. In the end, the Levain cookies won the throw down.
The second video “Levain Bakery Pam and Connie Make Cookies” shows Pam and Connie making the cookies. They don’t show specifics, such as amounts, but I carefully watched and re watched the video several times and gathered the following:
-They use cold butter in 1 lb blocks
-The walnuts are not chopped, and don’t appear to be toasted.
-It looks like the amount of brown sugar is a bit more than the white sugar added, and the brown sugar appears to be light brown sugar, but difficult to tell the proportions of white to brown sugar, since brown sugar is usually measured in packed down amount, and the amount in the bowl does not looked packed.
–No vanilla. They also mention in the Bobby Flay video they don’t add vanilla because they think it is not needed. At first I thought WHAT? No vanilla in a cookie? But they are right. It really doesn’t add much flavor.
–Eggs, appear to be 2 per recipe, from what I can see, the butter and egg ratio per (at home) recipe would be 1/2 lb butter to 2 eggs.
–Chocolate chips. Semi sweet. About 2 cups per recipe. They add the walnuts first and pulse the dough, then add the chocolate chips last. They add the walnuts and chocolate chips after the dry ingredients have been pulsed into the wet ingredients.
–Dry ingredients. They add the dry ingredients in one big bowl, so it is difficult to tell what is in the dry ingredient portion of the recipe. I tried all purpose flour, cake flour, bread flour, a combination of bread and AP flour, a combo of cake flour and AP flour, and the AP flour by itself. I also tried baking soda, baking powder and a combination of both. Many people believe Levain Bakery includes cornstarch in their cookie, but I believe it is just plain old baking powder, which is made with a bit of cornstarch (remember the “keep it simple” quote)?
-The cookies also seem to be on the less salty side, which is less to my liking. I’m a firm believer in salt to balance out and enhance the flavors in desserts. I think they probably use about 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of salt per recipe. I always use a coarse sea salt for best taste results. I am not sure if they use salted or unsalted butter, but I always use unsalted.
–Mixing: The mixer used in the video is a large commercial grade machine. They mix the butter and sugars together first, with the mixer on low. The mixer speed is always on low, it seems. When making other chocolate chip cookies, I usually add my chocolate chips and nuts with the flour to get them coated with flour (which is supposed to help them from sinking into the bottom of the dough) but Levain just adds the walnuts and chocolate chips after mixing in the dry ingredients. They pulse the mixture several times to prevent the flour and other dry ingredients from spilling over the bowl.
–Refrigeration of dough: They don’t talk about refrigerating the dough, but there are reports of the dough being refrigerated or frozen before baking. Refrigeration of dough usually enhances the texture of the cookies, but I don’t feel it is necessary in this cookie. I have baked this recipe right out of the bowl and also refrigerated the dough before baking. You can see what will be best in your oven by baking a cookie right after mixing up. If the cookie flattens too much, refrigerate the remaining dough for 30 minutes before baking.
–Shaping: Pam and Connie talk about “no baseballs” when shaping the dough. I usually create “baseballs” by using a cookie scoop. The Levain cookie is a more rustic looking treat. They use their hands to shape the dough. I prefer to use a food handler’s glove and measure the dough out and weigh it on my trusty kitchen scale.
–Baking time and temp: I found the best temperature in my oven is 400 degrees. If I am baking on a regular setting, I bake at 400 for 11-12 minutes. If using convection, I bake for 8-9 minutes. To achieve the gooey consistency of the Levain Bakery cookie, you must take the cookie out of the oven before the center is baked.
–Cooling-an important step: The Levain cookie needs to sit on the cookie sheet for at least 15 minutes before eating. Leave the cookie on the warm cookie sheet so it can finish baking and set up. I believe the cookies are best when left to sit for about an hour after baking.
Cookie Conclusion
I loved this cookie at the bakery and at home. It’s definitely a cookie lover’s dream. Not to be confused with the New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookie, which is a chocolate lover’s dream, this cookie is a mini-mountain of chocolate chip cookie dough.
I’m still partial to my all time favorite, ABK’s Tried and True Chocolate Chip Cookie. If you know someone who loves to eat the dough more than a baked cookie, I am guessing they will fall in love with the ABK version of the Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookie. One recipe makes 8 GINORMOUS cookies. I look forward to reading your reviews… Happy baking!
Can’t Get Enough Levain?
I’ve made multiple copycat versions of Levain cookies: The Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip, the Oatmeal Raisin, and the Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookie. They were all tested, tested again, and retested until I felt the recipe was as close as possible to the real deal.
This Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe has the most in-depth explanation of all the who, what, why and how on everything in my Levain Bakery copycat cookie journey. A little over the top, but seriously some of the most fun I’ve had in the recipe development game.
**Update May 2017** NO-NUT VERSION**
After receiving lots of feedback on this recipe several of you have said in emails, messages through Instagram and comments on Instagram posts that your cookies are going flat. I was puzzled by this! As you can see, the cookies are HUGE balls of dough before baking. I finally measured, and the dough balls sit about 3 inches high.
How could they flatten out after baking for such a relatively short time? When I drilled down the problem, I found the readers who were having issues with the cookies going flat were NOT adding walnuts to the recipe. I stated in the recipe notes originally – “If you are going to omit the nuts, you may want to try adding more chocolate chips and 1/4 cup of additional flour.”
I should have been more specific. I didn’t want to add much more flour than the originally called for 2 1/2 to 2 3/4 cups total, because once you add too much flour it changes the texture and flavor of the end product. Apparently 1/4 cup of additional flour was not enough.
I talked through this with my friend Melinda a few days ago. She mentioned something about replacing the volume of nuts in the cookies with something else. Then it hit me. To have success with this recipe the volume of the nuts had to be replaced exactly if the cookies were going to hold their shape.
I experimented with adding the additional 1/4 cup of flour- 3 cups total flour (1 cup cake flour, 2 cups AP flour) and 4 cups total semi sweet chocolate chips. HOORAY! The no-nut perfect version of the Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookie Copycat was born. The adjustments are in the recipe notes.
I highly recommend refrigeration of dough if you do not have a convection oven. Refrigerate for 45 minutes after shaping the dough, then bake as directed. This will also help the cookies hold their shape.
One more note- The chocolate chips weight equals 14.6 oz for 2 cups, while 2 cups of whole walnuts equal 10.16 oz for 2 cups. The walnuts take up more volume, but weigh less than the chocolate chips. When measuring out the cookies made with chocolate chips only, the dough is more dense and the dough balls are smaller.
I weighed out the cookies without walnuts to about 7 oz per cookie, as opposed to 6 oz for the cookies with nuts. The recipe will still yield about 8 cookies per batch!
**Update May 23, 2017 Mini Version**
The cookies can be made in a “mini” size, about 3-3.5 oz each. Perfect size for any gathering where you don’t want to make and serve cookies that are nearly 1/2 lb each! Shape as directed, then bake at 400 degrees ( I use convection bake, but you can use regular bake as well) for about 5-6 minutes or just until top of cookie forms a crust.
**Update June 2017**
Lots of questions about CAKE flour. It is usually found on the top shelf at grocery stores, in a small box. Most groceries sell ” Softasilk” Cake Flour in a box. Make sure you read the label if you buy other brands and buy Cake Flour and not a “Cake Flour Blend”.
If you can’t find cake flour at your grocery, you can make your own at home by using this method to Make Cake Flour at Home:
- Measure out 1 cup of all purpose flour into a medium size mixing bowl.
- Remove 2 tablespoons of the flour and place back in the flour container.
- Add 2 tablespoons of cornstarch to the flour in mixing bowl.
- Sift the flour and cornstarch mixture. Sift again about 3-4 more times.
- You now have cake flour! Place in a bag or container, measure out and use as needed.
Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies
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
Instructions
- Pre heat oven to 400 degrees and set rack in middle of oven.
- Place butter into bowl and turn mixer on low. If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment.
- 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.
- Add the eggs and beat on medium just until incorporated with butter and sugars, about 30 seconds.
- 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.
- Pour the walnuts into the batter all at once. Pulse the batter 5-6 times.
- Pour the chocolate chips into the batter and pulse again 5-6 times.
- 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.
- 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.
- Bake 4 cookies per pan, for 11 minutes on regular bake or 400 convection bake for 8-9 minutes.
- The cookies are done when the top is a bit golden and the bottom is also golden.
- Do not over bake. Let cool for 15 minutes before serving.
- To make the cookies without walnuts, see recipe notes below!
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Be sure to leave a comment and rate this recipe! I’d love to see a photo, tag @abountifulkitchen on Instagram!
Sandra
I have made these cookies for over 2 years now , A LOT! Everyone loves them. Now when I think of having a cookie I can’t think of a better one than this one.
I make each cookie about 3 oz and bake from frozen for 11-12 minutes. Delicious!!
Sophie
Hello, am so excited to try your recipe but can you please post the ingredients in grams?
Thank you.
Best Copycat Levain Cookie Recipe | Famish
[…] A Bountiful Kitchen: a beautifully bronzed cookie with a barely-there, nearly-raw center, great for gooey cookie lovers […]
Kim Crawford
These cookies are the best! They turn out perfectly every time. When you substitute walnuts with pretzels, like you posted on Instagram, what amount of pretzels do you use?
Mandy G
I have my own tried-and-true cookie recipe, but I wanted to change it up a little. Love this recipe! I used the suggestion to make my own cake flour, no problem at all. When change I did make a call and I can’t use walnuts, and I didn’t want to add 2 more cups of choc chips ( i like more “cookie” in cookies)… so I added 2 cups of oats. Turned out amazing! I also wanted a bit smaller cookies.. smaller even than the 3oz version. Did 1.5 oz and baked for 8-9 mins. Thanks for this recipe!! Its my new go-to!!
Danielle
Hi I’m making these this weekend! Wondering if you lined the baking sheets with parchment paper first? Thanks!
Michael Kane
I enjoy reading your posts, but wonder why you don’t specify weights for ingredients? You mention having a scale and using it to weigh the cookie balls in this recipe, why not weigh your flour and sugar etc.? And I was a bit confused by the instructions to “pulse” after beating the butter, sugar, and eggs. In the end I decided to go with another recipe, the results look pretty much like yours and the “real” ones. I will make them again, and incorporate some of your recipe, notably using walnut halves instead of chopped, I think that would work even better.
Bob Meicher
This is the last cookie recipe you will need. I’ve made all the variations of these several times with fantastic results! I use the cake flour hack and it works great. Thank you for your work on this!!
Btw….is there a recipe for a sugar cookie or snicker doodle like this?
Thanks,
Bob
Jadyn Wakamatsu
These cookies are absolutely amazing.
I’m not a big walnut person so I did pecans instead. I did 1 cup cake flour 2 cups AP flour. I also only have a hand mixer so folding in the dry and wet ingredients + the chocolate chips and pecans worked perfect! (Instead of pulsing) Definitely make sure butter is straight from fridge & eggs! Don’t over beat! Mine came out thick and gooey!! New fan favorite in my house!
Trina
Made these yesterday and substituted pretzels in place of the walnuts, they were a HUGE hit! That added surprise of the salt was amazing. I did find that by refrigerating the dough (after I had formed it on the cookie baking sheets) for about 45 minutes really helped keep the shape of the cookies.
Si Foster
Trina,
We love this cookie with the pretzel addition or, better said, substitution! I think this is the preferred way for most kids to enjoy this cookie!
Thanks for reading ABK
xo
Si
KonstantIna
Hello, the recipe is amazing!
Because in Greece the degrees of the electric stove have a maximum of 250 degrees Celsius. At what temperatures do you think I need to bake cookies?
Greetings from Greece❤️
Si Foster
Hi Konstantlna, I would try cooking them at 200 degrees Celsius, let me know how they turn out and thank you for reading ABK!
xo
Si
Sara
I just made these and WOW. It’s been a year since I first tried the actual version in NYC, so maybe my memory is a little fuzzy, but I think these are BETTER. Definitely my favorite cookie recipe I’ve ever made. Thank you!
Also, super impressed by your dedication to figuring this recipe and technique out! Way to be committed!
Ellen Sue Kraemer
These came out PERFECT! Thanks for the recipe. Love Levain’s cookies and these are about the same.
Si Foster
Thanks you Ellen! We appreciate your feedback!
Nicole
Could I replace the walnuts and chocolate chips with dried cranberries and white chocolate chips to make white chocolate cranberry cookies?
Sara
Just because I’m all chocolated out from Christmas, I subbed cranberries and raisins for walnuts and chocolate chips and there was no detriment to the recipe at all.
Sofia
How should I go about changing this to make it a S’mores cookie? I want to place a mini s’more in the center. Would I be able to do this?
Sejal
My microwave allows me to bake till 250 degrees. I’m using a microwave. So what should I do
Becca
I made these in a gluten free version by subbing gf cake and AP flour. These are the BEST gf chocolate cookies I’ve ever made or tasted! They are outstanding when eaten same day, as sitting overnight brought out a bit of the grainy gf texture (don’t get me wrong, they were still outstanding for breakfast the next morning!!) I made them in the 3oz size and only baked a few. I froze the rest in 3 oz balls. I felt the need to bake them an extra 2-3 minutes, as they seemed a bit too raw. OMG, I’m done looking for a good gf chocolate chip cookie!! Thank you!!!
Si Foster
Becca,
I am so happy to hear this and also appreciate this feedback about using GF flour. I would love to know if you felt the cookie dough that was frozen turned out better than the cookies baked immediately? I have found that letting gf flour sit overnight in fridge (or freezer) before being baked helps the texture of gf cookies considerably!
Si Foster
Thank you Becca! So good to hear when bakers use gf flour and the recipe works! I appreciate your feedback.
Have a great day!
xo
Si
Marie
Hi Si,
Good day. I just want to clarify if you sift the All purpose flour, cake flour, baking soda and baking powder? I am making 3oz cookies to give to my coworkers for christmas, 50 persons in total… And you say to bake the 3oz cookies around 5-6 minutes? Is that correct? hope to hear from you. Thank you!
Si Foster
Hi Marie, I don’t sift the dry ingredients together, I add them straight into the wet ingredients. I live at a higher elevation, so it only takes about 5-6 minutes to bake the cookies, but you just want to bake them until the top of the cookie forms a crust, so you might have to cook them for longer. Hope this helps and thanks for reading ABK!
xo
Si
Emilia
Hi ! Do you pack the brown sugar or not? Thanks!
Si Foster
Hi Emilia, I do not pack the brown sugar. Thanks for reading ABK!
xo
Si
Christine Choi
However, your recipe states 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed.
Mimi
11 minutes?!?! Totally raw in the center. Way too many chocolate chips. I so wanted these to taste like Levains
Long
I made the recipe, following the directions. It was delicious! Thank you for sharing amazing recipe.
Long
Making these today! They look so yummy! Hopefully I will get back & post how they turned out. Thank you for this recipe.
Leesa
I can’t even count the number of times I have made these. They are amazing!! My version is oatmeal chocolate chip, so 2 cups oatmeal instead of the 2 cups walnuts. They are perfect! Thank you so much for posting this!
Si Foster
Thank you Leesa!I have not even thought of trying oatmeal in this recipe. Thanks for sharing your modification!
xo
Si
Becca
Hello, I haven’t tried the recipe yet. I live in Utah where the attitude is about 6500 ft. Have you found that anything needs to be adjusted with this higher attitude?
Thanks fir your hard work. Excited to try!!
Si Foster
Hi Becca,
I live at about 5,000 feet and it works perfectly. Give it a try and let us know if you have to make adjustments!
xo
Si
Lena
Lived two blocks from Levain in NYC Upper WestSide and LOVED these cookies. Since moving due to military move I was so happy when I found your recipe!!! We are now living in Belgium and I can’t wait to make these for my neighbors this holiday season! Thank you again! Your recipe brought a little bit of home to us being so far away 🙂
Debra
You have great recipes! The Levain’s chocolate chip, oatmeal, chocolate cookies, your suggestion to have them bake when done to be approximately 3″ in diameter so they bake flat to use for ice cream sandwiches.
Thank you!
Shelby
I am planning to try this recipe this weekend, but I also do not like walnuts so I am thinking of replacing them with broken up pretzel pieces…. and maybe reducing the salt? Since it will be salty from the pretzels… thoughts?
Si Foster
Hi Shelby, I think adding pretzels is a great idea! You can reduce the amount of salt, but I don’t think using the original amount will make the cookies too salty. Let me know how they turn out and thanks for reading ABK!
xo
Si
Cherylann
I’ve never had the real thing, but we love these cookies. We “discovered” this recipe during the pandemic and have enjoyed making them. We have baked the 6 oz and the 3 oz size cookies and they both turned out well. We usually put a timer on for 1 hour before we try to eat them so they can “set”, it is worth the wait. I always have pecans on hand so that is what I use and we love them. Thank you for another fabulous recipe Si!
ANgela
This is the second Levain cookie copycat recipe I’ve tried. The taste itself is good, but the cookie completely melts down into a pancake, and doesn’t retain that chunky appearance that Levain cookies are famous for.
I wonder if using cornstarch helps keep that shape? The first recipe I tried uses cornstarch instead of baking powder and it kept its shape.
Ir
I was so excited about this recipe and everything is great except after 11 and 15 minutes and cooking they are still so under baked in the center. Way more than the levain cookies. I keep having to reheat the oven and throw them back in. I know there is no issue with my oven because it’s strong with cooking everything else. I used regular bake, not convection. Any recommendations? This is my second batch and after 15 minutes, here I go again throwing them back in the oven (after they’ve cooled).
Pat
Regards to IR:
I’m not the creator however are you letting the cookies sit on the cookie sheet after you take them out. It has to be at least 20 to up to an hour. I find letting the cookie sit for an hour is better. The cookies continues to cook while they sit on their “sheet”. I hope this helps and i’ve tried both versions NUTS and NO NUTS … marvelous.
AndI
One of my favorite recipes! I’ve made it too many times to count and it is always a huge hit- my friends husband once hid them during a party to make sure he would have them all to himself. I do leave out the walnuts, but subbing in the double chocolate chips and making the flour adjustments (I used all-purpose) was super easy! Thank you for sharing this awesome recipe!!
Danni
I did your recipe however I did milk chocolate chips and semi sweet chips along with using pecans. OMG! these are awesome. I couldn’t even finish a whole cookie just half. I bake a lot about 4-6 times a week and was impressed by these and they tasted as if the cookie just came off the runway. So thank you my new favorite.
EMily
Is it the extra flour OR the extra chips for the no walnut recipe? So excited to try this
Dor
Hi Si
This cookies marvellous! I have one issue, the cookie outside is brown n crispy but it break easily as it is very soft inside. Is it normal or do i need to press more to form a ball? Thanks
Si Foster
Do not press this to form a ball, the cookie should not be packed tightly when baked. Make sure to check your oven temperature with an oven thermometer.
Kelli Wyatt
Best cookie I’ve ever made!
Rabia Shaik
I made this yesterday and it tasted good! It didn’t spread and came out looking chunky and lightly golden brown. I left it alone for 15 minutes, but it became cold by then. Also, the inside seemed more like a fluffy cake than a cookie? Did I not do something right?
Si Foster
hmmm the inside is usually very gooey, not cake like. It sounds to me like you added too much flour. Make sure to use the flours specified, same with the amount of chocolate and nuts! Hope this helps,
Si
ferra
can you give me the amount of the recipe with grams?i can’t measure the exactly amount if using cups,sometimes the ingredients can’t be full when measuring with cups.
Anne
Hi, when replacing walnuts on the recipe should I choose if I’m going to add flour or chocolate chips only? Or can I add both ingredients like 1/8 cup of AP flour and 1 cup of chocolate chips? Also, can I use regular salt if I don’t have coarse sea salt? Thank you in advance!
Si Foster
Hi Anne,
I’m sorry I don’t quite understand what you are asking? If you are replacing the walnuts on this recipe, you will need to replace volume, which is usually done by adding more chocolate chips. Sea salt is best, but if you only have regular table salt, that is fine as well! I just prefer the taste of sea salt.
Thanks for reading ABK,
xo
Si
A.R.
If I wanted to make a birthday cake flavor….would I just replace the nuts and chocolate chips with sprinkles and white chocolate chips? Or other things have to be changed as well?
Si Foster
Hi A.R.,
I think that will work! Just replace the chocolate chips with white chocolate chips. If you are not adding nuts, you will need to replace the volume the nuts would have added, as stated in the recipe, so you will need to replace the nuts with white chocolate chips. You can subtract the sprinkles amount from the amount of additional white chocolate chips. For example, use 3.5 cups of white chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of sprinkles. Let me know if you try this!
xo
Si
natalia
Hey!!!! Thank you so much for this recipe and all your notes! I baked them and they taste amazing but they stayed like balls and didnt really flatten a little, they just look like a chocolate chip cookie ball 🙂 what can I do?
Si Foster
Hi Natalia, I would try baking them on regular bake instead of convection if that’s how you baked them, I also wouldn’t refrigerate the dough if you want them to flatten out a little more. Hope this helps and thank you for reading ABK!
xo
Si
Eunice
Thank you for this recipe! I use it all the time and my family and friends LOVE them! I think my oven tends to run on the low side, so I have to bake them a little longer, and I make them a little smaller, but it might just be because I don’t like my cookies too under baked. 🙂 Thank you!
Gerry
This was ABSOLUTELY delicious!!! Thank you!!!
Becca Jacksom
These were amazing!!! Crispy on the outside and had the chewy center. A new family favorite for sure!!! We did the recipe with no walnuts and the note was perfect to add extra flour and extra chocolate chips. We already can’t wait to make them again!
Celeste Morrison
Hi, I just made these yesterday ( saw them on TikTok) and they were fantastic.
Would this recipe, without the chocolate chips, work for confetti/ sprinkle cookies?
Or would that be more of a sugar cookie?
Si Foster
Hi Celeste, I don’t think confetti/sprinkles would work very well in these cookies just because they wouldn’t supplement the volume of the nuts/chocolate chips. But I do have quite a few sugar cookie recipes that would be perfect with sprinkles or confetti! Thank you for asking and for reading ABK,
xo
Si
Tanya
We love this recipe and keep coming back to it! We like to substitute the walnuts with 1 cup Heath bits and 1 cup chopped pecans. Sometimes there is spreading and we will be trying to refrigerate them first this time. Thank you for this great recipe!
Si Foster
I love that idea of adding toffee bits and pecans, Tanya! Thank you for sharing and for reading ABK,
xo
Si
Nads
Hey there,
Im a big fan of Levain cookies. I tried using your recipe yesterday and excluded the walnut but it still came out flat even though I have added additional 1/4 flour. I used 1 cup of cake flour and 2 cups of all purpose flour in total but I still didnt get the same texture as yours. The bottom looks kinda burnt and a bit too soft in the center
Marissa
Are they eggs room temp or cold as well
Bonnie Bridge
These are the most amazing cookies!!! Thank you so much for your generosity in sharing all of your delicious recipes. Hope things are going good on your Mission.
Si Foster
Thank you so much Bonnie! Things are going so well given the circumstances.
xo
Si
Irene
The taste is good but 9 min at 400 was far too little time. The inside was raw dough. I saw another recipe that was 410 for 9-12 minutes. I think that would be more appropriate
Si Foster
Thank you for your feedback, Irene, let me know how the cookies turn out at 410 degrees for 9-12 minutes if you make them again.
Si
Alessandra Lang dos Santos
Hello Si!
Thank you so sooo much for sharing this recipe and for saving us lots of time trying to get it right!
I loved your tips and how detailed your instructions are.
I came up with a few questions that I couldn’t find in the post:
– If I want to freeze the cookie dough then would you recommend more a ziplock bag or some other kind of container?
– Also, After I froze them for a couple weeks and put then straight into the oven, they burned. For how long would you recommend me letting the frozen dough cool down before i put it in the oven?
– For selling the cookies, would you recoomend a cookie plastic bag? Or wax paper + paper bag?
Thank you so much!