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If you’ve ever been to New York City, you know that a trip to Levain Bakery is a rite of passage. Their cookies are legendary: massive, 6-ounce mountains of dough that are crisp on the outside and have practically molten, gooey centers. I’ve spent years perfecting this Levain Copycat Cookie Recipe so you can get that exact same experience at home. They are thick, packed with toasted walnuts, and look exactly like the originals: one of the best chocolate chip cookie recipes I’ve ever made.
By the time I got to NYC in 2018, I’d seen Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies all over the internet. Influencers and friends everywhere were posting themselves holding those giant cookie halves and it was my mission to find them. Once I did, they delivered: they were as good as I’d hoped. So, of course, I knew I had to make a copycat at home (because who wants to pay that much for a cookie and also, then I can make them smaller if I want!) I promise, these are the real deal!
The secret to getting that iconic height is using a combination of All-Purpose flour and Cake flour. The cake flour lowers the protein content just enough to keep the cookie tender and soft, while the AP flour provides the structure needed to hold up a 6-ounce ball of dough. We also use cold butter and a very high oven temperature, which seals the outside of the cookie before the inside has a chance to spread.
To make authentic 6-ounce Levain copycat cookies, combine cold cubed butter with a mix of cake flour and all-purpose flour. Fold in plenty of toasted walnuts and semi-sweet chocolate chips. Shape into 6-ounce craggy mounds and bake at a high temperature (400°F-415°F) for 10-12 minutes. This high-heat method creates a crisp exterior while leaving the center soft and gooey.
Ingredients in Copycat Levain Cookies
- Using a mix of cake flour and all-purpose flour is essential for a “thick and soft” texture. Cake flour has a lower protein content and is more finely milled, which creates a more delicate crumb. This prevents the giant 6-ounce cookies from becoming too bread-like or tough, ensuring the center stays gooey while the edges stay crisp.
- Starting with cold butter keeps the dough cold and more firm, even through mixing. Using cold butter in cookies limits spread and results in a thicker and denser almost biscuit-like cookies. Because the fat stays solid longer, it creates small pockets that melt slowly in the oven, preventing the dough from flattening too quickly and yielding a richer, more concentrated flavor.
- The cookie uses both baking soda and baking powder, which keeps them soft and helps them spread a little so they don’t stay baseballs in the oven.
- Classic Levain cookies are basically a chocolate chip walnut cookie. The bakery uses semi-sweet chocolate chips but you can use milk or dark chocolate chips. It’s also important to toast the walnuts (and cool them) before adding them to the batter. Toasted nuts deepen the flavor, and with walnuts, it’s especially important because it can alter the oils and texture of the nuts. Raw walnuts can often irritate your mouth and toasting the nuts (as well as chopping them small) helps combat this issue.
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Expert Tips for Levain’s Cookies
- These cookies stay thick because of three factors: high-fat content (cold butter), a higher ratio of flour to sugar, and a higher temperature (375°F). The high heat shocks the dough, setting the outer crust immediately so the cookie grows upward rather than spreading outward.
- To get the authentic bakery look, use a digital kitchen scale to weigh out exactly 172 grams (6 ounces) of dough. Instead of rolling the dough into a smooth ball, keep the tops craggy and uneven. This creates the peaks and valleys that brown in the oven, giving them that signature rustic NYC look.
- Another baking secret: bake the cookies on a parchment-lined cookie sheet on TOP of an inverted cookie sheet in the center of the oven. Only bake one pan at a time. Baking this way allows more air to circulate and prevents edges from burning faster than the centers.
- You know the cookies are done when they’ve slightly flattened, are no longer glossy on top, and have golden brown edges and peaks. The chocolate chips form gooey puddles of chocolate, so let the cookies sit for 10 minutes
- Want to make a smaller size cookie? You can use ANY size cookie scoop. I think 2-3ounces if using a kitchen scale would be perfect for everyday.
- A stand mixer will mix up these cookies way easier than a hand mixer, but you can use either.
Levain Copycat Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups (248g) all-purpose flour
- 1 ¼ cups (140g) cake flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup (226g) cold unsalted butter, cubed
- ⅔ (134g) packed light brown sugar
- ⅔ (134g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups (340g) chocolate chips
- 1 cup (107g) coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted
Instructions
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Whisk all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside
- Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer (fitted with the paddle attachment), cream the cold butter on low speed until the cubes lose their shape, about 45 seconds to one minute. Add both sugars and cream about 1 minute more.
- Add eggs and vanilla and mix until smooth, then mix in the dry ingredients until thick.
- Add chocolate chips and walnuts and stir to combine.
- For authentic sized cookies, shape large balls of cough, about 6 ounces (172g) each (approximately ¾ cup). Set on the prepared cookie sheet. Chill for at least 90 minutes, up to overnight. (If chilling longer than 90 minutes, be sure to cover the pan with plastic wrap).
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Place an empty cookie sheet upside down on the middle rack.
- Remove cold dough balls and spread to a second cookie sheet (4 cookie dough balls per large cookie sheet).
- Bake one sheet at a time, on top of the upside down sheet on the middle rack. Bake approximately 20-26 minutes. Check after about 15 minutes to see if the pan needs to be rotated, depending on how your oven bakes. When done, the cookies will loose their glossy sheen, edges and spots on top will be a dark golden, and the insides will still be slightly doughy.
- Cool cookies at least 10 minutes on pan before removing and enjoying.
- Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. Freeze baked and cooled cookies for up to 3 months. Cookie dough can also be frozen. To bake from frozen, add 2-3 min to the cook time.
Recipe Notes
- You can use pecans in place of walnuts.
- If desired, omit nuts altogether and use the same amount more chocolate chips.
- You can make these any size to make them more manageable size cookies, but bake time will be less. For 1 tablespoon or 2-tablespoon cookies, form the cookies into a tall mountain vs a ball to ensure they stay thick.
Recipe Nutrition
How to make Giant Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies
- Whisk your dry ingredients: all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Cream COLD cubed butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until the cubes lose their shape. Add the brown sugar and granulated sugar and cream.
- Add in eggs and vanilla, then mix in the dry ingredients.
- Add chocolate chips and walnuts.
- Measure out 6 ounce balls of cookie dough and place on cookie sheets covered with parchment paper and chill for at least 90 minutes.
- Bake at 375°F, rotating pans as needed. You know copycat chocolate chip cookies are done when they’ve lost their glossy sheen and have little brown spots on the edges.
FAQs
While walnuts are traditional to the Levain signature cookie, you can omit them. However, the nuts actually help provide structure to the “mountain” shape, so if you skip them, your cookies may spread slightly more.
No! You must use cold, cubed butter. Melted or room-temperature butter will cause these massive cookies to flatten into pancakes.
They should look golden brown on the bottoms, no longer glossy, and have light golden “peaks” on top. They will firm up as they cool on the pan.
You can, but you’ll lose that specific gooey-center to crisp-edge ratio. They will still be delicious but the texture will change slightly. If you want the true Levain experience, go big at 6 ounces!
