Introducing my favourite thick and chewy Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies. These big, buttery chocolate chip cookies are soft and chewy and filled to the brim with chocolate.
I am obsessed with these cookies. And rightly so. These thick and chewy Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies are what my sugar-coated dreams are made of. They’re big, buttery and completely irresistible.
If you love cookies with crispy, golden edges and a melty centre filled with chocolate, these cookies have your name on them ❤️
Why you will love this recipe
- Thick and chunky: These cookies are big and fat and won’t spread too much in the oven.
- Chewy texture: You can expect a chewy cookie with crispy edges.
- So many mix-in’s: They’re filled with good things, like loads of chocolate and chopped walnuts.
- No chilling: You don’t need to chill the dough so they could be on your table in less than an hour.
Watch how to make them
I followed the simple recipe (novice baker), and the results were identical to LEVAIN when I was in NY! Delicious and cannot wait to make more. THANK YOU FOR SHARING!
– Sarah
Recipe testing
I just returned home from a holiday in New York two weeks ago. And one of the first recipes I wanted to try to develop when I got back was a copycat Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookie.
I finally had the chance to try their legendary – and ridiculously big – cookies. They are famous, not just for their taste, but for their size – 6 ounce each apparently. They have a rustic, golden brown exterior, and buttery middle that’s filled with chocolate chunks and crunchy walnuts.
And yes they were as delicious as they sound and look.
(Finally trying the Chocolate Chip Cookie from Levain Bakery in New York)
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I love my Classic Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe but I knew to achieve the thickness of a Levain Bakery style cookie, it was going to need some tweaking. But the results ARE IN.
A few adjustments to the ingredients and the method and you have a big, fat Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookie that you can make at home. BOOM.
You don’t need any special equipment to make these cookies. In fact, you only need all the basic ingredients of a regular Chocolate Chip Cookie, but you need to follow the instructions carefully for best results.
A big part of the cookie magic has to do with the temperature of the butter. While most cookie recipes rely on softened butter or melted butter, but this recipe calls for cold butter. It helps the cookies not to spread too much in the oven.
Another key is the amount of fix-in’s. There’s alot of chocolate AND nuts in this recipe, just like Levain Bakery’s cookie. It also helps the cookies stay thick and lumpy.
I know everyone has their favourite chocolate chip cookie recipe, but I stand by this recipe. It is legit one of the best cookies I’ve tasted at home!
Tips for making thick chocolate chip cookies
- This recipe calls for COLD butter – straight from the fridge. Not softened or melted.
- Use brown sugar for this recipe for maximum flavour. Brown sugar will also help the cookies spread less in the oven than white sugar.
- These cookie use a little more flour than regular cookies for extra body. You also need to add 1 tablespoon of cornflour (or corn starch) to help keep the cookies soft. If you don’t have any cornflour, you can add an extra tablespoon of plain flour.
- These cookies call for lots of chocolate. I recommend chopping a block of chocolate by hand, instead of using chocolate chips. You can use milk chocolate or dark chocolate or a mix of both.
- Levain Bakery cookies have walnuts in them. I have included walnuts in this recipe, but have tried these cookies with other nuts, such as pecans and almonds. The nuts also help the cookies not to spread. If you don’t want to add nuts, you will need to add extra chocolate to help the cookies from spreading.
- I recommend using 2 tablespoons of cookie dough per cookie. Because these cookies are very thick, they need a few more minutes in the oven, until they are golden brown.
- Test one cookie to see if the cookies are thick enough. If it spreads too much, you might want to chill the dough for an extra 30 minutes and then try baking them again.
More cookie recipes to try
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Let’s Bake
Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies
Super thick and chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies made from scratch.
Ingredients
- 115 grams (1/2 cup or 1 stick) unsalted butter, COLD (straight from the fridge), roughly chopped
- 190 grams (1 cup) brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg, cold
- 245 grams (1 and 3/4 cup) plain flour or all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon cornflour or cornstarch*
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- Pinch of salt, optional
- 225 grams (1 and 1/2 cups) dark or milk chocolate, chopped by hand
- 50 grams (1/2 cup) walnuts, roughly chopped*
- Sea salt flakes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F) standard / 160 C (320 F) fan-forced. Line two baking trays with baking or parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, add cold butter and sugar. Beat with an electric mixer until combined. Add vanilla and egg. Beat again until combined – but try not to over mix.
- Add flour, cornflour, baking soda and salt, if using, and beat on a low speed until soft cookie dough forms. Add chocolate and walnuts and beat briefly.
- Scoop out cookie dough, roughly 2 tablespoons per cookie, and place on prepared oven trays, leaving room for the cookie to spread.
- Bake cookies for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown. Leave cookies to cool completely. Sprinkle sea salt flakes on top.
Notes
*Cornflour: If you don’t have any cornflour (or cornstarch), add an extra tablespoon of flour.
*Nuts: You can use any nut you like (e.g. pecans or macadamias). If you want to leave out the nuts, add extra chocolate. The generous amount of fix-in’s help the cookies stay thick.
Shaping the dough: Instead of rolling the cookie dough smooth with your hands, leave it rough and pieced together for a more rustic look as pictured below.
Thickness: Try baking one cookie initially. If it’s not thick enough, place the cookie dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes and try again.
Nutrition Information
Bianca Rennolds says
Best cookies I ever made they are so easy to do,
I cant stop baking them, so scrumptious my family loves them.
Jessica Holmes says
Yes! Love that you love them as much as I do Bianca!
Humphrey says
Amazing. This is the recipe I’ve been looking for. I love a nice chewy cookie but so many recipes I’ve seen I’ve followed but they spread too much in the oven and end up flat. This is perfect, the dough is thicker than cookie dough I’m used to but the result is a nice soft chewy cookie. This will be my go to cookie recipe from now on.
Jessica Holmes says
Yay! So glad you had success Humphrey!
Kelsie says
They came out great! Love this recipe!
Jessica Holmes says
So happy to hear that Kelsie!
Raj says
Hi, I tried this with an egg substitute (using “flax egg” method). But the dough was really dry in texture. I measured everything using kitchen scales too. 🙁
When I baked the cookies, they started to crack and didn’t really brown on top.
Do you know why this might have happened?
I thought about adding more butter or milk to hydrate the dough, but wasn’t sure how much and what else that might do…
Would really appreciate any solutions. 🙏
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Raj, yes I would say the flax egg substitute didn’t work well in this case. You could try adding less flour or a touch of milk next time. But it would be an experiment as the egg is a crucial part of the recipe.
Raj says
I had baked only half the dough and so I added >1/8 cup oat milk to the rest. (Looked at the pics to get an idea of “moisturization”.)
The second batch (with the added oat milk) came out amazingly!
Thank you for the super easy recipe
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed them Raj!
Phoebe says
Hi! Can you chill the dough overnight, so i can make them the day before and bake the next day?
Jessica Holmes says
Yes absolutely!!!
Christine says
These are the winner Levain copycat cookies for me! I have tried several versions and this one by far is the best tasting, texture, etc., not to mention the easiest to make which was a bonus. I ended up adding 3/4 tsp of salt to the dough to get it to my preference, otherwise exactly as written.
Jessica Holmes says
Yes!! Love that Christine!
Mel Clark says
This recipe is so versatile! I made them into 90 gram balls and froze them for a few hours. 16 minutes in 180 Celsius oven straight from freezer. You get less cookies but I wanted to make big ones for our schools bake sale. I also made white choc and cranberry, used 3/4 of the chocolate and made the last 1/4 of weight with dried cranberries. Macadamias would have gone well in this but I was out. My family have asked me to keep a stash in the freezer for emergency sweets.
Jessica Holmes says
That is so wonderful to hear Mel! I loe that you made these for your school’s bake sale. They sound so delicious!
Rachel White says
Hi could you substitute the flour and use GF flour to make gluten free version of cookies?
Thanks Rachel
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Rachel, I haven’t tried myself but a few readers have said they tried this with success. Let me know how it goes!
Julia says
The best part of this recipe (besides the fabulous final product) is how simple it is. No need for room temp butter or chilling the dough. One single bowl, with all of the weights listed. Incredible. In 20 min I had the best cookies I’ve ever had, and my kitchen was all tidied up. This one is SUCH a winner. I never leave blog reviews, but it would be a disservice to not let everyone know how tasty these are.
Jessica Holmes says
Thank you for your kind review Julia! I’m so glad you love this recipe as much as I do! So easy and so delicious!!
Karen says
I just made these and OMG! I used a mix of chocolate chips and some block chocolate a friend brought back from Bali. They are Devine! I am obsessed with making your Levain style cookies! This is my third flavour I have made and they are perfect every single time! Everyone loves them! The gingerbread ones were a huge hit over Christmas.
Jessica Holmes says
Yes I love hearing this Karen! I love that you are as obsessed with them as I am! 😉
Erika R says
Big and chocolatey. Just made a batch of these. The family definitely approves! I made each cookie about 60 grams and easily made 12 cookies. I had to cook them for 14-16 minutes. They were a little sweet for me so may add a little more salt next time.
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you and the fam enjoyed them Erika!
Shaina D says
Just wondering if there’s difference between hand shopped chocolate and good quality chocolate chips.
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Shaina, both are great but they do bake up differently! Chopped chocolate tends to melt more and create gooey, melty pockets of chocolate, whereas chocolate chips will hold their shape.