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!
– SarahJump to:
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 1/4 cup or 80 grams 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
Serving Size: 1 cookie Calories: 340 Sugar: 25.3 g Sodium: 127.7 mg Fat: 16.7 g Carbohydrates: 43.4 g Protein: 4.8 g Cholesterol: 40.4 mg
Katrina says
Great recipe. I really like the consistency. However, just wondering how long i need to bake after taking the dough from the freezer.
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Katrina, so glad you love these! When I bake them from frozen, I let them thaw for a little bit at room temperature (15 minutes or so) and then bake as per below with maybe an extra minute or two!
Liz J says
Made these twice and they turned out super thin each time. My butter was cold, I even refrigerated the dough further before baking. All the measurements were right, the temperature of my oven was right – I give up! Frustrated and threw this batch out (was trying to bring them to a family party so disappointing). I research other blogs to see if I could come up with something else I was doing wrong , tried it with parchment paper, without parchment paper, etc.… My first batch was at least edible – the second ones are thin, wet and actually fall apart. I’m typically a pretty good baker but these are beyond me so far….
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Liz, I’m so sorry to hear that! I just love these cookies (I make them every week) and would love to help you make thick cookies at home. Were you able to watch the video tutorial at all? I go through each step with added tips and tricks which might help. If you used cold butter as you said, I wonder if you maybe you over-mixed the dough. I’m happy to troubleshoot with you though so I will shoot you an email! Send me a photo of the cookies (wet cookies that fell apart definitely doesn’t sound right) so I can help. x
Hala says
Great recipe! Best cookies I’ve ever made, but a bit too sweet for my taste. I wonder if adding less sugar would still work.
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed them Hala! You could reduce the sugar by 1/4 cup but keep in mind that sugar adds moisture, colour and helps cookies to spread. Alternatively, you could add dark or bittersweet chocolate to help combat the sweetness. A heavy pinch of sea salt on top of the cooled cookies helps too!
Grishma Shah says
Wanted to check if we can use anything to replace the egg in the recipe as I’m a vegetarian
Any suggestions would be great
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Grishma, I’m sorry I haven’t tested this cookie without egg. You could certainly experiment though!
Ruth says
Any idea how many grams per cookie is 2 Tbsp of cookie dough?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Ruth, approximately 75-80 grams!
Kelsey says
The absolutely best!! Soo thick and delicious. Everyone asks me for the recipe when I bake them for guests. They’re a hit with everyone!! I often freeze some to have fresh cookies at short notice and that works amazing too.
Jessica Holmes says
Love hearing that Kelsey! So glad you love them as much as I do!
Em says
I’m not sure what happened I done everything in the recipe however they were so flat. Still so delicious but was really after the biiiig fluffy gooey cookies. Will try another recipe
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Em, sorry to hear that! If you’d like to troubleshoot, feel free to send me an email at jessica@sweetestmenu.com. I’d love to help you create big thick cookies! This article about reasons why cookies go flat might also help!
Susie says
Wonderful!!!! I added salt flakes.
Jessica Holmes says
Brilliant! So glad you enjoyed them!
Sarah Freire says
These cookies are absolutely divine! They kept their shape perfectly. Crisp edges and soft and gooey on the inside. I was a bit skeptical about the walnuts, but they add a lovely texture and flavour to the cookie. And the salt flakes on top…. perfection! Thank you for such a great recipe, will definitely be making these again!
Jessica Holmes says
Yay! Love hearing how much you enjoyed them Sarah!
Anissa says
Hello, can we use browned butter for this recipe? the quantity of butter to melt is the same as that indicated in the recipe?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Anisa, I haven’t tested this recipe exactly with brown butter, but I did create a similar Brown Butter Cookie recipe that you might like to try. The main issue with using brown butter is that there is some water loss so after browning you’ll end up with less liquid. But if you compensate for that, it might work. You’d also have to do a long chill (24 hours) to prevent spreading so it may not be the best idea if you are looking for a big New York style cookie like these.
leanne says
My cookies were a bit thin, still yummy but why do you think they would be thin and not rise? They spread quite a bit. I tried added baking powder to my next batch but they tasted salty (I also used salted butter) but would you suggest unsalted butter and why don’t you use baking powder to rise? I reasearched so many levain cookie recipes and most use baking powder and baking soda, would love to know why you don’t 🙂
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Leanne, thinness in cookies is usually due to the temperature of the butter. Did you use cold butter? Did you bake the cookie dough straight away? Baking soda helps create a chewy cookie with a golden colour. Baking powder makes cookies more airy and cakey. I haven’t found these cookies to need two raising agents. If you want a thicker cookie, I would consider chilling your dough before baking and making sure your cookie dough balls are nice and tall. Here’s an article I wrote about why cookies go flat when baked. I hope that helps!
Paris says
Hands down the best cookie recipe I’ve ever used!
So soft and gooey on the inside, everyone loved them, and they didn’t last long!
This will definitely be my go-to cookie recipe from now on 😁
Do you think it would be possible to make the dough ahead of time and freeze for a future date?
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you love these as much as I do Paris! You can definitely freeze them – I often have a stash in my freezer. Just bring them back to room temperature before baking. Enjoy!
Jennifer says
First time bake and they are so yummy I was thinking they could do with extra time so I gave extra 2min but as they are cooling absolutely did not need to, they are still really good not quite so soft
Jessica Holmes says
I’m so glad you enjoyed them Jennifer! Thank you for the kind feedback!
JennD says
Can I use Gluten Free Flour with this recipe? I have the Kink Arthur Measure for Measure flour. Thanks!
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Jenn, I haven’t tried but I think it would be worth a shot! If you do give it a go, let us know how it turned out.
Caro says
Hello!
I dont understand… where is the levain? There is no levain is this recipe. Why call it levain cookie?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Caro, this recipe has been designed after trying the famous cookie from Levain Bakery in New York.
Tiff says
I made these cookies and they’re absolutely amazing.
Would these cookie work if I baked it in a 400 degrees oven?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Tiff, so glad you enjoyed them! Do you mean 400 degrees fahrenheit? That would be rather hot, so the cookies would likely brown before they’re fully cooked inside.