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
Hi, I’m Jess, the creator of Sweetest Menu and the author of Something Sweet. A self-taught baker and published recipe writer who can’t stop making easy and delicious baking recipes.
Letoya says
The best tasting and easiest made cookies I’ve ever eaten and made! I get soo many compliments from family and friends when I bake these! I’d rate them a higher amount of stars if I could! Brilliant thank you for what you do!!
Jessica Holmes says
Wow that is so kind, thank you Letoya! Love that you love these as much as we do!
Anna says
So good!! Cried fave.
Jessica Holmes says
Yay!
Abir Bou Habib says
Super yummy and easy to make.
Thank you.
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you loved them!
Riele says
I’ve always used unsalted butter for this recipe and they always turn out great but I only have salted butter on hand. Will there be a difference if I use salted butter?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Riele, you absolutely can use salted butter. I usually bake with unsalted butter and then control the amount of salt myself. But using salted butter in this recipe would be fine!
Cali Jen says
Made these for my Sunday school class and they loved them!
Jessica Holmes says
This made my day! So glad you and the kids loved them.
Jenny says
Very tasty I love them and so easy to make
Thank you Jenny
Jessica Holmes says
Yay! So glad to hear that Jenny!
Jenzelle says
Working with the cold butter just didn’t work for me and I didn’t have time to chill before baking so my cookies are totally flat. It’s a shame because the dough tastes amazing.
I’ll use the recipe again but with normal butter, hand mixing and plenty of chill time before baking
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Jenzelle, sorry to hear using cold butter didn’t work for you. If you are not using cold butter, you will definitely need some chill time to make thick cookies. You can even use the freezer to speed up the process.
Julie says
Delicious thick soft on the inside, this is my go to Levain recipe!!!
Jessica Holmes says
YAY! I’m so happy to hear that Julie!
Sarah says
OMGGGGGG – 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!
Jessica Holmes says
YESSS! That makes me SO happy Sarah!
Anamta says
Tried this recipe a few days ago and I absolutely loved itt. It was perfect, the texture, the flavour.. every thing. Thank you soo much for sharing this amazing recipe with us❤️
Jessica Holmes says
That makes me so happy Anamta! So glad you love these too!
Victoria says
OMG yummy 😋 My 13-year-old loves baking cookies with me, so we gave this recipe a try today, and we absolutely loved it! Everything was perfect! the texture, the flavor—just spot on. Thank you so much for sharing such an amazing recipe!
REPLY
Jessica Holmes says
Yay! This makes me so happy Victoria!
Daryna says
Hi! Thank you for the recipe! I will try it 🙂
I have a question about the dough, can you store it in the freezer? I want to do a batch of those cookies but I won’t eat them all🙈
If I can freeze the dough, for how long it may stay in the freezer ?🩷
Jessica Holmes says
Absolutely you can Daryna! My freezer is stacked with them. You can bring them to room temperature or even bake them from frozen!
Julie says
The best, Thick and chewy, I’ve made this countless times. So good!! I use softened butter and chill the dough.
Jessica Holmes says
That’s wonderful to hear Julie!
chelsey says
I’m a little confused with your measurements.. a standard cup of all purpose flour is 120g but you are saying that 1 and 3/4 cup of AP flour for this recipe is 245g. That would give you more than 2 cups. I feel like you would get different results by using one form of measurement vs the other no?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Chelsey, thanks for your comment. There is actually no standard measurement for 1 cup flour. You’ll even find it differs in different cookbooks – let alone different countries. But every recipe on my site uses the measurement 1 cup of flour = 140 grams. I recommend always using gram measurements to avoid any confusion. I hope you love these cookies as much as I do!
Verity Harris says
I used baking soda, cold butter and refrigerated them, and they still turned out really flat which is disappointing. They spread dramatically
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Verity, how strange! These cookies really shouldn’t spread much – and hardly at all if you refrigerated them. Did you measure everything using a kitchen scale? Perhaps you over-worked the cookie dough which will make the butter extra warm. If you want to troubleshoot further, feel free to email me a photo at jessica@sweetestmenu.com.
Sophie says
Perfect and yummy.
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you liked them Sophie!
Neelam says
Love these cookies, they’re always so gooey on the inside and crispy on the outside. A must try!
Jessica Holmes says
Yay! Love that!
Angie says
I absolutely LOVE these cookies! They’re the absolute best! I just wonder: would I achieve the same result by using room temperature butter and making sure to chill the dough enough? Thanks!
Jessica Holmes says
So happy to hear that Angie! And yes! Just do a tester cookie first to make sure they’ve chilled for long enough.