Bookmark this post immediately if you’ve ever fancied the recipe for Levain Bakery’s legendary cookies.
A destination in its own right in the thrum of New York City, you’ll most likely always find a queue outside the world-famous bakery as locals and tourists patiently line up for their fix. Weighing a whopping 6 ounces, the chocolate-chip walnut cookies are perhaps their most famous – colossally-thick and chunky with a gloriously gooey centre!
If New York is a bit of a long way off from you and/ or you’ve always wanted to recreate these at home, Le Cordon Bleu-trained pastry chef Bianca Manik (of Mumbai-based Blanchette patisserie) is sharing her recipe inspired by the original. Be sure to use chocolate chunks or coarsely-chopped bits of high-quality dark chocolate (rather than just chocolate chips) when baking these. This delicious recipe takes shape with puddles of melted chocolate sheathing a soft-centred cookie, offering much drama and whispering sweet nothings about the ridiculously-chocolatey and gooey middle!
tIPS FOR MAKING Gooey Levain-Bakery Style cOOKIES
- Use chocolate chunks rather than chocolate chips for the “melted chocolate” effect. Good quality baking chocolate is preferable, but as always Amul‘s dark chocolate will also work well.
- Don’t over-beat the dry ingredients when adding them to the wet mixture. Over-beating will result in harder-textured cookies, rather than the soft gooey kind that this recipe is famed for!
- Remove the cookies when the edges are set but the centre is still soft with a slight wobble. Don’t over-bake these cookies if you want a gooey texture that breaks apart to reveal puddles of melted chocolate!
Commonly-asked Questions
If you are restricted in your use of eggs, you might prefer my eggless recipe for Levain Bakery-style cookies instead:
Levain Bakery-Inspired Chocolate-Chunk Cookies
Ingredients
- 240 gm cold butter, cut into cubes
- 200 gm brown sugar
- 100 gm caster sugar
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 480 gm all-purpose flour
- 280 gm high-quality dark chocolate, coarsely cut (try to use chocolate chunks over chocolate chips – Amul‘s dark chocolate will also work well!)
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- With a hand mixer, whisk together the butter with both sugars, until pale white and fluffy.
- Add the egg and vanilla extract and whisk until well incorporated.
- Sieve together the salt, flour and baking soda.
- Gradually beat the flour mixture into the batter and stir in the chocolate chunks.
- Chill the cookie dough in the refrigerator for 15- 20 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C.
- Weigh cookie dough into balls of 120g-180g each and place on a sheet of parchment. Lightly press on top of the dough to smoothen out.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
- Allow the cookies to rest for 15-20 minutes, so that they set before taking them off the parchment paper.
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ABOUT BIANCA MANIK
Bianca Manik is a pastry chef trained at Le Cordon Bleu in London and School for European Pastry in Mumbai. She believes in baking cakes that should be eaten under your covers, just so that you don’t have to share any of it! She currently runs Blanchette, a patisserie based in the heart of Mumbai.
Instagram @BlanchetteIndia @ChefBiancaManik
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We’d love to hear from you! Do let us know if you try this recipe – you can leave a comment below and/ or tag us in your delicious creations on Instagram @the_foodiediaries.
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Hi, How cold does the butter have to be, considering it needs to be whisked together with the sugars? May not work if it’s too hard?
Great recipe, it tasted absolutely amazing. I’ll surely be making them again!
Hi! I’ve tried this recipe and it worked like magic in the first try. I’ve made them in smaller sizes (60 grams each) and they worked well. I got a massive chunky cookie. Also, I stuck to Amul dark chocolate. Also, tried with Amul milk chocolate and they come out equally good! Please please don’t use cheap chocolate, it will ruin the cookie:-(
Use the BEST quality ingredients you can source for a superior quality end result! It matters!
Thanks so much for leaving such detailed feedback! Amul chocolate for the baking win!
Best cookies I ever made. I tried this recipe and It was a big hit. I couldn’t believe I baked such good cookies at home. My cookies are so popular and loved by my friends and fam. They insist on baking these for them.
Make sure to follow each and everything mentioned in the recipe, you’ll be amazed with the results.
Thanks so much for your kind words and for sharing your experience! So glad to hear that they turned out so well 🙂
Turned out perfectly!