Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookie COPYCAT recipe!! You can make the famous, delicious Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies at home! Check out the recipe!
I was in New York City last summer for two glorious weeks taking a culinary nutrition class at the Natural Gourmet Institute. I made plenty of trips to By Chloe for smoothies, lunch and sweet treats and got to meet up with friends and try lots of new restaurants.
On the weekends, my friend Susie and I went all over NYC and Levain Bakery was first on my list one Saturday! We got there and the line was out the door. This was to be expected and the line went relatively fast if I remember correctly. These cookies are beyond amazing.
The Levain Bakery chocolate chip walnut cookies not only resemble snowballs in size and weight, but they’re also gooey on the inside and crunchy on the outside, just like the perfect cookie should be!
HISTORY:
“Levain Bakery was opened in 1994 by two women, Pam McDonald and Connie Weekes, who trained for triathlete/Ironman competitions together. They were often hungry after training and wanted a treat that would fill them up. During the training process they talked about creating the best chocolate chip cookie in the world. Over 20 years later, they are still baking cookies (and muffins, breads, pizza, sticky buns) and wowing New Yorkers and tourists every day.” (Thank you, Si, for the history!)
I just found this video:
Levain Bakery has four locations in the NYC area and you can buy these delicious cookies online. Buying them online isn’t cheap so you’d better grab this recipe and just make them at home!
There are several copycat recipes online for the Levain Bakery chocolate chip walnut cookies and I basically took bits and pieces from a few and two followers on Instagram (Deborah C. @flwrpwr_chick and @tangcindyy) helped me out a lot!! Deborah apparently has tested these cookies at home and has already tried several methods. I loved her tip to refrigerate the dough for an hour beforehand! And Cindy shared a recipe that she has used.
I’m baking more tomorrow for New Year’s Eve and EVERYONE NEEDS TO BAKE THESE NOW.
Let me know if you try these! HAPPY NEW YEAR!
If a little raw and doughy in the middle isn’t your thing, just bake the cookies longer but this is how they are from Levain Bakery.
If you love chocolate chip cookies, check out the equally famous New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe, or my Yummy Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies!
Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookie- copycat recipe
Ingredients
- 2 sticks 1 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated white sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1½ cups cake or fine pastry flour
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups blend of semi-sweet and bittersweet chocolate chips or chocolate chunks
- 2 cups walnuts roughly chopped
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 410 degrees.
- Using your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together cold cubed butter and both sugars for about 3 to 4 minutes, or until creamy. (after the butter is more incorporated after 2 minutes or so, I raised the stand mixer speed a little).
- Add in your eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add in the vanilla and mix again.
- Using a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: both flours, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. With the stand mixer on low, slowly add in all of the dry ingredients into the wet. Mix until just combined. Add in the chocolate chips and walnuts and mix one more time.
- Scoop out dough into large balls and place on a baking sheet. To get the Levain Bakery style cookies, you want to make the cookie dough balls pretty large. Test a few to see the size you prefer. Bake right away, OR make all of your cookie dough balls and refrigerate for one hour. Test both ways to see which cookie you prefer. They both tasted wonderful. The refrigerated ones may have a slightly deeper flavor.
- Place desired number of cookies on baking sheet. (I wouldn't bake more than 4 at a time.) Bake for about 11 to 12 minutes or until golden brown on the bottom edges and browned slightly on the top. Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes. Enjoy!
Adapted from this recipe, and additions made based on comments from readers. See more copycat variations: Delish.com, Broma Bakery and A Bountiful Kitchen. There are a ton more as well .. just google it!
These will be a perfect NYE treat for my neighbor who let me steal a bag of flour from her house (really felt I was stealing since they were out of town) when I ran out during my Christmas baking bonanza!
Woot woot! Hope you enjoy! They are sooooo good!
Thanks for the shout out!! I love baking these!!! I’m ready to try to duplicate the Oatmeal ones next ! Have two recipes I may tinker with ! I use the cold cube butter technique and refrigerating the dough on a few other cookie recipes! I love the height it helps give the cookies! Warning: Do not but a scoop of ice cream on these when they are warm, cuz it is insanely addictive! !!
Hi Deborah! I just found the video of the owners making the cookies. . I can’t seem to find the Bobby Flay throwdown video. . is that the one you were referring to when you mention the food network video? Also, ice cream on warm cookies = YES!
Your dishes looks so delicious and easy too. I love this one because I just love cookies. Thanks for adding another recipe https://goo.gl/pi8XSA
I’ve been dying to make these for years! Now it’s going to happen. Miss you, Alice, but still reading!
Mir!!! I miss you too!!!! How are you?!
I made these cookies yesterday and they were perfect! I wonder if the butter needs to be from-the-fridge-cold if the dough is being refrigerated. I baked 4 cookies and froze the rest. Should they be baked from their frozen state, or thawed in the fridge? Thanks for the recipe and the video!
Hi Gisele, yes, it still needs to be from-the-fridge-cold .. that’s one of the secret’s to the Levain Bakery cookies. and yes, you can bake from their frozen state! just bake for a little longer. . I think I bake them for about 18 minutes if the dough balls are frozen but watch them in the oven! Hope you enjoy!!
Also, I should say that it’s 18 minutes and I make the dough balls SMALLER! but if they are larger, like the ones from Levain, you’ll need to bake longer! just watch them in the oven.
Last comment: that’s when I bake at 350 and have smaller dough balls from the freezer. . 18 minutes. . but if you bake at 410 and have them at a different size, it’s a shorter bake time. Just watch them while they are in the oven .. also if you like the gooey centers, they don’t need to bake as long. 🙂
Thanks so much for the detailed reply! p.s. I love your Instagram stories!
I made these exactly as written, and left them in the fridge for 24 hours. They’re absolutely delicious and my family is really enjoying them. I do have to say that I like the New York Times cookies just a wee bit better though, as I like the texture of them more than these cookies. It’s just my personal preference, and I must reiterate that these cookies are delicious as well!
Thank you Alice for testing and posting so many delicious recipes.
Hi Lesley! Thank you for the feedback and comment!!! Agreed! I might like the NY Times ones a wee bit better myself!
“your adapted recipe” seems to be exactly like another food blogger’s https://www.modernhoney.com/levain-bakery-chocolate-chip-crush-cookies/
which was created in 2015. Not sure how you got the same exact copy cat recipe with the same oven temperature
Yes, that’s right! Did you not see what I wrote under the recipe card and in my blog post? “Adapted from this recipe, and additions made based on comments from readers. See more copycat variations: Delish.com, Broma Bakery and A Bountiful Kitchen. There are a ton more as well .. just google it!”
I’m making these this weekend! 🙂 i don’t have a stand mixer though – would a normal mixer be fine?
Hi! do you mean a hand mixer? Yes!!
Made these cookies twice already. Just amazing! Thanks for the recipe
I have made some similar to yours but usually weigh the dough balls out to about 3.5 ounces. Weighing each can be time consuming though. Can you share what size scoop you use ? And if you refrigerate the dough balls do you bring them back to room temp before baking ? Can’t wait to try this recipe
Hi! I use a scoop from OXO: OXO Good Grips Medium Cookie Scoop, but you can use a bigger one too. and no, just bake straight from the freezer or refrigerator. . just add on like 5 more minutes or until desired doneness of cookie.
hi the bottom of my cookies turned black after being in the oven for only 10 minutes on 410 degrees. Would you have any advice on why thats happening?
Hi Nicole,
is your rack in the middle of the oven?
I’ve made your recipe several times and the cookies are always such a hit! I do make them smaller and have wondered if you do that, and if so, what temperature and time do you bake them at?
Hi Denise! Yes, I do bake them smaller sometimes and if so: 350 for about 15 to 18 minutes
I’ve made this recipe so many times now and everyone raves about them! I make them smaller and have tried them at 410 and 350 degrees. They turn out cakier at 350 and not the crunchy chewy that makes them so yummy. I’m sticking with 410 and just baking them for 9-10 minutes max. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! These have become my “go to” cookie!