Levain Style Cookies

Levain Bakery was one of the many bookmarks we got to check off on Fatty and I's 2015 NYC trip. To this date, I still reminisce how tasty the cookie was! The cookie was enormous and could (should) be shared! It had a crisp exterior, an incredibly gooey center, puddles of chocolate and toasty walnuts throughout. The flavor was buttery and rich, yet light and not overly sweet.

Throughout the years, I've bookmarked numerous copycat recipes. And I am finally trying it now!

Levain Bakery's Chocolate Walnut Cookie

Before I get into my recreation of Levain style cookies at home, let's take a quick trip down memory lane with some other delicious eats from NYC - Cheese Pizza from Joe's Pizza, Cookie Shot from Dominique Ansel Bakery, and Chicken and Gyro Platter from The Halal Guys.

  

I can't wait to visit NYC again once it's safe.

Levain Style Cookies

recipe adapted from Korean Cooking 

makes about 14 cookies

200g butter, cold cut into 1 cm cubes

100g brown sugar

90g sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

1g (1/4 tsp) salt

Dry:

110g cake flour

200g AP flour

5g (1 tsp) corn starch

2g (1/2 tsp) baking soda

3g (1 tsp) baking powder 

Mix in's:

250g walnuts, boiled and toasted

250g chocolate (150g dark + 100g milk)

1. Preheat oven to 200C | 392F.

2. Combine dry ingredients and set aside.

3. Beat butter till fluffy. Add sugar and continue mixing until sugar is not visible. *not creaming*

4. Whisk eggs with salt and add to butter in third. *do not overmix*

5. Sift dry ingredients into butter egg mixture.

6. Mix with spatula until just combined with some flour showing.

7. Mix in chocolate and walnuts.

8. Pat lightly and shape into round mounds about 95-100g each.

9. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour - overnight.

10. Bake for 12 - 15 mins.

11. Cool in pan for 10 minutes and transfer to rack to continue cooling.

Enjoy!

puddles of melty chocolate

Since there's no waiting for the butter to get to room temperature, the dough comes together pretty quickly. But if you got some extra time, do this step - 

I prepped my walnuts by boiling them for ~5 minutes before toasting them dry, and I will never do it any different! This step helps in removing any residue coating and bitter flavor from the walnuts. And it also makes the nutrients more available for the body to absorb. Make a bigger batch and store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for a buttery walnut snack!

The cookies turned out so tasty! I made them almost half the size of the original Levain cookies, but they still got that wow factor. The cookies stood tall and got the signature crispy crust and gooey center. Highly recommend using big chocolate chunks to create all those beautiful puddles of melty goodness.

Taste: 4.5 stars out of 5
For the milk chocolate, I used an old bar of Hershey's milk chocolate which ruined the cookie a bit whenever I bite into it. Not a fan of Hershey's.
Texture: 5 stars out of 5
Crisp. Gooey. Yummy.