NY Levain Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies: Make at Home!

These Levain bakery style chocolate chip cookies are unforgettably delicious! Each NY style cookie is enormous and absolutely packed with loads of chocolate chips and walnuts. But you don't have to fly all the way to New York to try these cookies. You can bake them at home using regular choc chip cookie ingredients. I'm also sharing a Thermomix recipe for these that makes them in no time! If you love giant choc chip cookies then this is a pushy recipe Dear Reader.

Levain Bakery style cookies are notable for a few things: their enormous size and the amount of chocolate chips. Each NY style cookie weighs an enormous 6ozs or 180g and the main feature apart from the size is the sheer amount of chocolate chips and walnuts in each cookie! I swear that when you bake them you may wonder if they will work as they seem like 90% mix ins! This whole recipe makes 8 enormous cookies and they do not need to be pre-chilled before baking thanks to a clever step.

I made mine a bit different from Levain-I added vanilla and I used browned butter. Feel free to use regular butter and omit the vanilla if you like. But for me, I love these extra steps. I also experimented with different nuts and I particularly love using pecans and macadamias in these cookies. Again, not like Levain's famous cookie but I absolutely loved them and the option is there for you if you prefer these nuts and flavours too.

Tips For Making Levain Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies!

1 - Use good quality chocolate chips because they make up most of the cookie! I love using half milk and half dark chocolate chips but go with your preference.

2 - Make sure that your butter is very cold and your eggs are straight from the fridge. This makes the dough firm, as if you've refrigerated them already. To make it easier, cut your butter into very small cubes. I love the added flavour from browned butter but Levain use regular butter in their cookies.

3 - Make sure to toast the nuts first. Place in a single layer on a baking tray and bake at 180C/350F for 6-8 minutes or until aromatic and lightly toasted.

4 - Unless you have giant trays I would just put 2 dough balls per tray. They spread to double the circumference and you can probably see that I could not have fit 4 on this tray (maybe 3 but I hate it when the cookies touch when they spread!).

Dear Reader, I have a confession: I love my choc chip cookies cold, like straight from the fridge cold. I know everything else is delicious straight out of the oven and at a restaurant I definitely want to ask if we could perhaps shove my bread under the grill for a few minutes (but I don’t.) But the only exception is a chocolate chip cookie.

I love the bite of the chilled cookie and the cold chocolate against my teeth. And yes, the Americans are correct. Chocolate chip cookies are wonderful with milk. I usually drink tea or coffee with biscuits or cookies but a glass of cold, unsweetened milk is just glorious with these. Because when you're going for the full American experience you may as well go all the way!

So tell me Dear Reader, do you have a preference for the temperature of your cookies? Do you drink milk with cookies or tea/coffee?

Levain Bakery New York Style Chocolate Chip Cookies

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes per tray

Makes: 8 giant 6oz/180g cookies

• 225g/2 sticks/8ozs browned butter, cold and cut into small cubes (you can also use regular butter)
• 140g/4.9ozs brown sugar
• 70g/2.5ozs caster or superfine sugar
• 1 tablespoon cold milk (omit if using regular butter and not browned butter)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
• 2 eggs, cold from the fridge
• 360g/12.7ozs cake flour*
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 340g/12ozs chocolate chips (I like mixing milk and dark but it's up to you)
• 220g/7.7ozs walnuts, pecans or macadamias (roasted)

Cake flour can be bought at the supermarket. You can also make it at home. To make 1 cup/150g/5.2ozs of cake flour replace 2 tablespoons of plain all purpose flour with cornflour/fine cornstarch and whisk well. I usually mix up a big batch of this and keep it in a container ready for baking cakes as it produces a softer texture.

Step 1 - Preheat oven to 160C/320F fan forced and line 4 baking trays with parchment. Place the browned butter, brown sugar, sugar, milk and vanilla in a large mixer bowl fitted with a beater attachment (I put on the plastic collar on my Kitchenaid to stop it spitting). Beat for 4 minutes on high speed. It will look as though it won't come together but will halfway. Add the eggs, one at a time mixing well between each addition.

Step 2 - In a jug whisk the cake flour, baking powder and salt together until well combined. Add to the mixer on low speed until just combined. Spoon in the chocolate chips and walnuts with a spatula. Divide the dough into 8 equal portions (they will be around 6ozs/180g each) and with slightly dampened hands shape into balls. Place 2 dough balls on each tray and bake for 20 minutes turning halfway. Leave cookies on the tray for 20 minutes to firm up.

Thermomix Directions Step 1 - Preheat oven to 160C/320F fan forced and line 4 baking trays with parchment (they spread a lot!). Place the browned butter, brown sugar, sugar, milk and vanilla in the TM bowl and set to 2 minutes, speed #4. Remove the MC and set to 30 seconds, speed #4 and add the eggs , one at a time mixing well between each addition.

Thermomix Directions Step 2 - In a jug whisk the cake flour, baking powder and salt together until well combined. Add to the TM bowl and set to 30 seconds on knead/dough setting. Scoop out the mixture into a large bowl and mix in the chocolate chips and walnuts with a spatula. Divide the dough into 8 equal portions (they will be around 6ozs/180g each) and with slightly dampened hands shape into balls. Place 2 dough balls on each tray and bake for 20 minutes turning halfway. Leave cookies on the tray for 20 minutes to firm up.