Lisa's Copycat recipe for Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Walnut and

[Lisa2k]

Lisa's Copycat recipe for Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Walnut and Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter chip cookies

Serves 12 as Dessert.

After a few attempts, I think I finally cracked, or came close to cracking the Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Walnut and Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter chip cookies. Mind you, I doubt I nailed their exact measurements, and maybe they use a flour other than AP (cake, pastry, or combos of flours), but they sure look, taste and 'feel' just like them. Enjoy!

Lisa's Levain Bakery copycat Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies (**Yields 1 dozen cookies)

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Ingredients

2 sticks 'cold and cubed' unsalted butter

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

3 1/4 to 3 1/2 cups AP flour (feel the dough, it should be moist, kind of like cold cookie dough in a tube.. but not super sticky, so you can portion the cookies with your hands)

3/4 teaspoon Kosher salt

3/4-1 teaspoon baking powder ( I don't fill the tsp fully, hence the 3/4 tsp)

1/4 tsp baking soda

2 cups good quality semisweet chocolate chips or chunks (I used half semisweet and half milk chocolate)

1 cup walnuts (I used macadamia since I was out of walnuts) Toast the nuts for more flavor, if desired.

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In bowl of electric mixer fitted with paddle, cream together butter and sugars until well blended and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time.. and beat until well incorporated, then add flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and mix until just combined. Gently fold in chocolate chunks and nuts. Transfer dough to clean work surface and gently mix dough by hand to ensure even distribution of ingredients. Divide into 12 equal portions, **about 4 oz each.. Place each on sheet pan lined with parchment paper and bake in the preheated oven 16-23 minutes depending on how gooey and raw'ish you like the middles (I bake mine at 375 for 18-20 minutes, as I prefer a less raw interior), until very lightly browned, taking care not to overbake. Let cool on rack and store what you don't immediately eat, in an airtight container. To freshen them after a few days (if they last that long), give them a quick nuke in the microwave for 5-10 seconds.

***Lisa's Levain Copycat Dark Chocolate Peanut butter Chip Cookies (**Yields 1 dozen cookies)

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Ingredients

2 sticks cold and cubed unsalted butter

1 1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1/4 to 1/2 cup good quality dark cocoa powder

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp Kosher salt

3/4 to 1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 cups peanut butter chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In bowl of electric mixer fitted with paddle, cream together butter and sugar until well blended and fluffy. Add eggs and beat until well-incorporated, then beat in cocoa powder. Mix in flour, salt and baking powder until just combined. Gently fold in remaining ingredients. Transfer dough to clean work surface and gently mix dough by hand to ensure even distribution of ingredients. Divide into 12 equal portions, **about 4 oz each, and place each on sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Bake in the preheated oven 16-20 minutes depending on how gooey and raw'ish you like the middles (I bake mine at 375 for 18 minutes, as I prefer a less raw'ish' interior), taking care not to overbake. . Let cool on a rack and store what you don't immediately eat, in an airtight container. To freshen them after a few days (if they last that long), give them a quick nuke in the microwave for 5-10 seconds.

** - The Levain Bakery uses 6 oz of cookie dough per cookie.. If you want 12 cookies out of the above recipes, a little over 4 oz per cookie (4.1 to 4.2 oz. Use a kitchen scale) will get you that. If you want to use 6 oz of cookie dough per cookie, you'll probably get only 6-8 cookies. However, a little over 4 oz makes a cookie just as thick and huge, so you don't even notice the difference.

*** - Regarding the Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter cookies. I used Dutch-process cocoa. If you use basic, natural unsweetened cocoa (you know, your basic Hershey's in the brown can or whatever), add 1/4 tsp baking soda to the dry ingredients. Also, if they're too 'chocolatey' and rich for you, use only 1/4 cup cocoa powder, and add 1/4 cup extra flour.

Note1 - The Levain Bakery doesn't use vanilla extract in their cookies, as they feel it's unecessary. However, some feel you need it. You can add 1 tsp to each recipe if desired. Just add it after each egg is incorporated.

Note2 - If you like a more 'brown sugary' chocolate chip cookie, increase the brown sugar and decrease the white sugar, so you still have a total of 1 1/2 cups sugar total.

Keywords: Dessert, Cookie, Easy, American, Chocolate, Snack

( RG2116 )