Copycat Levain Bakery Chocolate Chunk Cookies - Broma Bakery

Copycat Levain Bakery Chocolate Chunk Cookies - made dough May 20, 2016 from Broma Bakery

Almost to the end of the series but not quite yet; here’s the second copycat Levain Bakery chocolate chip cookie recipe I found on pinterest that I tried out for this series. And yes, this secured one of the top three spots as best of the bunch. Although they weren’t as thick as the real Levain cookies, they still stayed fairly thick. And they tasted as good as they look. 

The only thing I changed from the original recipe is to cut back on the salt. The original recipe called for 1 ½ teaspoons of kosher salt; I only had iodized salt which is what I used and that’s actually a lot of salt for a normal-size recipe as most recipes have half that or less. I’m not sensitive to salt and don’t generally notice it unless something is too salty but that is what I noticed about this recipe. It was still good, I loved the texture but it would be better with just a tad less salt so I modified it accordingly for regular table salt.

When making cookies this big, I always advise using chocolate chunks instead of chocolate chips. The cookies will be big enough to incorporate a lot of chocolate and you can’t go wrong with big chunks of chocolate getting all melty in your cookie. Conversely, with cookies this big, instead of chocolate chunks, you can use mini chocolate chips. Yes, mini. More chips to be able to work into the dough and more chocolate in every bite. I know that seems counterintuitive but it really is true. The mini chips don’t have to fight each other for space in the cookie like regular-size chocolate chips would and they can be more evenly distributed. Although you may need more than 1 bag though. I certainly used more than one Pound-Plus bar of milk chocolate from Trader Joe’s for this batch. 

3 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes

3/4 cup plus 4 teaspoons dark brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups chocolate chunks

1. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.
2. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until creamy, about 1 minute. Add in the sugars and beat for another 1-2 minutes. Lower the speed to medium-low and mix in the eggs and vanilla; beat until just combined. Gradually add in the flour mixture, beating until just combined. Do not overmix. Fold in the chocolate chunks.
3. Portion the dough into large dough balls (larger than a golf ball for good-sized cookies), flatten slightly into thick discs, cover and chill or freeze for several hours or overnight.
4. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and evenly space dough discs.
5. Bake cookies for 15-17 minutes, until light golden brown around the edges and middles no longer look raw. If your chocolate chunks start to burn, lower heat to 360 degrees for the last 5 minutes of baking. Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheets then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.