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Levain Bakery Copycat Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe or Turd Cookies

By May 15, 2014October 4th, 2019Uncategorized

For those of you who are wondering about the reference in this week’s Articles of News to the “turd cookies,” look no further!

One of my favorite bakeries in New York City is Levain.  Their dark chocolate chocolate chip cookie is the devil’s own specially created 6-ounce temptation personalized for me. You might say this gooey delight is more like a cookie-brownie than your traditional cookie.

Upon return from my recent two-week sojourn in NYC, I knew I could not last another year without the glory of Levain blanketing my tastebuds with ecstasy.  I tried several great copycat recipes (here, here, and here), but either the texture or the taste was off, perhaps due to the high altitude of Utah.  Not to mention some of the dozens of recipes out there are rather intricate.  I know baking is a science, but…seriously?  I’m not one for over-complication. I took the parts of each recipe that I believed created the right taste or texture and created one of my own, only slightly different than the others I linked to, but in baking slight can make a big difference.  Success!

LevainDarkChocolateChocolateChip

Ingredients

  • 2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
  • 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1-2 tsp vanilla according to your taste preferences (Levain doesn’t use vanilla, but it works for the copycat)
  • 1/2 cup dark cocoa powder (I use Hershey’s special dark)
  • 1 1/4 cups bread flour
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 pkg semi-sweet chocolate chips (Use Trader Joe’s semi-sweet or Scharffen-Berger Baking Chunks 62% Cacao if you can, if not, use Ghiardelli or Hershey special dark, do not use Nestle)

Directions

  • Mix butter and sugars together until fluffy and incorporated (over-mixing just melts butter, which you don’t want)
  • Mix in Eggs and Vanilla just until incorporated
  • Mix in Dark Cocoa Powder until Incorporated
  • Add Bread Flour, mix until flour isn’t creating dust as stirring
  • Add in All-Purpose Flour, Salt, and Baking Powder, mix until well incorporated and entire mix is dark and moist, no chunks
  • Make sure your hands are clean and knead in the entire package of chocolate chips*, the dough will be moist and slightly sticky, but pliable with your hands.  Other recipes say the dough should be very dry, but I did not find this to be true.
  • Divide dough into 12 3-4 ounce portions.  I used a 1/3 cup measuring cup filled with dough to divide since I didn’t have the scale out.  Yes, they are huge.  Levain’s are even bigger.
  • If you want a smooth “pretty” cookie, roll those portions into balls and place on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper.  If you want a jagged cookie for more crispy texture points like Levain, roll the cookie into a ball, then rip and half and join at the smooth ends, so the jagged ripped portions are exposed.  Place on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper.
  • Place the cookie dough sections in the freezer for one hour (longer is fine).
  • Bake cookies six at a time for 18 minutes at 350.
  • I simply slid the wax paper with the cookies off the cookie sheet onto the counter immediately after removal to let them cool.
  • If you have any left the next day, they are delicious cool or taste fresh-baked with 10 seconds in the microwave.

* if you would like peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, simply replace one cup of chocolate chips with one cup of peanut butter chips
I hope you love these as much as I do!

3 Comments

  • Jenny says:

    Hello!

    This recipe is SPOT ON! I have been going to Levain on the Upper West Side in NYC, every time I am in the city, for at least 10 years. It’s ALWAYS part of my itinerary no matter what else I am doing there.I live in Washington, DC so I get to Manhattan about 2x a year. This recipe was easy to follow and near perfection (perfection can only be achieved by anticipating my trip to NYC, waiting in line at the bakery, smelling the chocolate wafting up and out, and then getting the warm cookie and sitting on the bench outside and eating it while the chocolate chips are still melting.)

    Thank you for figuring this out and then sharing it. Happy Holidays!

    Jenny

  • Bob says:

    Thank you for this recipe as it was a great place to start. I too wanted to recreate the awesome goodness from Levain. Unfortunately I had to make some significant tweaks after some experimentation and the result is one of my favorite cookies. No vanilla (Levain does not use it), use Valhrona cocoa (Levian uses French cocoa), cake flour instead of bread flour, and 1/4 cup more granulated sugar. For the chips I use a mixture of bittersweet and dark chocolate (I prefer this to semi-sweet. The cookies in this recipe are too big for me to eat in a single seating, so I roll the cookie dough into 1 3/4″ round balls, refrigerate them for 2 hours, and cook them for 10 minutes at 400. I discovered how truly good these are when I ate one at room temperature (they are just okay if eaten chilled).

    I tried a LOT of different recipes and could not replicate the Levain dark chocolate chocolate chip cookie, but after eating these I think they are even better.

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