Levain Bakery Cookie Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What makes Levain cookies so good? ›

Aside from their incredible proportions, the distinguishing factor of a Levain-style chocolate chip cookie is the sheer quantity of chocolate chips involved. By weight, chocolate is the most abundant ingredient in the dough, and thus the most significant source of flavor.

If it feels set and springs back slightly, it is likely done. Avoid pressing too hard, as this can deflate the cookie. Light Cracking – Look for light cracks on the surface of the cookies. If you see them, the cookies have been baked long enough and are ready to be taken out of the oven.

Cover the baking tray with clingfilm and freeze the cookie dough balls for at least 90 minutes or up to 48 hours for best results. The longer you leave them, the thicker your cookies will be.

Cookie Care

Levain Bakery's cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to one week. If you'd like to save them for later, we recommend individually wrapping them and storing them in the freezer until a craving hits.

Are Levain Cookies undercooked? Levain Bakery-style cookies are intentionally crafted to have a soft and gooey interior. The texture might resemble a slightly undercooked cookie, but it's a result of the baking technique used to achieve that irresistibly melty center while maintaining a crispy exterior.

Colour: Raw or undercooked cookies tend to have a pale appearance, lacking that golden or slightly browned hue that indicates they're fully baked.

Low temperatures give a cookie time to spread and flatten before it sets, making a crisper cookie. High temperatures make a thick cookie, but the center of the cookie may not cook before the outside browns.

Pull the cookie sheet out of the oven when the cookies are just set: underbaking is better than overbaking. Baking cookies quickly in a hot oven – at 375 degrees F as opposed to a lower temperature – will make for soft results. They'll bake fast instead of sitting and drying out in the oven's hot air.

Try using baking powder instead of baking soda. Baking soda encourages spreading while baking powder puffs the cookies up. If your recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of baking soda, you would use 3 to 4 teaspoons of baking powder. Caution: This could result in an unwanted flavor shift.

Should I use baking soda or baking powder in cookies? ›

Baking soda is typically used for chewy cookies, while baking powder is generally used for light and airy cookies. Since baking powder is comprised of a number of ingredients (baking soda, cream of tartar, cornstarch, etc.), using it instead of pure baking soda will affect the taste of your cookies.

Popping your dough in the fridge allows the fats to cool. As a result, the cookies will expand more slowly, holding onto their texture. If you skip the chilling step, you're more likely to wind up with flat, sad disks instead of lovely, chewy cookies. Cookies made from chilled dough are also much more flavorful.

Levain Bakery has achieved cult-status fame for what they call “New York's most famous cookie.” Their oversized cookies are almost scone-like with irresistibly craggy edges and underbaked centers.

In 1995, they whipped up a batch of big chocolate chip walnut cookies, and their neighborhood shop became so much more. “The cookie” earned a spot in the hearts of locals and visitors alike, taking on a life of its own as a New York City icon.

Levain Bakery's cookies are known for their indulgent, rich, and gooey texture, as well as their size. The cookies are often described as small cakes, with a perfect balance of crispy exterior and soft, gooey interior.

You might also see the term “levain bread” or “pain au levain,” which are other names for sourdough bread. Because the term levain is French for leaven, which is almost always taken to mean naturally fermented bread, the term levain is often used synonymously with sourdough.

Simply put, a levain is a bit of starter that you section off, feed so that the total volume is enough for your recipe (usually with a 1:2:2 ratio), and let rise so that it can be used to make a loaf of bread. It doesn't really differ from starter unless you choose to do something different to it.

Essentially, a poolish and levain are both types of preferments, but one uses commercial yeast and the other natural yeast as the leavening agent. Preferments are a mixture of flour and water that is used as the vehicle to add yeast to the dough.