We re-created New York City's famous Levain chocolate chip cookies.
Instructions
1
Whisk dry ingredients
2
Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
3
Cream butter and sugar
4
In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the sugar, salt, and butter; about 8 minutes on medium-low. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until fully combined into the dough after each addition Editor's Tip: Take care to properly cream your sugar and butter. This will limit cookie spread, improve the rise of the cookies and enhance their final baked texture. Seriously, don't rush this process—you really want to see the mixture go through an obvious change in your mixer. Properly aerated butter and sugar should be fluffy and noticeably lighter in color.
5
Add dry ingredients
6
With the mixer on low, stir in the dry ingredients until just combined. Editor's Tip: Conversely, when adding the flour, mix until it is just barely incorporated into the dry ingredients—do not overmix your cookies. Overmixing will overdevelop the gluten in the flour causing the cookies to be tough, dense, and cakey—not an attractive look for Levain-style cookies.
7
Fold in mix-ins
8
With the mixer on low, fold in the chocolate and walnuts mixing until evenly combined and the walnuts have become partially broken up a bit by the mixer's paddle. Editor's Tip: Want to take these cookies to the next level? Toast the walnuts first.
9
Portion out the dough
10
Using a food scale, portion out twelve roughly-hewn 5.5oz (156g) balls of dough (they're more like globs if you want to be technical). Editor's Tip: No baseballs! Resist the urge to compact the dough into tight balls when dividing the dough. Keep them loose and craggy to achieve that iconic Levain appearance and texture.
11
Transfer to a large parchment-lined container with a lid and chill the cookie dough for at least 6 hours or overnight for best results. Editor's Tip: You may wonder if you can freeze the dough for less time rather than refrigerate it and get the same results. While the cookies will still be divine, you won't get quite the same results. While we want the dough to be cold when it goes in the oven, we're also working to hydrate the flour which has more to do with time than it does with the temperature. Be patient. It's worth the wait—we promise.
12
Arrange the dough and bake
13
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Transfer the chilled "globs" of dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart. We could fit 6 cookies per pan, though this may vary depending on the size of your pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until the internal temperature of the cookies registers 180° when using an instant-read thermometer. The cookies should appear almost fully set and have a warm golden color on their top and edges. Editor's Tip: Resist the urge to open and close the oven door while baking. Doing so will cause the temperature to drop which may increase your baking time leading to cookies that are overcooked on the outside and raw on the inside.
14
Let the cookies cool for 5 to 10 minutes on the sheet pan and then transfer to a wire rack to cool for another 5 to 10 minutes before digging in. Editor's Tip: Fair warning, if you dig in too soon the center of the cookies will contain essentially molten chocolate; they'll be delicious but they may also burn your tongue.
