If you haven't picked up on it already, I am full-on obsessed with cookies.
I created two other Levain Bakery Copycat recipes and they have been the top recipes on Modern Honey ever since. Levain Bakery's signature cookie is still holding on to it's 5 star rating over a year after posting the recipe --
Levain Bakery Copcyat Chocolate Chip Crush Cookies
Levain Bakery Copycat Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies has a 5 star rating as well.
Now it's time to share my original Levain Bakery Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip Copycat Cookies recipe. This recipe is so much like the original Levain Bakery cookie that you will not even know the difference!
This cookie is full of rich chocolate and studded with semisweet chocolate chips for all of the chocoholics out there. The fascinating thing about Levain Bakery cookies is their ability to be thick without being cakey.
If you read my other Levain Bakery copycat cookie post, you will know that those cookies are my husband's favorite cookie of all time. I think the reason is that they aren't over the top sweet. They are rich and decadent without putting you into a sugar coma.
There are a few SECRET tricks that make these Levain Bakery Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies extra special:
- Use very cold butter. Now, I am not talking about throwing two cubes of cold butter into the mixer and hoping the butter will incorporate into the sugars. Nope. The key is to cut the butter with a knife into small cubes, making it easier to cream with the sugar. We want them to become one and meld together to break down the graininess of the sugar. Cream for at least 4 minutes on high until light and fluffy.
- Use good high quality cocoa, if at all possible. Levain uses dark cocoa for these cookies. If you can find that in your grocery stores, use it! Hershey's makes a dark chocolate cocoa that would be fantastic. Guittard and Ghirardelli makes high quality cocoa powders as well. If you follow me at all, you know I am a huge fan of Callebaut cocoa. It's found in the bulk bin section at Winco and is very reasonable.
- Use a mix of cake flour and all-purpose flour. Why cake flour? You know how I talked about Levain being a thick cookie without tasting like a scone? When you use cake flour, it creates a more TENDER crumb on the cookie which creates a mouth watering texture.
- Another game changer is cornstarch. It also helps to create and soft and tender cookie.
- Bake at high heat. You want to shock these Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies with high heat so they don't spread too rapidly. It helps keep their shape and make those crispy edges.
- 1 cup Cold Butter cut into small cubes
- 1 cup Brown Sugar
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 2 Eggs
- 1/2 cup Dark Baking Cocoa
- 1 cup Cake Flour
- 1 1/2 cup All-Purpose Flour
- 1 teaspoon Cornstarch
- 3/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 1 1/3 cup Semisweet Chocolate Chips
- Preheat oven to 410 degrees.
- In large bowl, cream together cold butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
- Add cocoa, cake flour, all-purpose flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt and stir until combined. Stir in semisweet chocolate chips.
- Chill dough for 15 minutes.
- Separate dough into large balls and place on lightly colored cookie sheet. Lightly press on top of dough to smooth out. If you have a scale, you can make them anywhere from 4.5 ounces - 6 ounces. You will fit 4-6 cookies on one large cookie sheet. The dough makes 8-12 extra large cookies.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes or until golden brown on the top. Let them rest for at least 10-15 minutes to set.
You are going to go crazy over these Levain Bakery Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip Copycat Cookies and won't be able to tell the difference.
Happy Baking, my friends! xo
Another winner! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks so much, Ilisa! I am so happy that you loved them! 🙂 - Melissa
I think your #5 needs an edit. It says "You want to shock these Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies with high heat "
This doesn't have peanut butter chips. : )
You are right! Thank you, Jen! I have two other Levain Bakery cookie recipes and must have typed it out of habit. Thanks for letting me know. Hope you love the cookies! - Melissa
Hi Melissa 🙂 Would it be OK to make these cookies smaller? Would the baking time be different? Thanks bunches!
Hi Nancy! You can definitely make these cookies smaller. I would suggest decreasing the cooking time by approximately 2 minutes. I would keep a close eye on them since the oven will be at a high heat. I would love to hear how they turn out. 🙂 - Melissa
Hi Melissa. I love this recipe! I also made the smaller (4oz.) version, which made about 16 cookies ... They are gone and everyone wants more! Thanks.
Hi Donald! That is a great idea to make them smaller. My Mom does this all of the time when delivering to friends and it works great. Thanks for the comment!
Hello Melissa! I followed the recipe and my cookies came out dry. What did I do wrong. I’m trying to impress my chemistry teacher who loves Levain cookies. SOS!
I made 2 ounce cookies. They were to die for, per my granddaughter. Time in the oven 8 minutes, same temp.
These look absolutely sinful. In the best way imaginable, of course. Ugh, I want one RIGHT NOW.
Hi Morgan! Yes, you are right -- they are downright sinful! I crave one every single day. Thanks so much for taking the time to comment and have a great day! - Melissa 🙂
hii, i dont have cake flour, it affects the recipe if I use all purpose flour?
Hi Yiho! You can still use all-purpose flour in this recipe. Since cake flour has the lowest amount of gluten of any flour, it creates a more tender cookie. They will still be great with AP flour, though.
Hi,
I have tried your recipe a couple of times, the flavor us amazing but I can't control the spread. Do you have any recommendation? I would like to have my cookie thicker.
Thank you,
Erik
Hi Erik! That is so interesting that the cookies are spreading. Here are some suggestions -- 1. Make sure your butter is cold out of the refrigerator, cut into cubes. 2. Chill your dough for at least 30 minutes to 1 hour. 3. If you have a large enough freezer, you can always put your cookie sheet right into the freezer before baking. This helps the cookies keep their shape. These cookies are definitely on the thicker side so they shouldn't be spreading too much. I hope these suggestions help you!
Try freezing the cookie puck first. Cook from frozen. Of course you may have to adjust the time and temp. I have found that this controls the spread.
I think dark chocolate is bitter tasting; does this come out in the cookie? Could I use milk chocolate instead or would they be too sweet?
Hi Rose! Don't worry....these aren't super dark. I use a regular dutch-process cocoa and they come out more like a semi-sweet. Feel free to add milk chocolate chips to the dough instead of semi-sweet. Good luck1
The cocoa you get in the bins at Winco... is that the Dutch process cocoa? Is that dark cocoa? It's the only cocoa I have ever seen in the bins.
Hi Jamie! That is the correct one. You can sometimes see Callebaut typed out on the label and that is how you know you are getting the good stuff. It is so much cheaper to buy it a Winco and it is definitely high-quality stuff. I hope that helps!
Hi!
I was wondering if you use salted or unsalted butter when you make these? I am never quite sure when a recipe doesn't specify, what is the best route to take?
Thanks, can't wait to make these!
I use unsalted butter for baking cookies and land of lakes never fails 😀
I just found your blog by way of Pinterest. These cookies look amazing!! Can't wait to make them, as I won't be making it to NYC for the real thing anytime soon.
I’m making these for an office potlucks and want to make them a week aghead. Will the stay fresh if stored in an airtight container
I would make the dough and pre from the cookies, freeze them and bake them the night before 😊
Hi, could you tell me if you use salted or unsalted butter to these dark chocolate chip cookies, thanks!
Hi,
it's 410 F degrees?
so it would be 210 Celsius degrees?
Thank you!
This looks amazing! I have a question though would it be okay to add in some mint chocolate chips to the recipe? Would the chocolate over power the mint flavor or would I and in just a little extract as well? Happy baking ☺
I'm having a difficulty about the measurement of the butter. 🙁 Should I use the whole 8oz butter found in the supermarkets? Or maybe 3/4 of those?
1 stick of butter is 1/2 cup - the recipe calls for 1 cup so you would need to use 2 sticks.
These are fantastic; just like the oatmeal raisin and chocolate chip walnut varieties. My husband went crazy for these, though - he's a closet chocoholic 🙂
Great recipe. Can't wait to make it for a dear friend's birthday. Shopping ingredients. When using cake flour ,do you use a bleached product like softassilk? Or do you use King Arthur's unbleached cake flour? I was curious.
I’m wondering the same, did you figure it out ?
I use King Arthur’s. I chill dough for 1 hour after dropping it onto cookie sheet. No spreading.
Hi ! My cookies really spread out...do you think my error of baking at 400 degrees instead of 410 degrees would be the reason ?
Although very tasty, I was looking forward to that "cake-like" texture !
Thanks for your help !!!
Oh. My. Goodness. These are sooooo yummy!!! The recipe is so easy to follow and they turned out perfectly! Yet another Modern Honey recipe that I’ll be making time and time again!
I'm looking forward to try this recipe! One question.. It is possible to use margarine instead of butter (my wife doesn't tolerate very well butter).
Thanks in advance
Would Hershey’s powder be just as good?
OMG. I just made these and they are AMAZING! My only regret is that I made half the recipe. I tried to take pics by breaking one in half, but I wasn't able to get any good shots before eating it all. I made mine 3.5 ounces a piece because I was nervous about how such big cookies would bake. Next time, I'm going for the full 6oz! Thanks so much for sharing this recipe! <3
Hi! These look insanely good!!!💟 Just wanted to ask, degrees you put are in Fahrenheit, right? 🙂
I LOVE YOU 🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗 THIS RECIPE...THESE COOKIES....😲 I can't wait to share these and bake the peanut butter chocolate ones! I truly appreciate people like you who share with the rest of us!! Happy Holidays and thanks again. Oh I did like 2.5 ounce cookies, and one 4 ounce bad boy with coarse sea salt ... really outrageous! So friggin good!
I just love ya right back for trying them and for following along! Thank you for such a kind message. I appreciate it. Have the best day! -- Melissa
Delicious! I have been to Levain many times and this is pretty much bang on with one exception:
9-11 minutes is nowhere near long enough. I weighed my cookies out to 5oz each and did 11 min at 410 on convection and they were still quite raw in the middle. Easily needs 15 min. I found it odd as most cookie recipes are 8-9 min at 350 and these cookies are huge.
this look amazing can you confirm cake flour and all purpose flour what this is in the UK
thank you
I love cookies! and this is amazing. They came out so good! I’m in Colorado and I used the recipe and didn’t change anything. I weighed out 5 oz or so for each cookie. The first pan I didn’t shape the dough into pucks and they came out ok. But the next pan I shaped little hockey pucks and they were spot on. Thanks for sharing the recipe! My kids love you and my friends too!
I made them 6oz and baked for 11 minutes and they were still a bit raw in the middle. Next time I will reduce the size to 4.5 and keep in for 11 minutes again. The flavor is delicious and with the correct baking time they would be amazing!
These cookies were designed to be 8oz. I would imagine they would lose some of the texture characteristics that make them so good. Not saying they would be bad as a smaller cookie but just not the same.
I love how these came out. I halved the recipe because I was knew I would end up eating them all. My dough was a little dry so I added some vanilla. I made balls about the size of muchkins, smushed them, and my bake time was 8 minutes. This made 12 cookies. This was better than some brownies I've had. Just an amazing recipe. I will definitelty make these again to share. Thank you!
I’ve got to say that I have never heard of Levain Bakery, but these are my new favorite cookies!!! I made them smaller and followed all of the steps and they turned out perfect! Next time I’ll make them big! Thank you for being so detailed in your instructions! And thank you for sharing!!
Thank you again for another incredibly delicious cookie recipe. We made your Levain Chocolate Chip cookies - which were declared by all as the "All time best @%# cookie in the world!" We have made chocolate chip cookies by America's Test Kitchen, Bon Appetite, Alton Brown, the 11k+ reviewed one from AllRecipes, Nestle Toll House, plus countless others. Your recipe is the best. We have eaten the chocolate chip cookie at Levain, YOURS is better.
We just made the this chocolate chocolate chip version, and of course we had a bit extra batter- one must call the kids over to lick the spoon and bowl, and nibble on cookie batter. They asked again and again not to bake it, the batter is too good. We had to sacrifice one raw cookie ball to eat as cookie dough (the dough is fantastic).
They haven't even come out of the oven and we already know they are going to be devoured.
Yup! Loved them! We had half a batch of the chocolate chip version in the freezer. I split one chocolate chip and one of these, and squished them together to make a black and white. If you haven't tried it, it's the best of both.
These look great, but I’m confused. Cold butter doesn’t incorporate into sugar or flour until light and fluffy. It stays chunky. Soft butter gets light and fluffy. Doesn’t the chilling prior to cooking take care of the cold butter question? I also don’t have a stand mixer and can’t mix cold butter for four minutes. It just won’t work. I just don’t understand how the butter starting cold, but mixing fully in with the dry mixture and being refrigerated before cooking, makes the difference over starting with soft butter. Help!
Hi,
I've made this recipe and the CC Crush version, too, several times and they are beyond amazing. I bring them to work and they disappear in seconds.
Two things-you're absolutely correct. I just have a hand mixer and cold butter, no matter how tiny the pieces are, don't incorporate into the sugars. I soften the butter, and then when the whole dough is mixed up wet and dry ingredients, they setup nice and solid in the fridge time.
Second-Stick with the 9 minute bake time. They will be very gooey and untouchable when you take them out. But once they cool and setup, they are perfect. If you go longer on baking, that yummy goo factor will go away and they'll still be good, just much more done and dense.
I learned (from my favorite bread maker,) to freeze the butter and grate it into the (flour) sugar. I freeze the grater too. I use a standing grater and the biggest holes. Only takes a minute or two.
I followed the directions exactly except I weighed my flours and cocoa. Cocoa was dark Dutch processed. Also I used a smaller scoop, a black (1 fluid oz, #30) Disher brand scoop. Baked for 7.5 minutes. Oven temp verified based on my thermometer. The smooth tops were getting dry but any cracks looked wonderfully moist.
I let them cool for 15 min and we dug in. They didn't sink at all as they cooled, and came out exactly like your photos/description with a gooey but not raw middle and crispy top. Bottoms not overdone.
Taste great! Probably could bake them almost a minute longer to bake the center more (my preference).
They spread a little when pre-chilled for 20 min but still thicker than the average chip cookie.
Only made four test cookies and will freeze pre-scooped balls which will likely make them spread less, but they are thick enough for a small 'kids at home' sized cookie.
I think I'll set the frozen cookies out for 30min and bake. Will have to see how much the cooking time increases with a small test batch.
Thank you!
Well, are a family hit! These are being eaten up by our 'Test Kitchen" judges more than any other Christmas cookie I've made.
Made dough balls with. #40 (3/4 fl oz, 22.2 mL) orchid colored Disher scooper.
I baked the chilled dough balls for 9 min, or set frozen balls out on the counter for 55 minutes and then baked them for 9 min. 9 minutes either way. Inner cookie once cooled is perfectly moist but not overly gooey.
Thank you!
I made these cookies for Thanksgiving and for my daughter (she is my chocoholic) and she was so happy. Definitely making these again.
Which rack in the oven are you baking these on? I assume I just need to move up from middle rack because bottoms are dark but top is not as dark as I would like at 11 minutes and 30 seconds.
Hello
Being in Australia I was hoping that you had the measurements in grams for the sugar and butter? We have different weights for cups compared to US.
Thank you!
Looking forward to trying the recipe
1 cup butter 227 g
1 cup sugar 200 g
1 cup cake flour 112 g
1 cup AP flour 120 g-125 g depending on brand
Oh em gee! This cookies are to die for! First time to try this recipe and it was a success! My cookies are high and it tastes really good! Can't wait for my son to try this since he wanted to go to Levain Bakery to buy this specific cookie. Thank you very much Melissa for sharing your mouth-watering cookie recipe! God bless you and tour family 😘🤗🙏
I have a question, please. My oven is from 1996, and the degree settings are in increments of 25. I cannot set it to 410 degrees. About how long should I bake the cookies at 400 degrees? Thank you! I am looking forward to making them.
Hi! Quick question. I only have natural cocoa powder. Can I use that instead of Dutch-process? Would I need to make any adjustments to the amount of cocoa powder or to other ingredients in the recipe? Thank you!
I would like to know this as well. Above recipe uses baking soda which is usually paired with natural cocoa, yet it appears MH uses dutch cocoa? Dutch processing naturalizes the acid component and so is usually paired with baking powder. Interested in your thoughts on this? Thanks.
I ended up buying and using the Hershey's Dark Chocolate Cocoa. It's apparently a blend of Dutch cocoa and natural cocoa. It worked really well! The cookies turned out delicious!
Hello does anyone know if you use unbleached cake flour or bleached cake Flour for the levian cookies?? Help
Can I make these cookies a night ahead of time and just chill overnight instead of just 15 mins?
Hellooo! Thank you so much for your recipes especially for levian copycat I loved them!!!! I jus have a quiestion, you modified the amount for cake flour in this one because you’re adding other dry ingredient like dark cocoa?
No, just adding cake flour because that's what she thinks gets closest to the recipe.
Hello! Do you know the alternative for cake flour in the UK? We have plain flour and self raising but I'm not sure what to use!
Thank you 🙂
Hi! Do you think it’d be possible to make these without a mixer... or with just a hand mixer? I’m afraid I’d mess up the consistency.
My cookies are delicious but with a hand mixer it was hard and long to do the butter sugar creaming. The cookies came out rather flat. Do you think that huge amount of time it took to do the first step had anything to do with their flatness? Most people probably have a more powerful hand mixer. I let the dough rest in the fridge for 15 minutes before forming the cookies.
Hi Sara! Did you use 3 cups of flour total? These are definitely thicker cookies with a ratio of 1 cup of butter to 3 cups of flour so they don't usually turn out thin. But let me help you figure it out! 🙂
made your regular levain chocolate chip walnut cookies and they were perfect. these ones spread so much. why do you think that happened? i used exactly the same ingredients for both (except the cocoa powder of course) and exact same method.
Oh my god! This is the far most delicious chocolate cookie i’ve ever made! Thank you!! I’ve used callebaut cacao powder and it is not very dark. The only thing is that i wish i had darker cookies. Do you suggest anything? I don’t want people think i use fair amount of cacao.
Hi! From the Philippines here 😊 How can i incorporate cold butter in sugar without using a mixer? I don’t have one 🙁 will it do if I do it hand mix?