Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
The best Levain Bakery chocolate peanut butter chip copycat cookie recipe
I just arrived home from the Big Apple at 2:30 am New York City time and couldn't wait another minute to share this recipe with you!
These Levain Bakery Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies will knock your socks off... I promise you!
People may think I am lying but I swear it's the truth, this cookie is dang good.
My husband and I decided to do something BIG for our daughter's 16th birthday. She's a sweet girl who is super low-maintenance, so we wanted to completely surprise her with an epic trip to New York City. And of course, the majority of the trip revolved around food. Duh, I am a food blogger for a reason!
My kids LOVE food too but my this daughter is a real health nut and chooses her sweets carefully. However, a visit to Levain Bakery was high on the list for this girl.
As we rode our bikes to the bakery and peered around the corner of 74th Street and Broadway, we saw the line was at least 50 people deep. If you've never been to Levain Bakery, you would be amazed to see how tiny the storefront is for this very popular bakery. The day we arrived, our time was limited so we couldn't brave the line. But there was always the next day and we were determined! We had to exercise some serious patience!
Monday morning we tried again and were pleasantly surprised to see a much shorter line. Hallelujah! We purchased our Chocolate Chip and Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies, which by the way cost $4 each, and sat on the bench and devoured them. I must have studied the cookies for what seemed like forever to my kids, who just wanted to take a bite of them for the very first time. I had to remind them it's all about the research!
My kids have been taught to be brutally honest about food because they are my ultimate taste testers. As they opened up their warm cookie and took a bite, they said that the cookies tasted just like mine. Oh, happy day!
Here's my original Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies if you haven't tried them yet -- Levain Bakery Copycat Chocolate Chip Cookies If you can't just hop on a plane and fly to NYC yet want to make Levain Bakery cookies at home, well then I am here to help you. Here are my Levain Bakery Copycat Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies and Levain Bakery Copycat Oatmeal Raisin Cookies .
Helping people is good. We should all help people.
So I am sharing the recipes that I have spent months tweaking in order for all of us to have fabulous Levain Bakery Cookies at home.
Let's clap our hands together!
Levain Bakery is LEGIT and no joke with their cookies. Since I had already tweaked and experimented with my own copycat version of their ever so popular Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookie, it was time to go for the chocolate. There are small things that set these apart from just any ordinary chocolate cookie and I am sharing my baking secrets with you!
This Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie is full of rich chocolate and studded with peanut butter chips to give it that prized peanut butter chocolate combination. Where are my Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie fanatics?
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.
If you are a true chocoholic, you can substitute peanut butter chips for dark, semisweet or milk chocolate chunks, which will give you a true Levain Bakery Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie copycat recipe. You are getting 2 for 1 here, people.
How to make Levain Bakery Chocolate Peanut Butter Copycat Cookies:
- Use 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. 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. I wish it was as cheap on Amazon as it is at Winco. Trader Joe's also makes a fabulous baking cocoa.
- 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 Peanut Butter Chip Cookies with high heat so they don't spread too rapidly. It helps keep their shape and make those crispy edges. These are my favorite silpats -- Silpat Brand and Amazon Basics.
Here are more famous Levain Bakery cookie recipes:
- Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Levain Bakery Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Levain Bakery Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Levain Bakery Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup Cold Butter cut into small cubes
- 1 cup Brown Sugar
- ½ cup Sugar
- 2 Eggs
- ½ cup Dark Baking Cocoa
- 1 cup Cake Flour
- 1 ½ cup All-Purpose Flour
- 1 teaspoon Cornstarch
- ¾ teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 1 ⅓ cup Peanut Butter Chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 410 degrees.
- In a 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 peanut butter chips (or can substitute chocolate chips).
- Chill dough for 10 minutes.
- Separate dough into large balls and place on lightly colored cookie sheet. Lightly press on top of dough to smooth out. They are bigger than you think! You will fit 4 cookies on one large cookie sheet. The dough makes 8 extra large cookies.
- Bake for 8-11 minutes or until golden brown on the top. Let them rest for at least 10 minutes to set.
Video
When I arrived home from New York City, I pulled these Levain Bakery Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies out of the freezer where I store my stash of cookies (always need to be prepared), and was able to satisfy my cookie cravings in one bite. These Levain Bakery copycat cookies are the closest to the originals that you are going to get!
Happy Baking, my friends! xoxo
Alberto
Hi! I’ll try to make your recipe this week. Did you use Dutch process cocoa? Thanks!
Kevin
I live in Baltimore and my wife had made a trip to New York and brought an actual Levain cookie back so we could do a blind taste test.
I made the chocolate peanut butter chip recipe as written and in the taste test I was able to identify which was which, but they actually tasted very similar, as if the ingredients and ratios are all correct. The giveaway was only texture. It’s hard to get the homemade cookies as tall and craggily as the real thing. I may try a silicon sheet as I think is suggested instead of a nonstick metal sheet.
Regardless these are so good. Thank you so much for sharing!
April Deveau
These are delicious! Made them for the first time and they came out perfect! Thank you for sharing this recipe
Erica
Ooh, these are GOOD. My husband confirms that they are just like the Levain cookies of the same name. Thank you!!!
Alexa
When you say baking cocoa, do you mean Dutch process or regular? Thanks in advance!
Nadia+Taylor
Did you get a reply? I’m wondering the same.
Jess
LOVE THESE COOKIES. I never leave reviews on anything even if I love it but I had to for these! Never heard of Levain Bakery but these are by far the bestest cookies I've ever made/eaten. Made them twice, first time followed recipe exactly and got perfectly humongous cookies. Second time I made for a party, so I made them tiny (I think about 1 tbsp of dough each) and baked for 6ish minutes. Perfecto!
Erin
Is it okay to make and chill the dough ahead of time for a couple days? Would you advise baking that dough straight from the refrigerator or allowing it to warm slightly? Thanks!
Ben
Sorry for the basic question...but when you say “cold” butter, are we talking fresh out of the fridge? Sitting at room temp for an hour? Am I in trouble if all I have is a hand mixer?
Jenna
This is my second time making these, and they turned out perfect both times! My husband and I got the chance to visit Levain Bakery this past summer, and these taste practically identical! Thanks for the recipe, they are always a huge hit! 🙂
Jeanette F
Can I make these with just all purpose flour? I am trying to avoid going to the store again. Thank you. They look delicious!
Patti
Oh my! These are absolutely delicious! I am an avid cookie Baker and the were heavenly! ???????? Will be adding this to my collection. I did add a tsp of vanilla.
Modern Honey
Hi Saadia,
Thank you for trying my recipe! I love to make individual servings and freeze them in balls. This makes it so much easier when it is time to bake them. I would suggest rolling into balls, placing on a baking sheet, and place in the freezer for about 1 hour. Remove from the freezer and put in large FREEZER Ziploc bag. I hope that helps!
Judy
I dont know if its my oven
I put a thermometer in to regulate the temperature
But my cookies were not done
I tried baking them another 2 mins but the bottoms burnt
Saadia
These cookies are amazing and are always a hit! How do you freeze the cookie dough if you didn't want to bake the whole batch at once? Thanks again for the awesome recipe!
Amanda
I have been obsessed with these cookies the moment I laid my eyes on them. They are one of my top favorite cookies to make. And, so easy! I just recently had the “real” Levain cookies. My friends and I all agreeded we liked your recipe better! Don’t get me wrong, L cookies were amazing! But, yours are just as good...if not better! I like to add a pick of cracked sea salt to my cookies!
Modern Honey
You just made my night! Thank you! That is what I was going after and worked hard to create a real "copycat." So glad you loved them. Thank you for taking the time to comment.
Danielle Rucks
Hello. Would you still Cream the butter a d sugar for 4 minutes with a KitchenAid stand mixer?
Modern Honey
Hi Danielle! I use a KitchenAid mixer and cream it for a solid 4 minutes. It needs that amount of time to get the butter to incorporate with the sugar. I hope that helps!
Steph
This is incredible!!! I can't believe how perfectly they turned out. I am super impressed that you were able to make this recipe. Thank you for sharing it with us!
Modern Honey
So sweet of you to say, Steph! Thank you so much for trying the recipe and taking the time to comment. I appreciate it!
Erzhena
I made the recipe the other day both for peanut butter and chocolate chip Levain cookies, but both turned out to be very doughy. I wonder if it's because I took them out too late or could it be something else? When I put the exact amount of flour I could tell the consistency is too doughy. Do you have a good picture of a working dough before you break it apart into cookies?
Your cookies in the picture still look a pretty wet inside. But I didn't want to take them out too early.
Connie Patridge
Sure wish there was an answer to this question.
Modern Honey
Hi Erzhena! These cookies tend to be slightly gooey inside and definitely, need time to set up. After removing from the oven, I let them sit to allow them to set up. If I try to open them right away, they are too doughy. I would suggest cooking them for 1-2 minutes longer. If you want to lower the temperature to 400 degrees, to ensure the bottoms don't get overdone. I hope that helps!
Luisa
And would you be able to tell me the amount of the ingredients as measured in grams? Thank you!
Genevieve
Hi,
I am about to make this recipe for my family for Christmas, I wanted to make smaller cookies. I was wondering if baking them at 350 for 13 minutes would work?
Modern Honey
Hi Genevieve! Sorry for the delay in answering your question. I would suggest 375 degrees for about 9-11 minutes. You may need a little longer but I always bear on the side of underbaking rather than overbaking. Hope that helps!
Tara
Hihi, what does light colored cookie sheet mean? I want to make sure I make these successfully before the holidays!
Thanks!
Modern Honey
Hi Tara! A light colored baking sheet is a bright silver instead of a dark gray cookie sheet. The dark gray attracts more heat and the bottoms can get burned easily. I hope that helps!