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
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
Michael
Could you replace the peanut butter chips with white chocolate? I’d love to make this cookie style with white chocolate chips!
Eileen F
Would this recipe work if creating a cookie cake rather than individual cookies?
Walter
Great recipe thank you for posting. I am in Colorado and have to adjust to more flour, more liquid, less leavening, less sugar, and a higher baking temp. Cookies came out decent, slightly fudgy. Will make again with more peanut butter chips and a darker cocoa powder if I can find it here.
Best
Jenny
good morning.
could i have the conversion of ingredients to grams please? I have a lot of difficulty with measuring cups.
a thousand thanks
SC
So excited to make these! It’s been forever since I’ve had the real thing!. Quick question- My oven only does 400 or 425…what are your thoughts on temp and time? Does it differ based on the cookie…pb/choc vs choc/walnut
Sandy
AWESOME COOKIES! I go to college on the East Coast and these are my absolute favorite I travel just to get them. Now that I'm home in California, I had an intense craving. These hit the spot and to my surprise truly DID taste exactly like the Levain ones. I was worried because I used Dutch process cocoa and baking soda, but they turned out okay.
Only recommendation: FREEZE OVERNIGHT BEFORE BAKING! I bet you could whip up a batch and just keep them frozen and make one or two when you are ready. I used a large cookie scoop with two stacked scoops, baked at 410 for 9-10 minutes. You can see they are golden brown if you look in direct light. Do not take them out early then put them back in as they will melt.
baking dancer
Another amazing Levain Bakery copycat recipe. Two of the best flavours in the world - chocolate and peanut butter, and this recipe is a winner.
The first time I made them I misread the recipe and put in 1 1/3 cups of peanut butter and the second time I used peanut butter chips. Personally, I think my first recipe might have a been slightly better, because I love peanut butter. Each cookie is 6 ounces of love!
Sierra
Would love to know how you add the peanut butter? We don't have pb chips where I live (I'm American, but live abroad), but would love to try this recipe!
mel
Love the idea of using peanut butter instead of pb chips.
Jeanette
Your copy cat cookie recipes look delicious. I have to do gluten-free and dairy-free. What could I sub for the flour and butter for these recipes? Thank You!
Sierra
I am obsessed with these cookies! They are the perfect combination of chocolate and peanut butter. So yummy!!!
Kapua
Wow! What a cookie! I’ve never been to Levain’s, and now I won’t have fomo because these are amazing. Followed the recipe and had perfect results. Will try the other iterations, I have no doubt they will all be 5 stars too. Thank you (from Hawaiʻi)
A. Wright
Thank you so much for this super delicious amazingly awesome recipe! These are just as good as Levain's and now I don't have to go to NYC to eat them! I have followed the recipe exactly and they come out amazing. I have also made these with gluten-free flour for the celiac in my life and they were still amazing! Winning!!!
Jen
They were fabulous!!! Thanks so much for sharing this recipe. I do have a question though, what brand peanut butter chips do you use? I used Reese’s but they didn’t melt well at all, certainly not like the Levain cookies. Do you have a suggestion?
Jo
How would you say this chocolate base differ from the chocolate base of the chocolate chocolate chip cookie version? I noticed there's a difference in measurements.
Gillian
Best cookies I have made ever! I have tried lots of cookie recipes over the years with variable degrees of success. This is the first time I have had consistent excellent results. I started with the chocolate chip cookie and shared with a friend who said it was the best chocolate chip cookie he had ever had! I thought it was a fluke and made them again with even better results as I adjusted the baking time based on results from the first batch; they were even better! So I had to try them all; I’ve never had so many compliments! EXCELLENT!
Janet
I have the in the often and am chuckling as I try to figure out how to see “ golden brown” on dark chocolate cookies.
Janet
Janet here again…that was supposed to say I have these in the oven…