Copycat Levain Cookies

I went to New York last summer and stopped by Levain Bakery after a friend told me I had to try their cookies.

Since then, I've been completely obsessed with trying to recreate the recipe at home. I tried a ton of recipes, read a ton of blogs/forums/discussions regarding the potential 'secret ingredients' in these delicious cookies. I tried letting the dough rest 36 hours, I tried adding cornstarch to the dough, I tried all different baking temperatures, and I even tried adding powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar. I could never quite get the recipe right, somethings was always off.

Until now.
I think I have discovered a way to recreate the Levain Bakery chocolate chip cookie at home. It came to me out of no where after I was reading a forum about the bakery. Someone mentioned that they thought Levain Bakery used super hot bread baking ovens to get their cookies to crisp up so perfectly. So I thought to myself, okay, I'll try to mimic the ovens by preheating a baking sheet in the oven and throwing some ice cubes on it after putting the cookies in the oven.

I had attempted this cookie recipe several times and given the batches to my husband to take to work. His coworkers would always ask him when I was going to make my "scone cookies" again. I didn't think anything of it at first-maybe it's their shape?

Then it hit me. Why am I not making these using a scone baking technique?! I mean, it makes perfect sense. The Levain cookies are buttery and fluffy, yet perfectly crisp on the outside. Unlike any cookie I've ever had before… EXACTLY. So I decided to cut in the butter rather than beat it until it's fluffy, like all the other chocolate chip cookie recipes out there.

BINGO. This created the fluffy cookie texture that I wanted. Also, after much trial and error, I decided on a combination of bread flour and cake flour for the cookies, rather than all-purpose flour. Combined with under-baking and the high oven temp/ice cubes, I was able to create the BEST copycat cookie recipe (I think) so far. Give it a try and be sure to tell me what you think.

 Personally, I don't add walnuts to the cookies because I don't like walnuts, but feel free to add them.

I also made mine half the size of the real Levain cookies, but you can do whatever you want. The recipe below calls for the normal size, but feel free to make them half that size and cut the baking time down to about 9 minutes



Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups cake flour
1 cup bread flour
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 sticks COLD unsalted butter, cubed
2 eggs (cold)
1 tsp vanilla
1- 1 1/2 cups good quality chocolate chips
3/4 cup toasted walnuts (optional)

 In a bowl whisk together eggs and vanilla and set aside. In a separate bowl sift together first 7 ingredients (dry ingredients). Cut the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles crumbles. Pour in the egg mixture and mix until it’s no longer crumbly and holds together. Carefully add in chocolate chips and incorporate. Do not over mix, you want them to be rough and scone-like.

Set oven at 425 degrees and place a baking pan on the bottom rack to heat up (for the ice cubes). When the oven has reached 425 degrees, remove the dough from the refrigerator and scoop the dough into baseball sized mounds. (Yes, I said baseball sized. If you have never had these cookies, they are MASSIVE). You want it to look rough, not smooth like a ball.
Place dough mounds in freezer for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, arrange the dough mounds on a greased baking sheet. Place on the center rack of the oven. Add 5 ice cubes to the empty baking pan in the oven and close the oven door immediately. This creates steam to give the cookies that wonderful crispy outer layer.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, depending on your oven and the size of your cookies, and watch closely. Ideally you want them to have a light golden color, but also appear to be under baked.

 

Gluten Free Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

I came across this recipe a few weeks ago for THE BEST gluten free chocolate chip cookies made with gluten free oat flour. Since oat flour is so similar to regular flour it makes the perfect gluten free substitution.




These cookies are THE BEST gluten free cookies I have made to date. They're chewy, yet slightly crispy on the outside, and the brown butter makes them out of this world. And on top of that, they're free of white sugar, and the oat flour makes me feel a little better about eating them. Seriously, make these cookies. You will not be disappointed.








Ingredients:

1 stick of butter
1/2 cup coconut palm sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 cup gf oat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup chopped gluten free chocolate chips

In a small saucepan melt the butter on medium low heat, swirling around every once in a while for about 5 minutes, or until the butter browns. Immediately remove from heat and pour into a heat-proof bowl to cool.

Add palm sugar and brown sugar to brown butter and mix gently. Set aside to cool. Once cool, whisk in egg and vanilla to brown butter/sugar mixture.

In another bowl mix together oat flour, salt, and baking soda. Combine wet and dry ingredients, then add in chopped chocolate chips. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Meanwhile, cover bowl with plastic wrap and set in fridge for 15 minutes while oven is preheating.

Scoop dough into mounds with an ice-cream scoop, or roll into 1 1/2 inch mounds. Bake for 6-8 minutes, or until they just start to brown. (I personally think they're better under-baked)

Chocolate Zucchini Cookies (GF)

Alright, so here's yet another recipe with zucchini.

I was trying to think of different types of desserts where I could possibly sneak in some grated zucchini. I thought, brownies? No, I just did a recipe with Sweet Potato Brownies.

And since I had already made Zucchini Bread this week, I decided that I really needed to go for something different; something I had never even thought of before: zucchini cookies.

Zucchini isn't very sweet, so I needed to mask the zucchini flavor with something strong. Obviously, I thought of chocolate.

I made this recipe similar to my brownie recipe, but tried to incorporate coconut flour. I also wanted them to have a bit of protein, so I threw in some almond butter.

These cookies are fluffy, but crispy around the edges, and super moist. They're not quite as gooey as I had wanted, but they're still delicious and you cannot even taste the zucchini. These cookies could fool anyone. On top of that, they're only 85 calories a serving, which means I didn't feel guilty having two of them for breakfast the other day.

The batter is pretty sticky, so I threw it in the fridge for about a half hour to firm up a bit. I also decided to roll the dough 1 1/2 inch balls and roll them in powdered sugar, but you don't have to.




Ingredients:

1 cup grated zucchini
1 egg (room temp)
1 egg white (room temp)
4 tablespoons almond butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp strong coffee (optional)
1 tablespoon olive oil or melted coconut oil
3/4 cup cocoa powder
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Whisk together zucchini, egg, egg white, almond butter, vanilla, coffee, and olive oil until combined and set aside.

In a separate bowl sift together cocoa powder, coconut flour, and baking soda. Add in chocolate chips and brown sugar and mix well. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until incorporated. Fold in chocolate chips and refrigerate for at least a half hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and roll batter into 1 1/2 inch balls. Roll in powdered sugar and place on baking sheet, pressing down softly. Bake for 7-8 minutes, then remove from oven and allow cookies to sit on baking sheet for an extra minute before taking them off the pan.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (Gluten Free, Grain Free)

My husband has a sweet tooth. I do not. I much prefer salty snacks to sweets. For instance, I could eat an entire bag of potato chips in one sitting, if I had zero inhibitions. But for my thigh's sake, I don't do that.

Almost every night after dinner my husband will ask me if we have any 'sweet treats' in the house, since I do the grocery shopping I usually control what type of junk food we keep in the house. Because of my lack of self control, at times, I don't often buy junk food. But instead, I'll make homemade cookies or snacks, that way I can limit how much is made.

I came across a grain free recipe for peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and decided to give it a whirl. I only made a few minor adjustments, but the cookies were absolutely amazing. I cannot even believe how they rose exactly like flour cookies do.

If you make these, you will not be disappointed. Trust me.




Ingredients:
1 cup of chunky (no stir) peanut butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla extract (gf)
3/4 cup chocolate chips (gf)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream together peanut butter, sugar, vanilla, baking soda, and egg. Fold in chocolate chips. Refrigerate dough for 20 minutes. Rolls dough into 1 1/2 inch balls and place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Gently flatten each ball just slightly, to encourage less of a puffed ball shape while baking.

Bake for 8 minutes, remove from oven and allow to sit on baking sheet for another two minutes before taking cookies off. Best when eaten while warm. This dough can also be frozen, however it needs to thaw out a bit before being rolled into balls.

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe is not for the faint of heart-it contains two sticks of butter. Two, deliciously melted (and browned!) sticks of butter that make these cookies taste unreal. I followed this recipe with a few changes of my own. I used spelt flour instead of unbleached flour, and I used two Ghirardelli chocolate bars (chopped up into little bits) in place of the chocolate chips, and I added the hot browned butter straight to the sugars to create a caramelized taste. I also allowed the dough to sit in the fridge for a few hours, so that the flavors could marinate. These cookies are best eaten straight out of the oven, or within a day of baking (in my opinion!).

 


Ingredients:

 1 cup of butter (2 sticks)
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs room temp
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups spelt flour (or any flour you wish)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sea salt
2 chopped Ghirardelli chocolate bars

 Add sugars to a heat proof bowl. Melt butter in a saucepan on medium heat, stirring frequently for 5-7 minutesuntil it just starts to brown and changes to an amber color. Once butter browns, transfer to bowl of sugars, mix and let cool completely.
Once cooled, add eggs and vanilla to butter and sugar, mixing well. In a separate bowl add flour, baking soda, and salt, mixing well. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, mix until dough forms. Fold in chopped chocolate, cover bowl, and refrigerate for 2-24 hours.
 Preheat oven to 350 and roll dough into 1 - 1 1/2 inch balls. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the cookies just barely begin to brown. You want them to look a bit undercooked, so that they're perfectly chewy once cooled.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Okay, so I'm months behind on this blog. But now that I don't really have a full time job, I'll be posting a lot more. Well, hopefully. Planning a wedding has taken up most of my time, but now we're in the final few weeks and most of it is done! Anyways, here is a recipe for yummy peanut butter cookies. I found the recipe on this awesome website called Seven Spoons, I just tweaked it a bit. I added rolled oats for texture and decreased the amount of peanut butter just a bit. They're delicious!














Ingredients

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup (8 tablespoons/1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup chunky (or creamy) peanut butter
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed golden or dark brown sugar
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon honey
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup rolled oats

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer, cream together the butter and peanut butter until light and fluffy. Add the sugars and honey and beat on high for three minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Add the egg and vanilla, then mix on medium speed until well blended.

Add the dry ingredients to the bowl, and oats, and stir to just combine. Using a 1 1/4" ice cream scoop dish out mounds of dough onto the prepared baking sheet (alternatively, use a generous 2 tablespoons of batter for each cookie), spacing them about 2 inches apart. Place onto baking sheet and freeze the batter for 10-15 minutes to set up and chill thoroughly.

Dip a fork into warm water and use the tines to press the dough balls lightly; you only want to slightly flatten their shape and leave the imprint of the fork. Freshly dip the fork between pressing each cookie. Sprinkle with sea salt, if desired.

Bake in the preheated oven for 16 minutes, rotating the sheets once during baking. Cool on pan for two minutes, then remove to a baking rack to cool completely.