Levain Bakery Copycat Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
/Thick and gooey, Levain Bakery- style chocolate chip cookies stuffed with toasted pecans, hazelnuts, pumpkin, and cozy fall spices.
In my book, Levain Bakery cookies are the perfect cookie. I remember a handful of years ago when Levain Bakery cookies began to take-over the internet—cute images of their tiny, blue and white bakeshops started popping up on Instagram along with pictures of giant, ooey gooey chocolate chip cookies. I didn’t live anywhere close to NYC, but I was sold.
Around the same time, Martin went on a work trip to New York, walked 40 something blocks, and stood in a 2 hour line to bring me back a few of those prized cookies. I don’t know if it was the cookie itself, the way I had hyped it up in my head, but even 2 days later, they were the best cookies I’d ever eaten. In June of this year, we went to NYC for our anniversary and ran through the rain to get my Levain Bakery cookies—still as perfect as I remember them.
Some people like their cookies thin and chewy. Some like them thin and crispy, or with ridged edges. I like my cookies Levain Bakery Style—thick and fat, a little crispy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. I like them to weigh almost half a pound. For me, that’s the perfect cookie.
So for this recipe, I channeled my inner Levain Bakery and paired with everyone’s favorite fall flavors—pumpkin and warming spices to bring you the best cookie recipe I’ve made all year. Hands down. Lets jump in!
how to make copycat levain bakery pumpkin chocolate chip cookies
This is a pretty straightforward cookie recipe, with just a few caveats.
Here’s what you need:
Butter. Most creaming method recipes call for your butter to be room temperature but every Levain Bakery copycat recipe I’ve made through the years calls for cold butter so that’s what we’re using. Unsalted butter. Cold and cubed.
Brown Sugar and Granulated Sugar. Brown sugar has molasses added to it for a deep, caramelized flavor while a bit of granulated sugar helps aid in cookie spread.
Eggs and Yolks. For this recipe, I used one whole egg + an egg yolk for a little extra fat.
Flour. I use a blend of all purpose flour and cake flour for this recipe. Since cake flour has a lower protein content, it forms a bit less gluten giving us a softer crumb while the all purpose flour provides enough protein to build structure. Also, Jacques Torres chocolate chip cookie recipe does this flour blending and the technique has stuck with me for years. (Also a very good chocolate chip cookie recipe.)
Pumpkin. Of course, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies need pumpkin! Make sure you grab canned pumpkin puree not pumpkin pie filling, which has other ingredients added.
Spices. Lots of warming spices make this cookie extra cozy for fall. There’s cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and all spice. If you don’t have these spices, you could omit all of them and replace with 2 3/4 tsp of pumpkin pie spice.
Leavening Agents. This recipe uses both baking powder and baking soda. Powder helps with the rise, while baking soda works to balance the pumpkin’s slight acidity.
Chocolate. I like using lots of roughly chopped dark chocolate for all of my cookie recipes. This gives me little flecks of chocolate throughout the cookie, along with a few big puddles.
Nuts. The classic Levain Bakery cookie uses walnuts, which I could have sworn I had on hand when I started testing this recipe. Turns out, I didn’t so I used a blend of pecans and hazelnuts which felt much more like fall to me. Make sure to toast your nuts for added depth of flavor and then let them cool before adding to the dough.
a few tips for making these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies
These cookies MUST chill for 24 hours. I know, it’s annoying, but this recipe especially needs the chilling time or I promise, you will end up with giant cookie puddles. You can read a little more about what happens when you chill cookie dough here. It will be worth it, I promise!
Levain Bakery cookies weigh a hefty 6 oz each, so that’s what we’re working with here. You’re going to end up with 8 enormous cookies that can be broken into pieces or snacked on throughout the day. If you want smaller cookies, adjust the baking time accordingly, and remember that they will still be delicious, but not very Levain Bakery-esque.
Scoop, weigh, chill. That’s my recommended process for making these cookies. Scoop and weigh the dough while it’s still soft and place your portions on a parchment lined sheet tray. Cover the tray with plastic wrap and chill overnight. Then, when you’re ready to bake, all you have to do is preheat the oven.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 4 oz (113g) butter, cold and cubed
- 3/4 cup (150 g) brown sugar
- 1/3 cup (66 g) granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1/2 cup (140 g) pumpkin puree
- 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 200 g all purpose flour
- 80 g (2/3 cup) cake flour
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 3/4 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground all spice
- 375 g chopped chocolate
- 1 1/2 cups toasted nuts (I used 1/2 pecans and 1/2 hazelnuts)
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine butter, brown sugar, and granulate sugar.
- Cream on medium speed for 1-2 minutes, until soft and sandy and all of the butter has been incorporated.
- Lower the mixer speed and add the vanilla extract, egg, egg yolk, and pumpkin puree one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl often to ensure even mixing.
- In another large bowl, whisk together salt, baking powder, baking soda, flour, cake flour, and spices.
- Add the dry ingredients to the dough gradually mixing just until all of the flour streaks remain.
- Add the chopped chocolate and toasted nuts and mix once more, just until distributed. Fold the dough with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon to ensure that there are no pockets of unmixed ingredients.
- Divide the dough into 8 six-ounce portions and place them on a parchment lined sheet tray. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 24 hours.
- When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350° F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Space the cookies out on the tray (I did 4 cookies per tray) and bake for 17-20 minutes, until the tops of the cookies are dry and the edges are just beginning to brown. Let the cookies cool completely on the pan before serving.
Notes
I know it's a bit of a pain, but don't skip the chilling time on this recipe. If the dough isn't properly chilled, the cookies will spread!
If you don't want to make these Levain Bakery Style (aka, giant), you can scoop the dough into smaller portions. For smaller cookies, begin checking for doneness after 8 minutes.
