Our "Famous" Chocolate Chip Cookies
On one of our first trips to New York City, we took a go at the Instagram-famous Levain Chocolate Chip Cookie. To us, there’s nothing better than a good chocolate chip cookie, and we both knew we had to make something just as good at home.
No hate for Toll House, but we knew we could level up from the recipe on the back of the chocolate chip bag. We employed Chris’s knowledge of baking and the scientific method and Colin’s (equally important) taste testing skills to eventually pull the perfect cookie out of the oven.
Below, you’ll find the steps to make our favorite homemade chocolate chip cookie. With a few changes like supplementing bread flour, using cold butter, and the extra bit of vanilla that we all use anyway, we’re giving you a literal taste of our favorite dessert.
Don’t forget the sea salt.
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
Mix-Ins + Finishing Touches
Method
Prep
Combine dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda) in a bowl. Whisk generously. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream sugars and butter. Begin on a low setting until sugar and butter is combined, then turn to high until butter and sugar mixture is fluffy and you cannot feel the granules of sugar between your fingers. Tip: if you do not have a strong stand mixer, soften the butter by leaving it out in advance, or microwaving it in 5-8 second intervals. Do not melt the butter. You may need to chill your dough longer for the butter to firm back up.
Add vanilla extract and mix on medium to combine. Scrape down bowl with a spatula.
Add cold eggs. Mix on medium until eggs are combined. Do not over mix.
Add dry ingredients from Step #1 and mix on low until combined.
Remove the bowl from the stand mixer. Add chocolate chips and walnuts.
Manually stir until combined.
Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for 3-6 hours.
Baking
Preheat your oven to 400°F.
Remove the dough from the fridge and use a kitchen scale to weigh 2oz pieces of dough. Roll the 2oz pieces into balls with your hands and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake immediately for 10 minutes for a soft, gooey, slightly underdone cookie. Tip: The cookies should be tall and fluffy. The top of the cookie should just be beginning to brown. If the cookies “melt”, the dough was not chilled for long enough, or the butter was too soft when it was initially mixed into the dough.
Remove the cookies from the baking tray immediately. Top the cookies with sea salt and serve warm.
You can freeze these dough balls in a gallon size zip-loc bag for a few months (we aren’t sure how many - they always get eaten pretty quickly).
If you don't have a stand mixer, this is a good option
Literally from Iceland
The higher quality chocolate does make a difference
Like what we're sharing? Get an email when we post something new.
SubscribeCan attest, 10/10! But agreed, no shade on tollhouse… they hit sometimes.
*Enter the email you used to subscribe to our website, and your comment will be posted automatically. Your email will not be displayed on the site.