Big Fat Double Dark Chocolate Cookies {Almost Levain Bakery Knockoff}
These big fat double dark chocolate cookies are a decadent, homemade, slightly-fudgier version of the famed Levain double chocolate cookies.
The answer to every last chocolate craving, these enormously delicious double chocolate cookies are incredible. A bit intense? Yes. But totally worth it? Also, yes.
If you’ve seen Levain bakery cookies in person (or just around the internet), you’ll quickly notice that their fame comes largely because of size. The cookies are notoriously huge, often slightly underbaked, and loaded with chocolate chips.
My version of these big fat double dark chocolate cookies produces a cookie that is less cakey and slightly fudgier than other knockoff Levain bakery recipes.
They are easily one of my favorite cookies ever. Major brownie-vibes-in-a-cookie happening here.
Double Dark Chocolate Cookie Dough
The cookie dough starts with:
- cold butter
- brown sugar
- granulated sugar
The cold butter is essential to produce the right texture for these cookies: lightly crisp on the outside but soft and gooey on the inside.
Also, bonus, no need to plan ahead or mess with softening butter. Hallelujah.
Because the butter is cold, it will have a tendency to flip and fly around a bit as it first starts mixing, so be sure to cut the butter into pieces before adding it to the mixer and start the mixer on low speed.
Hang in there and trust the process, because with time (4-6 minutes), the butter and sugars will turn into a thick, creamy, well-combined mixture.
What Kind of Chocolate Chips to Use
I’d like to state here (mostly for my posterity, because leading by example matters) that the only appropriate chocolate chips to use in this recipe are semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips.
They are double DARK chocolate chip cookies, after all.
However, also for my posterity (because kindness and inclusivity matters, too), if you choose to use milk chocolate chips, that is a very personal decision and I will *try* and not judge you for it.
For a PB version: try subbing in half (or all) of the chocolate chips for peanut butter chips. Yum!
My favorite chips to use are Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips.
Mix the dough just until no dry streaks remain.
It will be thicker than a traditional chocolate chip cookie dough.
You can scoop and bake the cookies right away. No need to refrigerate the dough!
How to Weigh Out Cookie Dough
To accommodate the fact that these cookies are meant to be huge, the dough is divided into 4 to 4.25 ounce portions.
You can go even bigger than that, if you’d like. Traditional Levain cookies use a whopping 6 ounces of dough for each cookie.
Leave the dough craggy or pat into a somewhat lumpy dough ball. They don’t need to be pristinely rolled into perfect balls.
How to Fix Cookies that Flatten Too Much
Bake the cookies for 9-10 minutes until the outside is shiny and set and the inside is still somewhat soft.
These big fat double dark chocolate cookies should bake up…very big and fat.
A lot of different factors can impact how a cookie will turn out exactly, such as: exact oven temperature (most ovens vary), how we each measure ingredients, how long the dough was mixed, brand and variety of brown sugar and butter, and more.
So don’t panic if your cookies come out of the oven a little flatter or a little puffier than what you were hoping. Here are some tips to help!
For a thicker/puffier cookie, try:
- adding another 1/4 cup flour to the dough (it helps to bake one single “tester” cookie first to see how it will bake so you can still alter the dough a bit)
- increasing the oven temperature by 10-15 degrees F
- chilling the dough (if doing this, I recommend scooping the dough into balls before chilling)
If your cookies are TOO puffy, try reducing the oven temperature by 25 degrees and/or next time measuring the dry ingredients with a lighter hand so there is less flour in the dough.
A Favorite Cookie
Even if I did start out with the intention for these cookies to be Levain knockoffs, I’m certain they won’t pass any official test. They’re a bit smaller and a lot fudgier (and less cakey) than most other variations.
And that’s ok by me, because they are incredible. Like, one of my favorite cookies in the history of ever.
And also, rumor has it (ahem) that if you refrigerate the gooey, slightly under baked cookies overnight, the chilled cookies are actually, almost, probably, most definitely the most delicious thing you’ll eat all year. (They freeze well, too – YES SO MUCH DANGEROUS INFO RIGHT HERE IN THIS PARAGRAPH.)
Hundreds of you have made and loved this recipe over the years, too!
Ellen: OMG! Love the deep chocolate gooey richness. I can’t believe how well they turned out. Nine minutes and they looked just like your pictures!! Pretty darn excited about this recipe. Thanks so much! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Hannah: I’m sort of famous for my cookies, and I have created a family of cookie snobs. That sounds ridiculous, but it’s true. My toddlers have been known to take a bite of a sub-par cookie and refuse the rest (kind of makes my mom heart happy). But these cookies. OH these cookies! People are talking about them a week later, so it’s safe to say they’re absolutely fantastic. Like a gooey brownie in cookie form? ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A few big, fat double dark chocolate cookie notes:
- Smaller Cookies: the cookies can definitely be made smaller. If you do so, adjust the time as needed (and understand the gooey level may be minimized a bit)
- Cake Flour: the cookies won’t turn out the same if using just all-purpose flour. If you don’t have cake flour on hand, here’s a quick and easy way to make cake flour yourself.
- Cocoa Powder: I have made these using Dutch-process cocoa, Hershey’s special dark cocoa powder, and natural, unsweetened cocoa powder. My favorite versions are when using the special dark or Dutch-process cocoa. But any variety will work (the cookies will be less dark and rich with regular natural, unsweetened cocoa powder and you may find the cookies spread less when using this cocoa powder).
- Cold Eggs + Cold Butter: it’s important that the butter and eggs are cold so these cookies hold their shape and don’t flatten. It takes a while for the butter and sugars to mix together, but it’ll happen. It’s also a reason a stand mixer is best for this recipe.
- One Last Plea for Milk Chocolate? No and no. I’m glad we had this talk. However, peanut butter chips thrown in the batter are goooooood.
See me make the big fat double dark chocolate cookies over on Instagram. 😋
Big Fat Double Dark Chocolate Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (227 g) cold salted butter straight from the fridge, cut into tablespoon-size pieces
- 1 cup (212 g) lightly packed light or dark brown sugar
- ½ cup (106 g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, cold from the refrigerator
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cups (249 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 ¼ cups (143 g) cake flour
- ½ cup (50 g) dark or Dutch-process unsweetened cocoa powder (see note)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ to 2 cups (255 to 340 g) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips or chunks
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line two half sheet pans with parchment paper and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the cold butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar. Start the mixer on low (the butter will fly around a bit since it's cold) and gradually increase to medium speed. Mix for 4-6 minutes until the mixture is creamy and very well-combined, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
- Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until combined and the batter is light in color, 2-3 minutes.
- Add the flour, cake flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Mix on low speed until the dough starts to come together (and so the dry ingredients don't fly everywhere).
- When just a few dry streaks remain, add the chocolate chips or chunk and mix just until combined and there are no dry spots.
- Scoop very large balls of dough (about 4-4.25 ounces for each cookie) and place several inches apart on the prepared baking sheets (five cookies per half sheet pan).
- Bake for 9-10 minutes until set on the outside but still soft in the middle. Let the cookies rest on the baking sheets to cool for 5-7 minutes before removing to a cooling rack. These cookies are amazing warm (with ice cream), chilled, or at room temperature.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe (inspired by lots of knockoff recipes online)
I made these last-minute when I was looking for a super-quick dessert to take to a party, and I’m SO thrilled that I did! I brought them (still warm), and at one point during the party, one woman said “Stop – who made these cookies?” and I raised my hand and she said. “I think this is the best cookie I’ve ever had in my life.” And I agree! I also want to caveat that I am very picky about baked goods – if I try it and it’s anything less than stellar, I won’t keep eating it. I know this doesn’t make sense, but I’m not even a big chocolate fan (yet for some reason I love a really good brownie), and I feel like these are, like…the cookie version of a brownie? Anyway, SUPER quick to come together (even with the double sifting of the DIY cake flour!). I made the recipe exactly as written. I feel like these will be my go-to dessert to share with others! 10/10!
Oops, forgot to mark it 5 stars! 🙂 Made them again tonight and they were just as great.
Amelia, your comment made me so happy! That is the BEST praise from the woman at the event you brought them too. I’m thrilled you love these cookies so much as they are definitely in my top 10 fave desserts ever. Yay. Thank you!
10/10. Add a dollop of marshmallow fluff in the center of the cookie for absolute magic.
So put me in recipe jail, I didn’t read through the whole recipe before starting and, eek, didn’t have cake flour. I clicked through the link to make your own and decided I would replace 2T of the AP flour with cornstarch and let me tell you, I don’t know what they would have tasked like with cake flour and/or sifting but these were SO GOOD that my teenager who may not have smiled in three years texted me “the cookies were DELICIOUS” Sob. They did look just like the pictures so I think it worked pretty well. Best cookie ever, love you like always, Mel!!
Hahaha, totally laughing at your teenager comment. Thanks for the thorough review, Kate!! I’ll be trying that next time! (And here’s to hoping those teenage smiles stick around).
Can this dough be chilled for a few days without effecting the structure? Can it also be frozen?
Yes
Excellent cookie! If making true Levain style cookies, use 6oz scoops and chill the balls for 20 minutes, before cooking at 415⁰ for 8 minutes. As written, they are perfect, but smaller and flatter than Levain.
These are amazing! My son was flipping through your cookbook (a treasure!) and asked for these. I finally made them last night and we loved them! My husband doesn’t eat a lot of sugar but had TWO of these! They were amazing warm and then I chilled the rest and tried a bit this morning. I may like them chilled even better! Wow. So, so good. I’m a little mad at myself for not baking them years ago when you first posted them…they’ve been on my list forever! These are instant favorites.
Yay!!! I’m so happy you loved these (as they are one of my all time faves!!)
This recipe for dark chocolate cookies are the best truly delicious. Will absolutely make these again.
This recipe was terrible. There was way too much flour. Yes I fluffed and leveled it. I ended up adding liquid in an attempt to save it and the cookies came out inedible.
You: your recipe is terrible
Also you: I didn’t make the recipe as written.
The recipe comes out perfect if you follow the directions. You do have to beat the dough longer to incorporate the cold butter, but it does eventually come together. Adding liquid is what ruined your cookies. The recipe doesn’t call for liquid (except for a t. vanilla), and that’s also why margarine doesn’t work in cookie recipes created with butter. Fat and water act differently, and you can’t cause an imbalance in those. Cooking is art. But Pastry is science
I make these ALL the time since I found the recipe last year. My family loves them and our 16 yo cannot go without! I usually make a double batch and freeze 1/2 of the dough, they come out just as good as freshly made dough! Thank you!!
Can the dough be chilled for a couple of days without effecting the taste or structure of the cookie?
Way too much flour, the cookies didn’t set and tasted very dry. Then I saw the note at the bottom that said you used half a cup less of flour when you made them again. What’s going on?
Did you weight the flour or measure it in cups? The only thing going on is the recipe has been updated over the years to account for cookies that flatten too much – the original recipe had less flour than the updated recipe. A lot depends on whether you are weight the ingredients or measuring in cups (it’s easy to over measure dry ingredients by packing too much flour into the cups). I’ve included details in the notes section.
I always weigh dry ingredients…but yours don’t seem to match what I have always used: flour=125 g per cup, sugar 200 g per cup. but yours seems to be different than that…for example 1 3/4 cup flour (for me) would be about 218 grams instead of 249.
I test all my recipes using 142 grams of flour per cup of all purpose flour. There’s no one standard (different reputable baking sources like America’s test kitchen and King Arthur flour use differing weight measures for flour and other ingredients), so my recommendation is to always use the weight measures given in a specific tested recipe rather than converting to your own weight measures.
I’m a chocoholic-so these are my jam!! They are also a favorite of anyone I serve them to.
Hi Mel, I read some of the comments and one asked if you had a regular chocolate chip cookie like this one in 2023. You said you were working on it. Did you ever find success and if so, where do I find it?
Hi Pamela, great question! I never ended up posting a recipe for it because the ones I tried and loved were too close to other recipes already available online – I didn’t feel like I was really offering something different and unique if I posted my version. If you google “Levain chocolate chip cookies” the top search results turn up some good ones!
A big hit with all the children in my daughter’s high school and with my 4 kids. So easy to make with no cutters and no flour everywhere. So heavenly chocolatey, they just melt in our mouth- delicious! Thanks for the recipe Mel
I absolutely adore these cookies. My grandma said they are the best cookies she’s ever had. I like them large but they also turn out well as little cookies for parties or kids.
The cookies turned out to be amazingg but can we make them with a substitute if i cannot add eggs ?
Hi there, you can google substitutes for eggs in cookie recipes and experiment (I haven’t tried it and don’t want to steer you wrong).
I bake a lot and these are legitimately one of THE BEST things I have ever made in my entire life. I don’t even consider myself to be a “double chocolate cookie person” (I know…I know…I just prefer vanilla/lemon/regular chocolate chip etc. more) but the thickness and texture of these won me over. They are absolutely incredible!!!
I used softened butter because my Bosch said no cold butter with the cookie paddles and then I just chilled the rolled out dough for a few hours right before baking.
I’ve made these twice now and they certainly are so delicious. Do you have a chocolate chip cookie recipe that matches the same thickness and texture and consistency as these?
I don’t, but I’m working on one!
Can’t wait for that!!
These were so yummy! I made the cake flour following the link above and I made the cookies much smaller so that it made a couple more than 2 dozen and they were delicious!
Can you freeze the dough to make cookies later? Or would you suggest freezing the cookies instead on letting them defrost before eating.
You can do either! Both options work great.
HOLY SMOKES!! These are insaaaaaaaaane I could cry right now. I just ate my first cookie from the batch. Daaaangerous territory with these babies. Oh my goodness oh my goodness oh my goodness. THANK YOU FOR THIS RECIPE! Heaven on eeeeeaaaaaaarth
Super yummy! I added some mint chips in with the semisweet for a festive March mint chocolate chip cookie that turned out perfect.
Oh, these. These. Theeeeese. These are heaven. All my chocolate fantasies wrapped up in a huge mountain of chocolate heaven. I’ve had Levain cookies many times and, though different, these are every bit as satisfying. These crush all cookie attempts to satisfy the ultimate chocolate craving.
Made these today with GF flour from @gfjules and used dairy free butter. Turned out delicious! So chocolatey and fabulous eaten warm! ❤️ Thanks again for another Fabulous recipe Mel! ❤️
was wondering if you can make these smaller for group of people
I made them large and small. I baked the smaller ones for about 7- 8 minutes depending on the size you do.
Hi Doris, yes, you can definitely make them smaller if you’d like.
Hi, I made these cookies in March of 2020 and absolutely loved them. I see in the notes that you updated the recipe at some point. I’m trying to figure out if when I made it in early 2020 it was the old recipe or the new one. I guess I’m just wondering when the recipe was updated to the new one . Thank you!
Hi Chelsea, I updated the dry ingredients (details in the notes of the recipe) late last year (2022).
I made them gluten free using almond flour, arrowroot and making my own cake flour with almond flour. So good, best gluten free cookie I’ve had
I also made them GF but used gfjules.com gf flour for both all purpose and cake flour. Super delicious. Almond flour is definitely a little better for you so I might have to try that. How did you make it in to cake flour?