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
Recipe Source: from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe (inspired by lots of knockoff recipes online)
I just made these smaller/ “normal sized” for 11 minutes in my oven and they are soooo good. They’re crispy and fudgey and wow. Thanks for another hit!
These are delicious! I made them tonight with homemade coconut milk ice cream on top
Yum, Lesli!
I’ve been looking for a good chocolate cookie recipe for a long time! Chocolate cookies with peanut butter chips are my very favorite, but they usually turn out flat, greasy, or too crispy. I was hesitant to try these because I don’t have a mixer. I used my hand mixer and just cut the butter into small pieces. I also used regular unsweetened cocoa. I used peanut butter chips and made them smaller (regular cookie size). Since they were small, I baked them at 350 for 10 minutes. They were amazing! Definitely the best chocolate cookie recipe I’ve ever made! Thanks Mel!
I tried this recipe just this morning and they were so good! It didnt spread out at all, unlike other double chocolate cookie recipes i’ve tried. Finally found the one.
I tried these twice and have struggled to get the texture right.
I tried making my own cake flour once measured and once weight and both times the dough was way too sticky and cookies flattened too much
I do usually have to add more flour to recipes because of our altitude/dry climate (Baking a mile high in CO here ) so after first super fat batch I added a TB of cornstarch mixed with a scant 1/4 C of flour sifted and it worked well so guessing for high altitude add a bit more cake flour and go from there
Thanks for the delicious chocolate cookies and all your recipes Mel
Your site is my FAV and my bestie is named Mel so I have so many reasons to ❤️❤️❤️You!
Yep, this cookie recipe is a 10 for sure!! I made the huge 4 oz cookies and got exactly ten from the recipe. I made my own cake flour with the cornstarch, and used white chocolate chips cause that’s all I had. I refrigerated them for about 30 minutes cause the dough was super sticky, and that helped me a lot!! I was honestly surprised at myself for them turning out so well! (Not cause of the recipe… just cause me.) Thanks, Mel!!
These were so tasty, and so easy. Loved em just as much as Levain!
These turned out perfect! Reminded me of a brownie recipe I use. Very rich, so eat with black coffee or something 🙂 Everyone loved these:)
Hi, I love this recipe. it was so good!
Terrible recipe. Weight measurements are completely off. Waste of ingredients. I had really high hope for these cookies too
Sorry to hear you have struggles Andrew. I did follow the weight on the recipes and my cookies came out great. Maybe your scale could be off?
Sorry these didn’t work out for you, Andrew!
I am currently eating some dough to make sure it’s good and man it is the best dough I’ve had. Cookies are in the oven almost done and they smell soo good. Now I tasted a cookie. It reminds me of a lava cake but I’m a cookie form. Definitely recommend!!
I weighed the ingredients for mine and they turned out perfectly.
I want to make these for my work friends and I am wondering how well they keep if I were to make them the night before? Do they lose that gooeyness?
I think they can definitely be made one day ahead of time. They want be soft and gooey as if they were straight from the oven but they’ll still be tasty. Just make sure to store them well covered.
I really didn’t think I needed another chocolate chip recipe. I was wrong. I need this one and my granddaughters agree.
One of the few recipes that I actually made exactly as written.
These are absolutely amazing. I was craving something decadent and full of chocolate flavor, your cookies were perfect for my craving. I just changed the amount of sugar to suit my taste, I only added 3/4 cup of brown sugar, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, and also added 1 teaspoon of coffee powder. I made the cookies smaller too using a tablespoon, and bake them for 7 to 8 minutes. They came out delicious, thank you so much for your recipe.
Thanks, Maria!
Fabulous! I made my own cake flour, now used 1 cup bittersweet chips and 1/2 cup semisweet because I couldn’t decide which one to use. This was the first time I used dark cocoa powder. I mixed these in my Bosch. I actually don’t have the cookie paddles. I have a puffy chocolate chip recipe that I’ve made for years. It’s similar to this with cold butter and eggs. Anyway, I’ve always made that recipe in my Bosch with the whisks and it works, so I figured this would too. The whisks get chock full o’ dough, but it mixes very quickly and works just fine! I made five (4oz) cookies, baked for 11.5 minutes, and ten (2oz) cookies, baked for 9.5 minutes.
Oh my, Mel. You have outdone yourself! These are absolutely decadent and delicious! THANK YOU!
Yay, Lisa! So happy you liked them!
I dragged my husband to Levain when we were in NY, 3 yrs ago and I was so excited and hyping up these chocolate chip cookies I had heard about and when I finally got one…… I pretended it was SO amazing, when really, it was a little bit of a let down. But the chocolate version was much better!
Also, I made these today (Sunday baking day) and they were SO good! They almost taste like frosting in cookie form- there’s this really good sugary grainy quality in the texture. I oopsed and did baking powder as well as baking soda, they were still great!
Haha, the “pretended” comment had me laughing.
These are AMAZING. I chilled them overnight before baking and I think that made the cookie. I’m not a huge dark chocolate person (I freely admit that) but I used the Hershey’s special dark cocoa powder and they are delicious!!
Thanks for letting me know, Elizabeth! I’m going to try chilling them (if I have the patience) next time. I made them yesterday with regular cocoa powder (natural unsweetened) and they were still so good – just not quite as dark and decadent so maybe that would be the way to go for you next time if you like things a bit less dark. Either way, I’m glad you loved these!
The special dark was not overpowering at all. My brother is a rep for Hershey’s (I get all of the samples haha) and when they came out with the special dark, I was shocked at how much I liked it! For me, it was definitely the way to go on these. They’re amazing!
I agree! I don’t like dark chocolate but adore the special dark powder. Go figure. Brownies made with special dark powder are my all time favorite.
OMG. Thank you so much for this recipe. Fantastic 15 minutes out of the oven. Amazing out of the fridge.
* Try cutting them horizontally and making an ice cream sandwich. Put them in the freezer until ready to eat*
Just made them with the peanut butter chips as suggested, and they are even better. I didn’t think possible to surpass the original.
Thanks Again
I already love the truffle chocolate chip cookies. Is there much difference with these ones?
The texture is just really different. These cookies are more fudgy and super decadent…but in terms of chocolate flavor, both recipes are delicious!
Made them in my Bosch with my paddle attachment with no problems! Delicious cookies!!
Yay! Thanks for the report back on the Bosch! I should have had more faith in that amazing machine.
Levain’s double dark chocolate cookies are delish, don’t get me wrong, but the chocolate chip walnut is just MIND-BLOWING so yes, you absolutely need to get yourself over to NYC in the name of responsible culinary research!
I guess so! 🙂
Just curious what keeping the butter and eggs cold does? I mix my cookie batter by hand. Like, is it required for creating a certain type of structure in the cookie (in which case I’ll settle for something suboptimal), or is it essential for maintaining ANY kind of structure (in which case I’ll make your brownie cookies)?
Hey Debbie, great question. In this recipe, I think it does help the structure of the cookie (the dense fudginess with a tender outer crust). I think using softened butter will make the cookies spread more into a more chewy cookie.
Thank you, Mel! I went ahead and made them with softened butter. While the final texture was probably different from yours, it seemed perfectly cookie-like to me, and the cookies were delicious!
Mel, can you help me figure out how to make delicious gluten free cookies without a bunch of crazy ingredients. I try making cookies, pancakes and bread with gluten free flour and they are never the right texture. Simple things like gravy are easily substituted, but bread like items are difficult and gross!! Ugh.. I’ve just stopped eating them. I love your food!! I’ve only been gluten free since Aug 2018, not of my own choosing.
Thanks in advance,
your loyal frustrated friend.
Thanks for song the healthy section!! You truly listen to your readers and I appreciate it!!
Hey Shana! I don’t know that I’ll be much help, unfortunately. I have only baked gluten free a handful of times (mostly for my mother in law who eats gluten free). Have you tried subbing almond or coconut flour instead of gluten free flour for cookies?
Hey Shana, someone who might be able to help you is another Mel…at http://www.melandboyskitchen.com. I think she’s related to our Mel too! Some of her kids are gluten free. I pointed a friend to her site when her daughter had to go GF. Hope this helps! 🙂
My daughter had to go gluten free last year and we have had great lucky with oat flour we make in our vitamin with gluten free oats. We find it a great substitute in pancakes, crepes, brownies, apple cake, pumpkin cake and almond butter cookies. For chocolate chip cookies we use a recipe specific for oat flour cookies — delish. Haven’t made any cakes or sugar cookies yet! The texture is a bit different when using oat flour, but my other three boys who aren’t required to eat gluten free gobble up all our oat flour treats with zero hesitation. Good luck!
YUMMY! Mel, is there a way to make these into a chocolate chip cookie also? If you leave out the cocoa do you need to replace with more flour? Don’t get me wrong this will be in my FOREVER chocolate cookie file but now I need a think chocolate chip cookie recipe! Appreciate your response!
Hey Pamela! That’s a good question, and honestly, I don’t know! I think it would take a bit more experimenting than leaving out the cocoa – but the first step might be replacing the cocoa with flour to see how it goes??
I replaced the 1/2 cup of cocoa with 1/2 cup cake flour. Everything else was the same. They came out perfect.
Modern Honey has a Levain chocolate chip walnut cookie (5boysbaker just posted hers as well and explained what to do if you don’t want nuts in it) and it is good!
LOVE these! I used cake flour but still didn’t get the pretty shiny wafer-y crust on top. It was more like the texture of cake?
Hmmm…did the dough seem dry or sticky?
Is hershey’s special dark full dutch process or part?
I’m not entirely sure but I just glanced at my box and it says “dutched cocoa” and the ingredient list says “cocoa processed with alkali.”
How do you think these would taste with a little cinnamon?
It would definitely give them a Mexican chocolate vibe! Yum!
These were soooo good! My twelve year old loves to bake, she did them all by herself. We didn’t have cake flour so she used regular flour.
Your 12-year old is amazing! So happy you guys loved them!
These are the gooey-est, chocolatey-est, most gourmet looking chocolate cookies I’ve ever seen. I think I’m in love And I will DEFINITELY be making them “obnoxiously big” haha.
Made these tonight!!! As soon as I got your email i knew I had to make them right away!! They were sooooo gooooood! My kids loved them as well. Thank you!!
So happy to hear this, Jessie. Thank you!
Workout or make cookies? Well, make cookies won today. #priorities
This is the best!! You can always workout tomorrow (wink, wink).
These are very good. Wish I had some vanilla ice cream! I knew I had to try these at first site! haha. The smell of the batter is out of this world! I used Ghirardelli Dutch cocoa (sold at Meijer) and Blue Cattle Mexican vanilla.
Thanks for the report back, Taylor!
My sister sent me a picture of these this morning and demanded I make them immediately. Just did…they are the cookies I’ve been searching for my whole life. I’m weeping.
Haha. Lynne. I love you. I’m so happy there’s at least one other person out there who had a soul defining moment after these cookies.
These look great and I will probably try them. I have a similar recipe that I found on a Gharirdelli double dark chocolate chip package. But, just for the record: I have tried Levain Bakery cookies and think they are definitely overhyped – no matter what my Manhattan resident daughter says…
Haha, I’m telling you, people’s opinions about Levain cookies are widely polarizing!
Do you buy Dutch-processed cocoa online? I have looked in all my local stores, and I can never find it.
I usually pick up the Hershey’s Special Dark (which is an alkalized Dutch process cocoa) at my grocery store – otherwise, yes, I buy Dutch process online.
Hi Mel! These sound like a “must make”! Question…you recommend using a stand mixer…does that mean that a Kitchenaid is better for this particular recipe than a Bosch? My hubby surprised me with a Bosch awhile ago and I’m in love! You weren’t kidding when you said it’s so wonderful! Just wondering which of my appliances is best for these cookies (or if it even matters)?
Hey Kim! Do you have both a kitchenaid and a Bosch? If so, I’d use a kitchenaid but only because the paddle on the kitchenaid is metal and I’m not sure the plastic cookie paddles on the Bosch will do so well with the cold butter mixing method. However, if you want to use the Bosch (and yes, I agree, it’s AMAZING, huh??) I’d use the cookie paddles but keep a close eye on them so they don’t break.
Thanks so much for the help! Yep, I have both, so I’ll use my Kitchenaid to play it safe. I’ve had these cookies on the brain ever since I saw them…I think my brain is drooling!
Mel, I only have unsalted butter. How much salt would you add? Thanks!
Probably another 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon.
They were delicious!!! My kids loved them and I made 12 cookies out of the batch. They had that delicate crispy outer edge and warm, gooey centers.
Yay, yay! So happy you loved them!
How long do you bake them if you make them normal sized? I didn’t see that anywhere….?
I’d check them after 8-9 minutes.
I just made some normal sized and did 350 for 9 minutes and they’re perfect.
Awesome! Thanks for the feedback!
The white coating on my kitchen aid paddle started to come off so I tossed it. Better buy a replacement ASAP so I can make these!!!
Yes, replacement stat!
So no chilling the dough at all? I’m going to trust you on this Mel since you rarely fail me! I will be making these tomorrow!!
I am too lazy to chill dough in most cases so I’ve been baking these right away but you could definitely chill the dough if you wanted/needed to!
Mel’s haven’t made the cookies yet, but certainly going to. I have a question for you on the Soft Chewy Pretzels? I have made them a few times and they are delicious. Can I make and shape them ahead of time and then put them in the frig and take them out to raise a little and then bake them?. I need to make them for a enrichment night, like about 50 of them. I think they are so much better right out of the oven. Also, I had a thought. Have you ever tried them with Rhodes dough? I love your website. It is the best ever. Keep up the great recipes. Thanks for all your hard work. .
I haven’t made them ahead of time like that but I think they should probably work pretty well the way you described! I haven’t used frozen roll dough for them (I think it might be a bit to lighty and airy, but I’m not sure)
Deep water aerobics…make these cookies…deep water aerobics…make these cookies.. ♀️???
Wait! Got it! There’s a class tomorrow! Hee hee!
Yum! Can’t wait!
Haha! 🙂 Deep water aerobics means you totally deserve these cookies!
9am and straight to the kitchen to make these! There goes my healthy eating for the day, but so excited!
Let me know what you think, Cassie!
Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder is SO GOOD! I was never a “special dark” fan, but a year or two ago I tried the SD powder in a recipe and… gasp… I don’t know if I can ever go back to regular cocoa!
Yeah, I kind of agree with you on this!
You are so right about the way Levain cookies are polarizing! It is crazy. It seems like a lot of people are jumping on the hate-them bandwagon lately, but I still think they’re delicious! We live in Jersey and almost always hit Levain for a bag of cookies after temple trips. I will need to try these for sure, I like the idea of the refrigerated brownie version…
It’s clear to me I just need to take a trip for research purposes and finally have the real deal.
Mel, come visit me and I’ll take you to Levain’s! My sister visited last month and we went to Levain’s four days in a row. Ha! Can’t wait to try these. My favorite Levain masterpiece is the oatmeal raisin (seriously TDF!), with the double chocolate a close second.
Oatmeal raisin?? I’d have to experience that in person because for the life of me I cannot believe an oatmeal raisin cookie could beat out a dark chocolate cookie! My mind would be blown.
Drooling just looking at these! I think they will have to make an appearance in my kitchen (and my belly) soon!
Hope you like them, Caitlin!
If it makes you feel any better about eating a big, fat cookie, Levain’s are 6 oz. of dough each, so these are practically petite; might as well have 2. 😉 Can’t wait to try them and experiment with changes!
Haha, so I can say these are the diet version?? I like it! 🙂 🙂
Not yet wearing pants and no milk chocolate . . . it is like you know me, I like it! I guess the only question is do I make them today or wait until the weekend? I will report back.
Make them today. Question answered. 🙂
They are delicious! Had to wait until Thursday but they were worth the wait. I am really liking them day two, too!
I liked these cookies day two, as well. I just made a new batch and I don’t think there’s anyway they are making it to day two this time. 🙂
Hi there Mel!—
I have a question. Today I went on and tried your recipe. I noticed that the final dough was a bit dry; it wasn’t sticky at all.
The cookies came out sort of Cakey, it didn’t spread out much and it had no Shine.
Could you please tell me what I did wrong? Thank you.
Could you
‘Can I use milk chocolate? No and no.’ Mel, I love you. Those are my feelings exactly! And, Levain cookies are amazing, but so are you, so I’m gonna say these cookies will be, too! From one dark chocolate lover to another, I bow down to you and say THANK YOU for this recipe!
Haha. Love you right back. 🙂
I live near Levain in NYC and will vouch for the fact that they are the best cookies ever. Oh man…
I think I need to get my hands on the real thing. 🙂