Lisa’s Levain Bakery copycat Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies

Ingredients 

2 sticks unsalted butter, cold and cubed  (each stick cut into 16 pieces) 

3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups all purpose flour (13 1/2 oz)
3/4 tsp salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
12 oz good quality semisweet chocolate chips or chunks 
1 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped coarsely (Toast the nuts for more flavor, if desired.)

Directions

In a mixing bowl, using an electric mixer or a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat butter and both sugars just until creamy. Don’t overbeat. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat just until incorporated.

Stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. When thoroughly mixed, add it to the batter and mix just until blended. Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts.  Divide the dough into 12 big 4-oz balls, then cover them and chill in the refrigerator overnight.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.   Put balls on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper  and bake one sheet at a time. (Leave plenty of room between each ball of dough)

Bake times:

Put the cookies in a 375 degree oven and set timer for 8 minutes. When timer rings, rotate cookie sheet, reduce heat to 325 degrees and bake for another 8-10 minutes or until cookies appear set.  Let cookies cool on the sheet pan for several minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack and let fully cool.

Makes 12 cookies

Lisa’s Levain Copycat Dark Chocolate Peanut butter Chip Cookies (**Yields 1 dozen cookies)


Ingredients

2 sticks cold and cubed unsalted butter  (each stick cut into 16 pieces)
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 to 1/2 cup good quality dark cocoa powder
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cups peanut butter chips

Directions

In a mixing bowl, using an electric mixer or a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat butter and both sugars just until creamy. Don’t overbeat. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat just until incorporated,  then beat in cocoa powder.

Stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. When thoroughly mixed, add it to the batter and mix just until blended. Stir in the chocolate chips and peanut butter chips.  Divide the dough into 12 big 4-oz balls, then cover them and chill in the refrigerator overnight.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.   Put balls on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper  and bake one sheet at a time.  (Leave plenty of room between each ball of dough)

Bake times:

Put the cookies in a 375 degree oven and set timer for 8 minutes. When timer rings, rotate cookie sheet, reduce heat to 325 degrees and bake for another 8-10 minutes or until cookies appear set.  Let cookies cool on the sheet pan for several minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack and let fully cool.

Makes 12 cookies

** Note - The Levain Bakery uses 6 oz of cookie dough per cookie.. If you want 12 cookies out of the above recipes, a little over 4 oz per cookie (4.1 to 4.2 oz. Use a kitchen scale) will get you that. If you want to use 6 oz of cookie dough per cookie, you’ll probably get only 6-8 cookies. However, a little over 4 oz makes a cookie just as thick and huge, so you don’t even notice the difference.



Final Note - If you want a more ‘caramel-molasses’ like chocolate chip walnut cookie, increase the brown sugar while decreasing the white sugar, so you still have 1 1/2 cups total sugar