World Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Nom! Nom! Nom!

So recently I went on a quest for the best chocolate chip cookies. I remember my foodie brother making a batch that were off the chain a few months ago when I visited him and his wife in Alabama.

As it turns out. that recipe was a copycat recipe for Levain Bakery in NYC. Apparently this bakery makes a chocolate chip cookie that's so good... it'll make you wanna slap your mama!

So the other day, when I was hanging out with my uber pregger sister and she requested that we make some chocolate chip cookies.... I simply replied with, "I have just the recipe."

The ingredients in this recipe are nothing out of the ordinary... except for the cornstarch. I think it helps to make a more tender cookie. Also the recipe suggested using 2 different kinds of chocolate. I opted for semi sweet chocolate chips and happened to have three milk chocolate Hershey bars left over from s'mores season. I luuuurve me some s'mores. Mmmm.... another blog post, another time. Back to the cookies...

I found the recipe on Parsley, Sage, Desserts, and Line Drives. The author recommends using the "formed" cookie method before tossing these into the oven. She insists that it give the cookie that crackle top appearance of bakery-style cookies. Allow me to elaborate on how YOU TOO can achieve this look for your cookies...

Roll it....

Break it in half...

And put it back together!

Levain Bakery Famous Chocolate Chip Cookie Copycat Recipe

• 2 sticks ‘cold and cubed’ unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 3/4 to 3 1/4 cups AP flour
• 1 teaspoon table or fine sea salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 Tb. corn starch
• 2 cups good quality semisweet chocolate chips or chunks (I usually use half semisweet and half milk chocolate)
• 1 cup walnuts (I actually left these out, per request of the pregnant sister... next time I'll be adding them for a lil' something extra)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
1. In bowl of electric mixer fitted with paddle, cream together butter and sugars until well blended and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time.. and beat until well incorporated.
2. Add flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, corn starch, and mix until just combined. Gently fold in chocolate chips/chunks and nuts.
3. Place each on sheet pan lined with parchment paper and bake in the preheated oven 15-20 minutes depending on how gooey and raw’ish’ you like the interior, until very lightly browned, taking care not to overbake. Let cool on rack and store what you don’t immediately eat in an airtight container.

* These are best eaten on the day they are made (ESPECIALLY warm out of the oven – like most chocolate chip cookies).