December 18, 2011 // By : amybites // Tags: , , , , , , ,

I’ve been a little absent for the past couple weeks, as you may have noticed. I had a little streak of kitchen fails (not really fails, per sè, but recipes that I’ve been a little disappointed with), so I hadn’t made anything blog-worthy for two weeks. Then, thankfully, I got a ton of kitchen inspiration all of a sudden and started cooking up a storm! I finally have some new recipes for you lovely people. This one, while not healthy by any means, is definitely worth making. Holiday cookie swap? Gotcha covered. Want to make a treat for your co-workers? They’ll love you forever.

Have you been to the famous Levain Bakery in NYC? I made a point to visit the bakery when in the city two years ago, and it was so amazing that we had to make a special stop on our trip last year. Any time I’m in New York for the rest of my life, for as long as Levain is open, you can bet that I won’t skip it. Their cookies are ridonkulous. They’re giant, first of all. They seem like they could weigh a pound; easily split between two people, though you probably won’t want to share. They’re super thick and they somehow manage to retain their gooey, melty, warm deliciousness no matter how long they’ve been out of the oven—even several days later. It’s magic. They have several varieties, but my favorites are chocolate peanut butter chip and double chocolate, which is what I’ve made here.

This recipe comes from Annie’s Eats (does Annie ever steer us wrong?) and are meant to mimic the Levain cookie. Of course, they can never match the magic that is baked into those incredible cookies, but they’re pretty close. I also couldn’t bring myself to make them quite as big as they are at Levain, which is part of why the centers remain so moist and gooey. However, hours after exiting the oven, mine still have melty chocolate chips and fudgy middles. Amazing.

You need dark chocolate cocoa powder (the “dark” part is important, trust me), AP flour, eggs, sugar, tons of chocolate chips, butter, coarse salt, and baking powder. Simple.

Preheat your oven to 350º. First, cut your cold butter into cubes and throw it in the mixer with your sugar.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add your cocoa powder and mix until well combined. Then, mix in your flour, baking powder, and salt on low speed until well combined. Then, stir in your chocolate chips with a spatula. At this point, the recipe recommended turning the dough out onto a floured surface and kneading for a few minutes to make sure everything is well-combined, but to be honest, I skipped this step. I switched out the paddle for the dough hook and let it go for a few minutes. I imagine either way is fine.

Divide your dough into 12 equal portions (about 4 oz. each) for truly massive cookies, and place on a prepared cookie sheet with a few inches’ space between each dough ball. I used an ice cream scoop and ended up with about 16 cookies (still pretty massive). Flatten slightly into hockey-puck-like-discs and bake for 16 to 20 minutes—keep in mind, the fudgier, the better.

And basically…cookie perfection. Milk may be required.

Drool.

If you live in the New York City area and have access to Levain Bakery on a regular basis, I highly recommend it. However, if you don’t, this is a pretty delicious at-home substitute.

Enjoy!

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Giant Double Chocolate Cookies
Recipe from Annie’s Eats
Makes 12 very large cookies
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  • 1 cup (2 sticks) cold, unsalted butter, cubed
  • 1¼ cup sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • ½ cup dark cocoa powder
  • 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
  • ¼ tsp. coarse salt
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 2½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar.  Beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.  Blend in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl as needed.  Mix in the cocoa powder until well blended.  Add the flour, salt and baking powder to the bowl and mix on low speed just until incorporated.  Fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula.  Transfer the dough to a work surface and knead briefly by hand to be sure the ingredients are well combined.
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Divide the dough into 4 ounce portions (or divide into 12 equal pieces).  Roll each portion of dough into a ball and flatten just slightly into a disc.  Place on the prepared baking sheets, a few inches apart.  Bake 16-20 minutes.  Let cool on the baking sheets 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.