Levain Bakery Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Copycat

Inspired by Levain Bakery, these dark chocolate peanut butter cookies are perfection—they’re thick and gooey, full of rich cocoa flavor, and packed with melty peanut butter chips in every bite!

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

No matter what, every trip I take to New York includes a stop at Levain Bakery for one of their dark chocolate peanut butter cookies—they’re thick, gooey, packed with peanut butter chips, and strike the perfect balance of decadence and sweetness! But living in Alabama means I can’t stop by my local Levain, so naturally, I had to make my own version when I got home. And now, after several rounds of testing, I can confidently say that I’ve created the perfect copycat recipe!

What are Levain Cookies?

Levain Bakery, founded by friends Pam Weekes and Connie McDonald, is a must-visit bakery on the Upper West Side that’s renowned for its chocolate chip walnut cookies. After opening the shop in 1995, Pam and Connie created this cookie as a way to keep up their energy levels for triathlon training, and it quickly took on a life of its own. Now, Levain has bakery locations across the country with countless cookie flavors (their dark chocolate peanut butter is my all-time favorite)!

After perfecting my Levain Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookie recipe, I set my sights on their dark chocolate peanut butter cookie. It’s buttery and rich, with gooey chocolate cookie dough and salty-sweet peanut butter chips scattered all throughout. It took a few rounds of testing, but I finally created an identical version!

What’s the Secret to Levain Cookies?

So, what makes a Levain cookie so special? As it turns out, there’s a lot of things! The texture of a Levain cookie is unlike any other—the cookies are super thick and a full 6 ounces in weight, resulting in a well-browned and crisp, almost scone-like exterior and soft inside.

When it came to recipe testing, I had specific criteria for these cookies. I wanted them to be thick, while also being crisp on the outside and gooey (almost underbaked) in the middle, with an even ratio of peanut butter chips. The hardest part of perfecting this recipe was the bake time and temp: it took several rounds of testing to produce a cookie that was the original size of Levain without spreading too much in the oven or getting too brown before the middle was cooked. Ultimately, it came down to the amount of flour and baking powder in the recipe, but here are some of the secrets I’ve found produce perfect results:

• High-temp baking. Sadly, no copycat recipe will be the exactly like the real thing, since Levain Bakery uses industrial convection ovens. However, by using a higher oven temp at home, your cookies will spread less and crisp up just like Levain!
• Simple, high-quality ingredients. Most Levain copycat recipes on the internet rely on fancy additions and ingredients—different types of flours, cornstarch, etc—but the original Levain owners say that they only use simple, everyday ingredients. I chose to honor this guideline in my recipes, so starting with high-quality ingredients ensures a high-quality result!
• Using cold butter. This is the key to getting a really thick cookie. When creamed with sugar, cold butter doesn’t fully break down. Instead, it forms pockets in the dough for that trademark scone-like Levain texture.
• Making big cookies. It might feel unnecessary, but forming the dough into full 5.5 ounce balls helps the cookies bake to the right texture. Especially since they cook at a higher temp, this larger amount of dough ensures that the outside remains crispy while the middle is gooey.
• Chilling the dough. I know, I know, it’s an annoying step, but it truly does so much! Chilling the cookie dough fully hydrates the flour, allowing us to add the minimal amount for the proper texture without drying out the cookies.

Ingredients You’ll Need

No need for fancy flours or equipment—you just need 10 pantry staples to make this recipe!

• Cold unsalted butter. I recommend using as high a quality of butter that you can—you’ll taste the difference, and I love to use the Kerrigold or Vermont brands!
• Granulated sugar and brown sugar. To add sweetness, chew, and color.
• Eggs. To bind and emulsify the dough.
• All-purpose flour. To thicken the cookie dough and provide structure.
• Dutch-processed cocoa powder. This is not the same as natural unsweetened cocoa. Since it’s been treated with an alkaline solution, dutch-processed is much lower in acidity and has a richer, smoother chocolate taste. Ghirardelli, Guittard, Valrhona, and Hershey’s Special Dark will all work well.
• Baking powder. Baking powder is better suited for this recipe, since it creates the right amount of lift compared to baking soda, which promotes spreading and browning.
• Vanilla extract and salt. Two flavor enhancers that I always add to dessert recipes.
• Peanut butter chips. I use Reese’s Peanut Butter Baking Chips—if you can’t find them in your local grocery store, order them on Amazon!

Tips and Tricks for the Best Levain Cookies

Cookies aren’t the most difficult thing to bake, but here are a few things to keep in mind for the perfect Levain copycat:

1. Properly measure the flour. If you pack the flour when measuring, your cookies will come out entirely too dry and thick. Instead, spoon the flour into your measuring cup and use a knife to level it off.
2. Don’t overmix the sugar and butter. In most cookie recipes, you whip the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Here, however, we want a dense and heavy dough, so only mix for 1-2 minutes until the butter is incorporated.
3. Chill the dough. This way, the cookies won’t spread too much.
4. Baking. Since these cookies are so large, properly baking them is the hardest part! First, make sure that your oven is the right temperature—home ovens vary, so use a thermometer for accuracy. If your oven runs too hot, the cookies will brown too much on the outside while still being raw in the middle. To fix this, reduce the oven temperature or double up on baking an (stacking two sheets on top of one another will act as a buffer to prevent the bottoms of cookies from burning).
5. Use a kitchen thermometer. This is the easiest way to tell when the cookies are done—pull them out of the oven once they reach 190℉ on the inside. If you don’t have a thermometer, however, you’ll have to rely on visual cues. The cookies are done when the edges are firm and the center is no longer shiny and doughy. They will be slightly underbaked when you take them out of the oven but will continue to cook and set as they cool.
6. Allow to fully cool. Since the cookies are so big, they need an ample amount of time to set. If you dig into them once they’re right out of the oven, they’ll fall apart in a molten, piping hot mess. Give them at least 20 minutes to cool before eating—I know it’s hard, but it’s so worth it!

Storage and Freezing Instructions

These cookies are best served hot out of the oven, but there are a few ways you can store them to enjoy later:

• At room temperature. Store the cookies in an airtight container for a few days. To serve, you can reheat the cookies in a 350℉ oven for 5ish minutes or in the microwave until warmed through.
• Freezing instructions. These cookies are ginormous, so you can store any leftover dough in the freezer if you don’t feel like baking off a full batch. Here’s how to do it:
  1. Shape the dough as normal. Once the dough is made, portion it out as normal and line it on a sheet pan.
  2. Freeze for one hour. Place the cookie sheet in the freezer for at least one hour—this helps the dough set.
  3. Store in plastic bags. Place the cookie dough balls in an airtight Ziploc bag and store in the freezer for up to 6 months.
  4. Bake as needed. When ready to bake, preheat the oven, take out however many cookies you want and bake from frozen per recipe instructions (no need to thaw)! You might need an extra minute or two of cook time, but be careful not to overbake. If cooking from frozen, you run a higher risk of burning the bottoms of your cookies—I recommend baking the dough on two sheets stacked on top of one another to prevent this from happening.

If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments—be sure to tag me on Instagram if you make this recipe!