Levain Bakery Copycat Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

Thick, rich, and chewy, these chocolate peanut butter chip cookies will have you thinking you’re sitting on West 74th Street at the popular New York City bakery.

Hands holding a cookie split in half.

Levain Bakery Cookie

Hi friends! Today I’m talking about my favorite copycat Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip cookie!

Forgive my absence from writing this past month! I was out of town for work a little more than usual, and I’ve also been in town baking cakes and teaching cake classes. I have so many new cake flavor ideas I’m dying to test out and share with you! But I had to put those on hold for a bit longer. I was recently in New York where I visited (again) the popular Levain Bakery. After getting home I simply couldn’t wait another minute to recreate their Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookie. This is one of my all-time favorite cookies EVER!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip

I know Levain is probably best known for their Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookie, but in my opinion the Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookie takes the cake! (Their oatmeal raisin and dark chocolate peanut butter cookies are pretty amazing, too!) Maybe I’m a little biased because I’m shamelessly obsessed with peanut butter. There must be something about peanut butter, as even The Silos have a peanut butter based Magnolia cookie – I have a copycat recipe for that one as well. But even non-obsessed PB fans love this cookie because it’s simply delicious!

My recipe for Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip cookies based on Levain Bakery cakebycourtney.com

Classic Chocolate Chip Cookie

Like the classic Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookie, the Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookie is slightly undercooked on the inside, but perfectly cooked on the outside. (They are literally baked to order!) The cookie is filled with baking chips, making it thick and rich!

Copycat Levain Bakery Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip cakebycourtney.comTesting ingredients

Recreating anyone’s cookie without the actual recipe is not an easy task. My friend Si, from A Bountiful Kitchen, spent hours and hours recreating the Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookie. She does an amazing job at recreating it! But based on her experience, I knew it was a mountain to climb – mostly because people’s expectations would be so high.
 
Lucky for me, my best friend Lisa is also obsessed with peanut butter and chocolate. I brought Lisa one of these cookies after a trip to New York and she was also eager to create a copycat! As she ate her first version of the cookie together, we looked at each other with the same thought in our mind, “why are we not saving one of the cookies to compare all our versions to?”.
 
Well, obvi – because the cookie is so flippin’ good! It’s literally impossible to think of anything else but eating the cookie while you’re eating it! Oh well. We got started right away on a recipe while the memory of the cookie was still fresh in our minds.
 
Cookies on a plate.

Getting it Just Right

Lisa took the first try at the Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip cookie was a great starting point. I made the cookie three more times, with small variations each time. Some of those changes involved adjusting some of the all-purpose flour and cake flour ratios, as well as the amount of baking powder. I wanted to be sure these cookies are nice and thick, but not too dense. I also decided to increase the amount of kosher salt and the peanut butter chips (not sure you need a reason for that).
 
The outside of the cookie was getting too crisp, and so Lisa and I agreed that the baking temperature was too high. In other versions of this recipe people use 400 degrees F. To solve this, we decreased the baking temperature from 400 to 375 degrees F.
 
Packing a punch
 
Levain is known for the massive size of their cookies. They don’t mess around, people! Each cookie is weighed out to 5.75 ounces before going on the baking sheet. That sounds huge, but it makes the cookie what it is.
 
The Levain cookies are also known for being packed with baking chips (and nuts, in some cases). For my copycat Levain Bakery Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip cookies, the chips and nuts help to create the height. I put nearly a bag and a half of peanut butter chips in my cookies here, which I think is perfection! 
 
Cookie split in half.
Let me know what you think!
 
 
Enjoy!
 
 
 
Hands holding a cookie split in half.

Copycat Levain Bakery Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

4.91 from 32 votes
Thick, rich, and chewy, these chocolate peanut butter chip cookies will have you thinking you’re sitting on West 74th Street at the popular New York City bakery.

Ingredients
 

  • Ingredients
  • 1 1/2 cup (180 g) all-purpose flour
  • 2/3 cup (76.6 g) cake flour
  • 3/4 cup (88.5 g) dark cocoa powder (I use Extra Brute Cacao Powder – Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa Powder is a good alternative)
  • 1 teaspoon (4 g) baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon (6 g) kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon (2 g) baking soda
  • 14 tablespoons (197.75 g) unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
  • 1 cup (220 g) light brown sugar, packed
  • 1/4 cup (50 g) granulated sugar
  • 1 whole egg
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 bag 10 oz., plus ⅓ cup Reese’s Peanut Butter baking chips*

Instructions
 

  • Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
  • Combine the all-purpose flour, cake flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a medium sized bowl. Whisk together. Set aside.
  • In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the cold butter and sugars and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
  • Add the whole egg and egg yolk and mix until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again for about 30 more seconds.
  • Turn the mixer on low speed and add the dry ingredients in three separate additions, only mixing until the dry ingredients are incorporated.
  • Stir in the peanut butter chips.
  • Measure 5.75 oz. of cookie dough and shape into balls. Place 4 cookie dough balls on the baking sheet and bake for 11 minutes. 
  • Let the cookies cool for about 10 minutes and then serve while still warm. To eat later, heat a cookie in the microwave for about 15-20 seconds. 
  • *Please don’t use any other brand but Reese’s! I’ve tried every peanut butter baking chip out there and these are simply the best. They make a huge difference to the flavor of the cookie and any other peanut butter chip just wouldn’t be the same.
  • **This is about a bag and a half.

Courtney Rich

I’m a self-taught baker, obsessed with cake.

I long ago ditched box mixes in pursuit of melt-in-your-mouth, to-die-for flavor combinations, fillings and textures. I believe cake must be decadent, life-changing and worthy of celebration! And I believe anyone should be able to bake that kind of cake – and I’m here to teach you just that!

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Comments

  1. I’ve tried to figure out Levain’s recipe, too. one thing I do is omit the levening completely. Their cookies are so dense and basically come out looking the same as when they went in, other than being cooked. Mine actually turn out really well. Luke nice, big mountains of lush cookie.

    1. Hi Shannon! Do you mind elaborating? You don’t use any baking powder or soda? Mine also came out the same way they came in and I’d love to get a little more spread out of them while maintaining a big cookie. Thanks!

  2. I’m looking for a substitute for the Reese’s baking chips as I cannot eat one of the ingredients in their chips. The only thing I’ve found is on nuts.com and I don’t really like having things like that shipped because they melt! Maybe homemade??

    1. Yes you could certainly make your own. I just had a friend who did that and loved them!

  3. First off, THANK YOU so much for this recipe! I love these cookies at Levain but also love to bake, so this recipe is one I will definitely keep forever! For those asking about weight for the butter, it is 200 grams. Also, if you don’t have cake flour, you can use all AP flour, removing 4 tsp of the flour and adding 4 tsp cornstarch.

  4. Oh My Gosh! I just got back from NYC and after tasting the Levain Chocolate and Peanut butter chip cookie I was on the look out for the recipe AND THIS IS IT!!! I made these last night and all the divine gooey-ness is in this cookie! Thank you a million times for this recipe, as I can now re-visit a taste of NYC in my own kitchen thanks to you!

  5. Question: will using large eggs as opposed to the extra large it calls for make a serious difference?

    Also, at the top of your recipe you say this recipe yields 12 cookies. Then later on go on to say that only yields 7 and a little bit. A little frustrated at this discrepancy as I needed 12 cookies for what I’m making these for. Will the cookies still get the levain feel if I only do 4 oz or 3 oz cookies?

    1. No large eggs are fine. Anything smaller and you’d want to add an extra egg. Sorry about the confusion – definitely depends on the size you make. The 4 oz cookies won’t be quite as big, but they will be more LEvain like than the 3oz cookies.

  6. I made these and they are SO good. Never had the real deal, but now I don’t think I have to. When I was making the dough, it never felt like there was enough liquid to incorporate the dry ingredients. I finally added a little bit of milk so that an actual dough would form. Do you have any ideas on why this would happen? I did use large eggs, but I saw in the other comments that that was ok. Also, when cooking the GIANT cookies, how can you tell they are done? Mine never changed shape or color. Thanks!

  7. I just got back from NYC and visited Levain Bakery twice! I came home and made 3 different copycat recipes of Levain’s cookies, and this recipe was the one. Thank you for sharing it!

  8. These are amazing! Best chocolate cookie recipe! They are so brownie-like and rich! Almost went with generic peanut butter chips but SO glad I didn’t….Reese’s are WAY better! Make these now:)

  9. These were perfection. Absolutely the best quarantine baking inspiration 💗 thanks for the recipe!

  10. Wow! Tasted amazing! Just did the one bag chips and got great height. Cookies were a birthday hit!

  11. Hey! Will this recipe work with natural cocoa powder since there is baking soda? I only have some regular Hershey’s I need to use up.

  12. Hello and thanks you for this fabulous looking recipe! I don’t own a stand mixer (yet), but have a powerful hand mixer (Kitchen Aid). How should I vary the mixing times using my hand mixer, or would you suggest holding off on making these until I own a stand mixer? Thank you in advance for your help! 🙂

  13. Absolutely delicious! I loved these cookies and would 100% recommend. Just one note: if youre a paranoid baker like me and think that they are still too raw inside when you take them out, they’re not. The ones I took out earlier were even more gooey and tasty than the ones I left in for 5 more minutes.

    These cookies are delicious with milk and with vanilla ice cream by the way. Thanks for the great recipe!

  14. Hi! The recipe is absolutely amazing but the portion is a bit too much for a small family so I left some remaining dough in the fridge. How long should I bake if I refrigerated my dough?

  15. The flavor of the cookies was great but they were VERY dry. I double checked I added the right amounts even! They unfortunately needed up not great and I’ll have to toss the whole batch. Flavor is great – maybe the ratio of wet to dry ingredients can be adjusted

    1. Agreed. I am an avid baker and I perplexed how the ratio of wet and dry is correct, especially using cold butter. They look the same way as they did when I placed them in the oven. I have re-read the ingedients and I may have to just toss them. Bummer.

  16. Would it be fine if I leave out the cocoa powder and just want a regular cookie or will it affect the cookie because there will be less powder?

    1. It will affect the cookie so use my soft and chewy chocolate chip cookie and add peanut butter chips.

  17. These were so delicious! Thank you for sharing this recipe. I tried the Levain cookies last month and this was such a wonderful re-creation of the cookie. Loved it so much and I will definitely make these again! Also, thank you for providing the recipe in grams. I halved the recipe to feel less guilty 🙂

  18. Hi! I made these yesterday and they were the best tasting cookies I’ve ever made. One question though, were they supposed to crisp up a bit around the edges, or did I not bake them long enough? It was almost cake-like, brownie-like.

  19. These were like hockey pucks. Used the recipe to a t and did not overmix. As some others have pointed out, this recipe needs more moisture. Use more butter, less flour and they come out ok. Also swapped some flour for cornstarch and came out great. Had to work on this recipe though.

    1. Hi Kristie, sorry you had issues with the cookies. The key is to not over bake them. You actually want to underbake them just a tad so that as they cool, they end up soft in the middle. Also, be sure to measure your flour correctly. If you pack in your flour, rather than scoop the flour in lightly with a spoon and level with a knife, you’ll end up with too much flour and the cookies will be dense.

      1. Cookies came out great, and I’ve had Levain’s cookies so I’m directly comparing. I am going to make them smaller the next time I think.

        I did put an extra egg in because it seemed dry, and it was fine. I think people forget that where you live, the humidity etc, the kind of oven you use all affect the end product.

        Flavor was fantastic! My son who only loves chocolate chip cookies was a reluctant convert, and has asked me to make them again.

  20. Hi! Just finished baking the cookies. So divine! The texture was fudgy and gooey, however if I want to reduce the sugar to 1/4 can I just remove the white sugar? Also can the sugars be swaped with stevia all together or will thid change the texture of the cookies?

    Thanks in advance!!!

  21. Have to agree with some others, this recipe is too dry to mix. I added some buttermilk to get the dry ingredients to incorporate and add a little tenderness. Worked for me!

  22. I just baked my first one but haven’t tried it yet. It stayed in a ball and I was curious if I’m suppose to press it town? It didn’t melt down at all. I looks good but would like to know what maybe I did wrong before I cook the rest.

    1. Nothing really wrong. Maybe use a little less flour next time. They hold their shape pretty well, ensuring its nice and thick and soft inside like Levain.

  23. Can you freeze the dough balls? What would be the baking time for frozen dough? I like to make up a bunch of cookie dough and freeze in balls so I can take one or two out at night after the kids go to bed and have a treat to myself.

  24. I wanted to leave a comment to share that this is my new favorite cookie recipe. I visited Levain Bakery a few weeks ago and loved their cookies, but this recipe is just as good. I followed the weights for ingredients, since that is always more precise. Thanks for sharing weights, Courtney! This is a great recipe.

  25. I made these cookies but made them smaller -1 teaspoon size or a bit bigger and cooked for 9 minutes. They are really good!!

  26. Thanks so much for the recipe, the cookies look great!! I’m going to try them this weekend.
    It seems like some people have struggled with the timing and have over-baked the cookies. By any chance, do you know what the internal temp of the cookie should be to be considered perfect? Thank you.

  27. Courtney if I wanted them a little sweeter how much sugar should I add I added some black cocoa powder and that might have thrown the ratio off they were a hit I’m making them again next week

  28. I was reading the comments about how the mix could be a little dry so I modified the recipe slightly and I think they turned out great! They key is not to overbake.

    36 cookies
    2 cups flour
    3/4 cup Cocoa powder
    1 tsp Baking powder
    1/2 tsp Baking soda
    1 tsp salt
    1 cup Brown sugar, packed
    1/4 cup sugar
    14 tbsp Butter, cubed (barely soft)
    2-3 Tbsp melted PB
    1 bag (10 oz.) Reese’s PB chips

    Whisk together first 5 dry ingredients.
    Cream butter & sugar until light & fluffy (2-3 mins). Butter BARELY soft.
    Add eggs one at a time and beat until barely combined.
    Add dry ingredients in 3 batches, beat until barely combined.
    Add melted PB, beat, then mix in PB chips.
    Bake 375 for 7 min.

  29. Hello! I would love to substitute peanut butter chips to add Walnuts, as me and my hubby aren’t huge fans of peanut butter.
    Also, I absolutely love ‘Double Chocolate Walnut cookies’ sold here in Paris!! Will the recipe or baking time be changed in any way?

  30. Sooooo delicious! Thank you for sharing. I think these are in my top 5 easy to make homemade desserts. I’m alllll about peanut butter and chocolate. I didn’t make any changes to the recipe, except for I did make my cookies a little bit smaller. I really think the key is under-baking. If you eat it without letting it cool for too long it’s SUPER gooey, which I like, but if you let them cool (aka finish cooking for a little bit *outside* of the oven) they become what I think most people would probably consider perfect…. like just the right amount of gooey. I did overbake one “batch” (I’ve only been baking them off 1 or 2 at a time from the freezer so I don’t eat them all at once), and those ones were definitely dry. Soooo like I said, I suggest under-baking.

  31. 5 stars
    Spot on for levain copycat, however I cut the cookie size down and made 14 with this recipe… still may be a little large!

  32. I doubled the recipe and for some reason, they turned out too dry. The cookies didn’t even spread in the oven, they remained ball shaped 🙁 I’m still waiting for them to cool but I’m worried that they are all crumbly and falling apart because of being too dry 🙁

    1. 3 stars
      This happened to me, too! I didn’t double the batch though. I made a single batch weighing everything to the exact amounts in the recipe. I was very careful. They did taste amazing, but the texture was like an old ball of clay.

      I made the recipe again thinking I did something wrong the first time. But, nope, second time – same result. The dough was dry and clumpy. I fixed it by adding a half stick of butter and another egg (I melted the butter and whisked it with the egg before adding them to the dough). I made the balls half as big the recipe said and baked them for 9 minutes rather than 11 minutes. I don’t know if what I made the second time is like the Levain cookies (I’ve never had those), but they are very delicious and they probably won’t last the weekend!

  33. These are awesome! I froze most of the dough balls, but wonder if I’ll have to thaw before baking or can I bake from frozen? Change the oven temp or timing at all? Thank you.

  34. 5 stars
    This was such an easy recipe to follow! Loved loved loved the cookies. And you are totally right about the pb chips! They make the biggest difference. Thanks for taking the time to figure this recipe out!

  35. 4 stars
    I followed your recipe to the tee (in grams) and it came out short of 3oz. I got 7 cookies at 5.75oz and left with 2.75oz scrapping the bowl. I wonder what if did wrong? Will be baking it this afternoon.

  36. I had a question- were the grams measurements ones you did on a scale or just converted later? Because I basically hit 3/4c at ~40 grams and a little lost on how you got to ~80? Which should I default to, c or g?

  37. 5 stars
    This is the second time I’ve made these cookies and they are a perfect dupe for the Levain version! I used the volume measurements instead of weighing them and spooned and leveled the flours. I added 2 tbsp of espresso (freshly brewed and allowed to cool) to help with the dryness of the dough. I only had one bag of the Reese’s chips, so I subbed 1/3 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips. I also refrigerated the dough for about an hour before baking.

    Instead of making the large levain style cookie, I rolled about 2 tbsp of dough into balls and then slightly flattened them (like a hockey puck) before baking. These cookies don’t spread much so I found the flattening made for a more traditional looking cookie. The key is not to over bake them! For the 2 tbsp cookies I did about 10 minutes. They’re perfect!

  38. 5 stars
    Man, these are some of the best cookies I have EVER had- and I bake cookies quite frequently. They are super easy and quick to make, especially because the butter doesn’t have to come to room temperature! The dough is thick and super tasty, and since I only had one bag of peanut butter chips, I added in some dark chocolate chunks. I weighed them out, slapped them on a pan and baked them for 11 minutes which was perfect. Take note that they don’t spread-like, at all- so I flattened the next batch a bit before sliding them in the oven. Once they came out, I did sprinkle them with some Maldon sea salt, just because I like some salt to balance out the sweet flavor. I could barely wait ten minutes to let them cool, but as soon as the timer went off, we all dug in, and they did not disappoint! They were so thick, gooey, and decadent, with delicious little pops of salt and peanut butter. Everybody declared them to be some of the best cookies they had ever had! I will be making these again and again!