Levain Bakery Copycat Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Thick and gooey, Levain Bakery- style chocolate chip cookies stuffed with toasted pecans, hazelnuts, pumpkin, and cozy fall spices.

In my book, Levain Bakery cookies are the perfect cookie. I remember a handful of years ago when Levain Bakery cookies began to take-over the internet—cute images of their tiny, blue and white bakeshops started popping up on Instagram along with pictures of giant, ooey gooey chocolate chip cookies. I didn’t live anywhere close to NYC, but I was sold.

Around the same time, Martin went on a work trip to New York, walked 40 something blocks, and stood in a 2 hour line to bring me back a few of those prized cookies. I don’t know if it was the cookie itself, the way I had hyped it up in my head, but even 2 days later, they were the best cookies I’d ever eaten. In June of this year, we went to NYC for our anniversary and ran through the rain to get my Levain Bakery cookies—still as perfect as I remember them.

Some people like their cookies thin and chewy. Some like them thin and crispy, or with ridged edges. I like my cookies Levain Bakery Style—thick and fat, a little crispy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. I like them to weigh almost half a pound. For me, that’s the perfect cookie.

So for this recipe, I channeled my inner Levain Bakery and paired with everyone’s favorite fall flavors—pumpkin and warming spices to bring you the best cookie recipe I’ve made all year. Hands down. Lets jump in!

how to make copycat levain bakery pumpkin chocolate chip cookies

This is a pretty straightforward cookie recipe, with just a few caveats.

Here’s what you need:

• Butter. Most creaming method recipes call for your butter to be room temperature but every Levain Bakery copycat recipe I’ve made through the years calls for cold butter so that’s what we’re using. Unsalted butter. Cold and cubed.

• Brown Sugar and Granulated Sugar. Brown sugar has molasses added to it for a deep, caramelized flavor while a bit of granulated sugar helps aid in cookie spread.

• Eggs and Yolks. For this recipe, I used one whole egg + an egg yolk for a little extra fat.

• Flour. I use a blend of all purpose flour and cake flour for this recipe. Since cake flour has a lower protein content, it forms a bit less gluten giving us a softer crumb while the all purpose flour provides enough protein to build structure. Also, Jacques Torres chocolate chip cookie recipe does this flour blending and the technique has stuck with me for years. (Also a very good chocolate chip cookie recipe.)

• Pumpkin. Of course, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies need pumpkin! Make sure you grab canned pumpkin puree not pumpkin pie filling, which has other ingredients added.

• Spices. Lots of warming spices make this cookie extra cozy for fall. There’s cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and all spice. If you don’t have these spices, you could omit all of them and replace with 2 3/4 tsp of pumpkin pie spice.

• Leavening Agents. This recipe uses both baking powder and baking soda. Powder helps with the rise, while baking soda works to balance the pumpkin’s slight acidity.

• Chocolate. I like using lots of roughly chopped dark chocolate for all of my cookie recipes. This gives me little flecks of chocolate throughout the cookie, along with a few big puddles.

• Nuts. The classic Levain Bakery cookie uses walnuts, which I could have sworn I had on hand when I started testing this recipe. Turns out, I didn’t so I used a blend of pecans and hazelnuts which felt much more like fall to me. Make sure to toast your nuts for added depth of flavor and then let them cool before adding to the dough.

a few tips for making these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies

1. These cookies MUST chill for 24 hours. I know, it’s annoying, but this recipe especially needs the chilling time or I promise, you will end up with giant cookie puddles. You can read a little more about what happens when you chill cookie dough here. It will be worth it, I promise!

2. Levain Bakery cookies weigh a hefty 6 oz each, so that’s what we’re working with here. You’re going to end up with 8 enormous cookies that can be broken into pieces or snacked on throughout the day. If you want smaller cookies, adjust the baking time accordingly, and remember that they will still be delicious, but not very Levain Bakery-esque.

3. Scoop, weigh, chill. That’s my recommended process for making these cookies. Scoop and weigh the dough while it’s still soft and place your portions on a parchment lined sheet tray. Cover the tray with plastic wrap and chill overnight. Then, when you’re ready to bake, all you have to do is preheat the oven.

Yield 8 large cookies

Author Anna Ramiz

Prep time

20 Min

Cook time

20 Min

Inactive time

24 Hour

Total time

24 H & 40 M

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Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Thick and gooey, Levain Bakery- style chocolate chip cookies stuffed with toasted pecans, hazelnuts, pumpkin, and cozy fall spices.

Ingredients

• 4 oz (113g) butter, cold and cubed
• 3/4 cup (150 g) brown sugar
• 1/3 cup (66 g) granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1/2 cup (140 g) pumpkin puree
• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 200 g all purpose flour
• 80 g (2/3 cup) cake flour
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground all spice
• 375 g chopped chocolate
• 1 1/2 cups toasted nuts (I used 1/2 pecans and 1/2 hazelnuts)

Instructions

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine butter, brown sugar, and granulate sugar.
2. Cream on medium speed for 1-2 minutes, until soft and sandy and all of the butter has been incorporated.
3. Lower the mixer speed and add the vanilla extract, egg, egg yolk, and pumpkin puree one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl often to ensure even mixing.
4. In another large bowl, whisk together salt, baking powder, baking soda, flour, cake flour, and spices.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the dough gradually mixing just until all of the flour streaks remain.
6. Add the chopped chocolate and toasted nuts and mix once more, just until distributed. Fold the dough with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon to ensure that there are no pockets of unmixed ingredients.
7. Divide the dough into 8 six-ounce portions and place them on a parchment lined sheet tray. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 24 hours.
8. When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350° F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Space the cookies out on the tray (I did 4 cookies per tray) and bake for 17-20 minutes, until the tops of the cookies are dry and the edges are just beginning to brown. Let the cookies cool completely on the pan before serving.

Notes

I know it's a bit of a pain, but don't skip the chilling time on this recipe. If the dough isn't properly chilled, the cookies will spread!

If you don't want to make these Levain Bakery Style (aka, giant), you can scoop the dough into smaller portions. For smaller cookies, begin checking for doneness after 8 minutes.

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Maple Chai Apple Fritters

Warm and cozy chai spiced apple fritters are tossed with a sweet and simple maple glaze.

Let’s talk apples. I’ve always loved apple season—the way it paves the way for crisp fall air, usually while we’re still finishing off the last of the summer tomatoes. Apple season encourages us to start pulling out our sweaters and signals to us that it’s time to trade our iced coffees for hot beverages and it pushes us into the kitchen to start making pie doughs.

And now, living in Minnesota, I’ve never loved apple season more. There are at least 15 apple orchards within a 30 minute drive of the Twin Cities. Last weekend, the temperature dipped into the 60s and we spent an afternoon on a farm, sipping apple cider, wandering through corn mazes, and strolling through rows and rows of apple trees, filling little white bags as we walked. It was peak fall and it was magical. Now I have more apples than I know what to do with. So we make fritters.

what are homemade apple fritters

If you ‘re casually browsing the internet for an apple fritter recipe, you’ll quickly discover that there are two types. One is a yeasted apple fritter—a sweet, brioche-like dough gets filled with cooked apples, layered on top of each other in a haphazard manner before frying. The result are those dense, donut-like fritters you find at most donut shops and bakeries. The other type of apple fritter is a bit simpler. Similar to Southern-style corn or zucchini fritters, it features a simple, non-yeasted batter, filled with fresh produce and fried.

For this recipe, I decided to go simple. I wanted a recipe that would encourage you to start baking with your apple haul as soon as you walk in the door, and a recipe that have you snacking on warm apple fritters in under an hour.

how to make apple fritters

This recipe really couldn’t be simpler. Whisk together flour, baking powder, spices, a little sugar, and salt. Then whisk together eggs and milk. Add a little bit of browned butter and you’ve got yourself a batter. Then add a ton of diced apples—you want just enough batter to barely hold the apple pieces together.

To fry the fritters, you can use any neutral oil you’d like. A candy thermometer helps maintain the appropriate temperature so that you aren’t left with overcooked exteriors and raw centers.

For the glaze, we are simply whisking together powdered sugar, the seeds from a vanilla bean, maple syrup, and heavy cream and then pouring it over the hot fritters.

homemade chai spice blend

My favorite part of this recipe (and possibly the fall baking season in general) is homemade chai spice blend. I make a batch of this at the beginning of the fall baking season and keep it in my pantry all season long. There’s ground black tea, lots of cardamom, cinnamon, and ginger, plus black pepper and cloves. And if you’re looking for more chai forward recipes to use this blend in, check out my Chai Snickerdoodles and my Dirty Chai Banana Bread recipes.

Yield 12

Author Anna Ramiz

Prep time

20 Min

Cook time

20 Min

Total time

40 Min

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Maple Chai Apple Fritters

Warm and cozy chai spiced apple fritters are tossed with a sweet and simple maple glaze.

Ingredients

for the fritters

• 1 1/4 cup (156 g) all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup (27 g) rye flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp chai spice blend
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter, browned
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup full-fat coconut milk*
• 10-12 oz diced apples (from about 3 apples)
• Vegetable oil, for frying

for the glaze

• 2/3 cup (150 g) powdered sugar, sifted
• 1 vanilla bean, scraped
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• Pinch of salt
• 5 tbsp heavy cream or coconut milk

Instructions

1. Fill a dutch oven or heavy bottomed pot with about 3” of vegetable. Begin heating to 375° F. Line a rimmed sheet pan with paper towels and place a cooling rack over top.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, rye flour, baking powder, sugar, chai spice, and salt. Set aside.
3. Place butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook for 6-7 minutes, swirling occasionally until butter is foamy and fragrant and little brown flecks appear at the bottom of the pan. Immediately remove from the heat and let cool slightly.
4. In a large measuring cup, whisk together eggs and coconut milk. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk to combine. Whisk in the browned butter until smooth.
5. Add the diced apples and gently fold to disperse.
6. When the oil has reached 375° F, drop scoops of fritter batter (about 1/4 cup in size) into the hot oil, taking care not to crowd the pan. (I was able to fit about 4 at a time.) Fry to 3-4 minutes, flipping halfway through, until fritters are deeply golden brown.
7. Use a slotted spoon to remove the fritters from the oil and transfer the paper towel lined cooling rack. Repeat with the remaining fritters.
8. While the fritters are cooling slightly, whisk together glaze ingredients in a large bowl until smooth. Either toss the warm fritters in the glaze or pour the glaze over top of the warm fritters. Serve warm.

Notes

• As always, you can substitute the rye flour for 100% all purpose flour. I do really love the nuttiness that the rye brings to these fritters, so spelt or buckwheat flour would also be substitutes.
• When I created this recipe, I was completely out of milk so I used coconut milk--which made them dairy free. If you'd like to keep the fritters dairy free, use coconut milk in the glaze, as well. If you don't mind dairy or don't have coconut milk on hand, you can substitute with whole milk or another non-dairy milk like almond or oat.

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Roasty Toasty Carrot Cake

An easy, single layer snack cake loaded with caramelized, roasted carrots, bright citrus, and toasted walnuts and topped with a classic cream cheese frosting.

Guys, I’ve been sitting on this recipe for a long time waiting for the perfect time to share it. I started working on this recipe back around Easter, when our recipe lists and tables were filled with carrot cake. For starters, I wanted simple—single layer, no torte-ing, easy to mix together. But I also wanted a little bit interesting when it came to flavors. I started playing around with the idea of roasting carrots before adding them for an extra layer of depth, adding lots of toasted walnuts, and balancing all of that warmth out with bright citrus flesh, zest, and juice. After a few trials, we had a winner.

a very easy carrot cake recipe

This recipe features our usual carrot cake cast of characters:

• Flours: I used a blend of spelt and all purpose for a bit of extra nuttiness, but you can definitely do 100% all purpose if you don’t have any spelt flour.

• Spices and Leaveners: There are lots of warming spices in this recipe—cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves. And then baking soda to balance the acidity in the carrots and baking powder for rise. And salt. Always salt.

• Sugar: For sweetness, of course.

• Oil: This is an oil-based cake for maximum moisture. I like the grassiness of olive oil, but you could also use any neutral oil of your choice—avocado, vegetable, or grapeseed.

• Eggs: In this recipe, eggs provide fat, emulsification, moisture, and structure.

• Carrots: In this recipe, I’m using carrots two ways: some roasted and pureed for depth of flavor and lots of moisture. Plus a few shredded carrots because you can’t have carrot cake without visible carrot pieces.

• Walnuts: Extra toasty.

• Citrus: I used both orange and lemon zest, plus chopped up the flesh of the orange for a little extra pizzazz.

Yield 8, one 9" cake

Author Anna Ramiz

Prep time

30 Min

Cook time

1 Hour

Total time

1 H & 30 M

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Roasty Toasty Carrot Cake

( 0 reviews )

This simple, spiced snack cake is filled with sweet, roasted carrots and toasted walnuts and topped with a bright, tangy cream cheese frosting.

IngredientsUSMetric

for the roasted carrots

• 3 large carrots
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp granulated sugar
• pinch of salt

for the cake

• 1/2 cup (65 g) spelt flour
• 1 cup (125 g) all purpose
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• 1 1/3 cup (260 g) granulated sugar
• 1 orange, zested
• 1 lemon, zested
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup (165 g) olive oil
• carrot puree, from roasted carrots (above)
• 2 large carrots, shredded
• 1 cup (100 g) toasted walnuts
• the flesh of one orange, chopped

for the frosting

• 2 oz (4 tbsp) unsalted butter, softened
• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 4 oz creme fraiche
• 1/2 tsp vanilla powder, or 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 100 g powdered sugar
• pinch of salt

Instructions

to make the roasted carrot puree

1. Preheat the oven 425° F.
2. Cut carrots into sticks and place in a small baking dish. Add the olive oil, sugar, and salt and stir to coat. Roast for 30 minutes, until carrots are softened and caramelized. Let cool.
3. Transfer the cooled, roasted carrots to a food processor and pulse until pureed. Set aside.

to make the cake

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F and line a 9” cake pan with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together spelt flour, all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine sugar, orange zest, lemon zest, and eggs. Whip on medium high speed for 3-4 minutes until light in color and thick.
4. Decrease the mixer speed to low and gradually stream in the olive oil, whipping until homogenized. Add the carrot puree and mix once more until completely combined.
5. Remove the bowl from the mixer and add the dry ingredients. Stir with a rubber spatula until all of the flour has been incorporated and no dry spots remain.
6. Chop the toasted walnuts and add them to the batter along with the shredded carrots. Peel the orange and chop the flesh. Add the orange flesh to the batter. Gently fold with a rubber spatula until everything is distributed throughout the batter.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45-55 minutes, until the cake is deeply browned, the top is set, and the sides begin to pull away from the pan.
8. Cool completely in the pan, and then flip out onto a cooling rack.

to make the frosting

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment combine the butter and cream cheese. Beat for about 30 seconds, until smooth.
2. Add the crème fraîche, sift in the powdered sugar, and add the vanilla and salt. Whip again until frosting is thick and smooth.
3. Spread the frosting in a thick layer over the top of the cooled cake.

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