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.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
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

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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Pumpkin Granola Bars

These simple, homemade pumpkin granola bars are the perfect fall snack. They are vegan and gluten-free, filled with warming spices, nuts, and chocolate chunks.

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Are we still in pumpkin season? I feel like there is really no clear beginning and end to the whole pumpkin craze. Is it whenever Starbucks tells us? Pumpkin season starts in August when they begin serving PSLs and ends when they switch to Peppermint Mocha? How are we supposed to know these things? I have no Christmas tree up, so I think it’s fair to continue eating pumpkin over here. At least through Thanksgiving, then we can re-assess.

I have been making some rendition of these pumpkin granola bars for at least five years. My first recipe notebook is a big hardcover one, filled with mostly other people’s recipes I found on the internet and wrote down as I tried them has the date I started it written in the front cover- 1/27/15. We were living in Nashville, I was still teaching full-time, and my business was going to be called “That Baking Lady” (there are little pencil-drawn illustrations of my logo scratched into that first page). These granola bars are the sixth recipe in that book the page has collected its fair amount of chocolate smudges and oil stains over the years. I have no idea where I got this recipe, it’s not really my own, I’ve just adapted and streamlined it over the years, but we’ve been making some version of them in our house every year since.

Filled with pumpkin, chocolate chunks, oats, and pumpkin seeds, these granola bars feel really healthy, while also satiating your dessert cravings. You can easily substitute mix-ins, add extra nuts or dried fruit, and they hold in the fridge, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap for up to a week. These granola bars can also be made vegan if you use maple syrup and dairy-free chocolate, so they make a great holiday baking treat for all of your vegan friends.

Pumpkin Granola Bars
Yield
8
Author
Anna Ramiz
Prep time
10 Min
Cook time
20 Min
Total time
30 Min

Pumpkin Granola Bars

These simple, homemade pumpkin granola bars are the perfect fall snack. They are vegan and gluten-free, filled with warming spices, nuts, and chocolate chunks.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups rolled oats
  • 2 tbsp ground flaxseed, optional
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
  • 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp ground allspice
  • 1/4 tsp kosher salt
  • 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
  • 1/4 cup loose almond butter
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup or honey*
  • 2 tbsp coconut sugar
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup dark chocolate, chopped*
  • 1/3 cup pumpkin seeds, plus more for sprinkling on top
  • flaky salt

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350° F and line a rectangular baking pan (8x8” or 9x9”) with parchment paper. Set aside
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together oats, flaxseed, spices, salt, pumpkin seeds, and chopped chocolate.
  3. In a large measuring cup or another bowl, whisk together pumpkin, almond butter, maple syrup/honey, coconut sugar, and vanilla until smooth and homogenous.
  4. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients and stir together with a rubber spatula until all of the dry ingredients are well-coated.
  5. Pour batter into your prepared pan and use your hands to press into an even layer. Sprinkle with more pumpkin seeds. Bake for 20-22 minutes, until set and the edges are beginning to brown. Sprinkle the bars with flaky salt, and let them cool completely in the pan.
  6. Slice into 8 equal-sized bars, wrap individually, and store in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Notes:

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Pumpkin Blondies with Chocolate Ganache

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Happy Halloween week from me and these very easy pumpkin blondies! Halloween will probably very different for a lot of people this year, along with everything else in our lives in 2020, but for us, things will be very much the same. I’m not very big on Halloween. I think I’ve mentioned that before here on the blog, but I just have never really gotten into costumes, I don’t like spooky things, and I’m not really a candy person. I do, however, love celebrating Dia De Los Muertos, and I especially like to spend my Halloween’s watching Coco and eating tacos in my living room.

This is Tahini’s first Halloween and a few weeks ago we spontaneously purchased a very cute little dinosaur hat for him for $5 at Target. Unfortunately, his head was a little too big for it, so we returned it without a plan for any other puppy costume. But that Target Dollar Spot, guys. It gets me every time. They had a little puppy referee t-shirt that said “rufferee” for only $3 so obviously we had to get it. It too is a bit snug on the little guy, but he’s a little champ and Martin spent an hour letting out the sleeves so he would be more comfortable in it. So I guess this Halloween, Tahini will be dressed as a cute little rufferee as we eat our tacos and watch Coco.

All of that to say, here’s a very simple, one-bowl (ish) pumpkin blondie recipe for all of you. There are no herbs or unique spices, no ancient grains or alternative flour, just good ‘ole pumpkin and chocolate. You probably have everything on hand and these little guys can be whipped up in about 15 minutes, a perfect Halloween weekend recipe for when you run out of the good candy.

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pumpkinblondies5.jpg

Pumpkin Blondies with Chocolate Ganache

makes 1 8x8” pan

Ingredients 

1 2/3 cup (220 g) all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 cup (113 g) unsalted butter

1 1/4 cup (270) brown sugar

3/4 cup (200 g) pumpkin puree

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 oz dark chocolate, chopped

3 oz heavy cream


Procedure: 

  1. Preheat oven to 350° F and line a 8x8” baking dish with parchment paper. Set aside.

  2. Place butter in a small saucepan and set over medium heat. Cook, swirling occasionally for 6-7 minutes, until butter is foamy and fragrant and dotted with little amber specks. Remove from heat and immediately transfer to a medium mixing bowl. Set aside to cool slightly.

  3. When the butter has cooled a bit, whisk in the brown sugar, followed by the vanilla and pumpkin puree until the mixture is smooth and homogenous.

  4. Whisk in flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt, stirring just until everything is combined and no dry streaks remain. Smooth the batter into the prepared pan.

  5. Meanwhile, place chocolate in a small bowl and heat cream in a small saucepan until just beginning to bubble around the edges (about 180°F). Immediately pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate, jostle slightly to settle it, and let sit for 3-4 minutes.

  6. After 3-4 minutes, begin whisking the cream and the chocolate together, starting in the center of the bowl and working your way outward until you have a smooth, glossy ganache. Drizzle ganache over the top of the blondie batter and swirl with a knife or skewer. (I only used about half of the ganache, you can store the leftovers in the fridge for about a week and use for drizzling on ice cream or swirling into brownies.)

  7. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the edges of the blondies are golden and begin to pull away from the edges of the pan and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool completely (I prefer to let them spend a night in the fridge), and then cut into squares.

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