Chocolate Chip and Walnut Cookies

So after the last post with the Levain Bakery copycat cookies, I went in search of more.  Those folks know what they are doing with cookies.

I always like to judge a bakery that is known for cookies on their most basic thing: the chocolate chip cookie.  I personally LOVE chocolate chip cookies with nuts in them, but I do know that for lots of people (like my hubby) they would rather have cookies that are unadulterated by anything other than chocolate.  So I suppose you could do this without the nuts.  But unless you have an allergy, why would you???  And anyhow, my hubby who eschews nutty cookies even loved these.  So give the nuts a try before you decide to try make it without them (of course, unless you have allergies... ).

These cookies, like the last ones, are big and amazing.  This is my new go to recipe for cookies from now on.  Super easy and these make a lot.  The recipe says they make 12 cookies, but I used my trusty ice cream scoop and got 18 cookies that were still pretty huge.  You can do what I did and make the dough and keep it in the fridge.  I made the cookies in 6 cookie increments, so every third day we had fresh baked cookies in the house.  Its been an amazing few days!

Go eat these.  Seriously.  They are so good... I may have had them for lunch once or twice last week with a large glass of milk.  Note, I said FOR lunch, not WITH lunch.  That is how big they are...mmm.

Lets get baking!

Levain Copycat Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt 
• 1 cup unsalted butter, cold and cubed
• 3/4 cup plus 4 teaspoons brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs, cold 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Set bowl aside.

In another large bowl beat the butter until it comes together and is fluffy.  Add in the sugars and cream until it is all combined well.  Scrape down the bowl and add the eggs one at a time and the vanilla, incorporating fully and scraping the bowl as needed.

Gradually mix in flour mixture until it is all mixed in.  The batter will seem kind of lumpy and this is okay.  Stir in the chocolate chips and the nuts with a spatula or your hands.  I used a mixture of mini chocolate chips and regular ones, thinking the mini ones would make this gloriously extra chocolatey.  They did not.  Stick with regular chocolate chips on this one friends.  You will thank me for it.

Using an ice cream scoop, scoop out dough into large balls.  Do not roll or flatten the balls.  Apparently this is important to getting the bumpy, imperfect Levain cookie style.  I was reprimanded by my friend HK on the last post for instructing folks to flatten the balls.

Bake for 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to stand for 5 minutes on the baking sheet.  Remove and allow to cool fully on a cooling rack.  Or you can do what I did and just let them cool entirely on the baking sheet.

Pour a big glass of milk and try not to eat them all at once.  Although they are so large and rich I am not sure anyone COULD eat them all in one go...

Enjoy!

Source: Brown Eyed Baker