LEVAIN'S DARK CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE

LEVAIN'S DARK CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

#SIAintheKitchen

Every Sunday, I host a live cooking demonstration on my personal Instagram account. I usually throw out an option of sweet or savoury concoctions a few days prior but generally end up making something both sweet and savoury since the vote is always split! This time around, however, my friend Kevin who lives in New York City, requested that I bake a very particular type of cookie: Levain’s dark chocolate chip cookie.

Although I have been to New York City a countless number of times, I had never heard or had tried these cookies before. This is probably due in fact that I don’t spend much time in the Upper West Side (I’m more of an East Side girl, and a lower one at best). But since he had requested it, I accepted the challenge and starting researching the product – a little tricky to do since I had never personally tried it before. This was going to be interesting.

Reading the ingredient list, it was very simple with common ingredients. Sweet. Two peculiar ingredients stood out to me, however – the use of cake flour and…cornstarch? Because they cookies are massive, I suppose the cake flour was to be used to give it a more delicate texture sine there’s less structure in cake flour but cornstarch? What was that for? Turns out that the addition of corn starch in a cookie recipes helps cut down the amount of spread when baking. Who knew!?

Also, the use of cold butter was intriguing as well. Most recipes for cookies require you to use room temperature-softened butter – this one did not. Like a pie crust, it required a good amount of cold butter cut into cubes.

Lastly, don’t be turned off by the high baking heat. Because these are larger-than-average cookies, they are blasted with a high heat to give the cookies that subtle crunch on the outside whilst staying super chewy and moist on the inside. Oh my god, YUM.

Needless to say, these cakes were sure winner in my books! Monstrous in size, they were the perfect amount of sweetness, richness, and ridiculousness – will definitely be making these again! Bonus – these freeze incredibly well! I cannot eat more than ½ of a cookie (600 calories each) but it is completely worth the indulgence!

Now to try the real thing when I’m in the city again…

LEVAIN’S DARK CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE – makes 8 – 10 cookies (from Modern Honey)

• 1 cup unsalted butter, cold and cubed

• 1 cup golden brown sugar

• ½ cup granulated sugar

• 2 large eggs

• ½ cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder

• 1 cup cake flour

• 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour

• ¾ baking soda

• 1 tsp cornstarch

• ½ tsp salt

• 1 ½ cups semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 410F and position the rack in the middle. Prepare two Silpat mats on a couple baking sheets and set aside.

2. In your stand mixer, add the cold butter, brown sugar and granulated sugars and beat on medium-high. It will take some time for the butter and sugar to become well-incorporated and creamy, about 4 minutes.

3. Add the eggs, one at a time, to the batter.

4. Slowly add in the cocoa powder, cake flower and all-purpose flours.

5. Add in the baking soda, cornstarch and salt into the mix.

6. Lastly, add in the semisweet chocolates chips until well-mixed and set inside the fridge to chill for 15 minutes.

7. Once chilled, form into large balls and slighten flatten them out. The recipe should make anywhere between 8 – 10 cookies.

8. Bake for 9 – 11 minutes until it is slightly browned on the outside and let set for 15 minutes after removing from heat.