Big Ones is the name I'm giving these big batch chocolate chip cookies. The recipe is good for bake sales, school events or any situation where you need rather large, medium thick cookies.
Since this gives you a big batch of dough, you may want to divide it into thirds and add different combinations of nuts and chocolate. Some combinations are Macadamia Chocolate Chunk, Milk Chocolate Pecan and Semisweet Walnuts.
The cookies bake up chewy with soft centers. If you bake at 375 you'll get darker edges and softer centers. Baking slightly longer at 350 will give you a more uniform color.
Chilling overnight is recommended but not required.
By the way, these are not supposed to be Levain clones. Big Ones are their own thing.
Half Batch Measurements
- 270 grams all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon plus a pinch of salt
- 170 grams unsalted butter, cool and cut into chunks
- 125 grams granulated sugar
- 125 grams light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 74 grams of lightly beaten egg
- 9 oz semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips or chunks
- ½ cup nuts optional
Recipe
Big Ones Big Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies
Big Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 4 ¼ cups all-purpose flour (535 grams )
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 ¾ teaspoons salt reduce to ¼ teaspoon if using salted butter
- 3 sticks unsalted butter, cut into chunks, softened but cool (342 grams)
- 1 ¼ cup granulated sugar (250 grams)
- 1 ¼ cup light brown sugar (250 grams)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs
- 3 cups semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips can use more if desired
- 1 cup nuts optional
Instructions
- Weigh out your flour and put it in a large bowl. Whisk in baking soda and salt, then set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar and brown sugar until until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and beat well, then add the eggs one at a time, beating on low speed after each addition.
- By hand or using lowest speed of mixer, add flour mixture and stir until well blended.
- Stir in chocolate chips.
- Line a couple of plates with plastic wrap. Using a medium size cookie scoop, scoop up balls of dough and arrange on plastic wrap. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and chill for several hours or overnight.
- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Have ready a couple of ungreased, unlined baking sheets.
- Arrange cookies baking sheets spacing about 2 ½ inches apart.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 10-14 minutes or until they start to brown. If you prefer, you can bake them at 350 for 13 to 16 minutes
Notes
Before adding the nuts and chips, you can divide the batter into thirds and add different combinations of nuts and chips to each section of dough. Some variations I like are dark chocolate chunk with salted macadamia nuts, milk chocolate chip with toasted pecans and just plain semisweet chocolate chip.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Marilou says
Hi Anna!
I've been stalking your site for quite a while and have tried many of your recipes. Yum! Thank you for all of them!
But I felt the need to comment on this one because I made a batch last night and almost exploded in chocolatey cookie goodness. I never tried Levain's cookies and, frankly, I do not really have the desire to. I just saw your version of it and thought it looked good. Oh my goodness! It was so good! This is now my official go-to cookie recipe, since it has everything I love in a cookie. Thank you!
Anna says
Cate, I think you'd be better off taking an actual sugar cookie recipe and working on that one until you get it to be like McCall's. Here's a random one from a magazine. You could make it once, then adjust it as needed.
Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookie -- Adapted from McCall's
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cream of tarter
8 oz butter (2 sticks) softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp grated lemon rind
Sparkly sugar
Preheat oven to 400 F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Sift flour with baking soda and cream of tarter; set aside
Cream the butter with the sugar. Beat in salt, egg and vanilla. With a mixing spoon or lowest speed of an electric mixer, stir in the flour.
Drop by 1/3 cup measure onto ungreased cookie sheets. Flatten cookies into rounds of about 5 inches. Sprinkle with sparkly sugar.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until golden. Cool on wire rack.
Yields: Makes 10 large cookies
Anna says
Jan, I don't use my bread machine often and didn't know there was such a thing as bread MACHINE flour, but I suppose it's the same thing. Bread flour has more gluten.
Jan Harris says
Anna: When you say bread flour, are you referring to the bread machine flour, with higher gluten content?
Anna says
Sue, I think it's great that you use abbreviations and we all know what they stand for...AB CCC, JT CCCC, L CCC,
Gina, thanks! I'll edit that for you.
Michelle, I had a hard time forcing myself to skip the vanilla, but the end result was still very good. I think leaving out the vanilla made the the walnuts and brown sugar stand out. Or maybe that's just crazy talk. But the cookies were great without the vanilla.
Michelle W. in Calif. says
Thanks for that Gina, I'm math-challenged!
So....really? No vanilla?? It seems sacrilegious, but I guess I can try it!
Gina says
See? I told you my math might be iffy! That should be TWO sticks of butter, not one (one stick=four ounces). My bad! My apologies--Gina
Gina says
I was just scaling Anna's version of this recipe for my own purposes, so I'm happy to share with other math-challenged bakers (this is assuming that MY math is right!)
Levain Copycats (via Lisa and Anna)
8 ounces (two sticks) unsalted butter, room temp
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
3 cups BREAD flour (13 1/2 oz)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 to 1 1/3 cups coarsely chopped, untoasted walnuts
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Beat butter and both sugars just until they come together. Don’t overbeat. Add the egg and beat just until incorporated. Mix together the flour, salt and baking soda. When thoroughly mixed, add to batter and stir just until blended. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. The dough should be neither sticky nor dry.
Divide dough into about 12 mounds, but keep the mounds kind of raggedy. That is, don’t smash them into compact balls. Bake on ungreased insulated cookie sheet or an upside down rimmed cookie sheet for 20 minutes at 350. Cool on sheet for about 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
This should make a dozen 4 oz. cookies or eight 6 oz. cookies.
Sue says
I really appreciate all of the work you put into this, but even more than that I appreciate your thoughts about these cookies and the other cookies you like. I haven't made the A.B. CCC, but I have made the JT, and it was excellent!
Anna says
Katy, your comment just cracked me up because I know your feelings on Levain chocolate chip cookies.
Go-To Chocolate Chip recipe? No. I like thinner cookies.
Better than Jacques Torres? No. No one makes a better cookie than Jacques.
Better than Alton Brown's? Hmmmmm. No.
That being said, I did like the Levain cookie and it was very, very, good. But I didn't like it as much as other cookies.
So why am I trying to clone it? I don't know. I guess I'm cloning it because I want to make things other people like. Plus, it's a challenge. Plus, I'm obsessive compulsive.
But in the end, I think I liked Levain's chocolate cookie with peanut butter chips the best.
Katy says
Anna,
Do you like this recipe? You don't mention whether or not they were any good. Would these be on your top ten? Would this be a go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe for you?Are they better than Jacque Torres or Alton Brown in the thick, moist and crunchy category?
Katy
Clumbsy Cookie says
Who needs a Levain when we can get a Levanna?! Sorry, couldn't help myself... must be high on cherries!... Anyway, Anna you're great doing all this tests! For me it's not even about Levain anymore it's about the quest for the very best cookie, but that's never possible since tastes differ so much...
I'll probably give them a try this next week and play a bit in the CCC world! Have a nice weekend! Rita
Carole says
I will give these ones a try next week and post my results. All the talk sure makes me want to head to NYC and try one for myself! Thanks for keeping at it for so long and sharing your best results.
VeggieGirl says
I just posted about some chocolate chip cookies :0) But they're TINY - loooove those big ones!
Anna says
Michele, I'm going to stop before someone stages an intervention. To scale up, just quadruple everything. I think you might want to make a quick test batch just to make sure the cookies are what you want.
Anyway. Derek's gonna double up! Derek, I baked at 350 for 20 minutes (just added that), but you can play with the time. I think Levain bakes theirs in a Falling Heat Bread Oven, so you can mimic that in your own oven by starting at a high temp and then lowering the heat.....which is what you are doing. Cant' wait to see your pix.
BB, gosh. Don't you go through withdrawal when you skip chocolate chip cookies for months? I do.
Katrina, I know you are busy with those triple level rice krispy treats, but I look forward to your evaluation.
bakingblonde says
Wow do those ever look great! I have not made plain chocolate chip cookies in months! I think I may need to whip up a batch next week! Yours look sooooooo yummy!
Derek says
WHat did you bake them at? I am going to double the recipe and make 4, I quadrupled the BK soda, no bk powder. Going to bake at 450 for 8 min and 350 for another 10. I used a combo of half Pastry and 1/2 bread flour. I'll send pics when they come out!
Katrina says
Looks GREAT! Can't wait to try it.
Michelle W. in Calif. says
Anna, had to laugh when I came here today and saw the Levain thing STILL going on! I'd basically given up (just can't get any I've tried to rise), but now I'm thinking it over again. Except it's too hot right now (102 yesterday and today).
I saw someone posted the Deryl Bear recipe. I live in Fresno, Calif., home of Deryl and his Hungry Bear cookie franchise, there are 3 or 4 of them in town. (one just one mile from my house!) While his cookies are fabulous in their own right, they're nothing like the Levain monsters! His Sugar Dream cookies are to die for!
So how do I scale your latest version UP to a normal-sized batch? (math is not my strong suit!)