These Levain Bakery-Style Red Velvet Cookies are SERIOUSLY tasty and for intense red velvet fanatics only! Six ounces of pure red velvet goodness bursting with semi-sweet and white chocolate chips!
If you’ve been around here awhile, you know I have a full catalog of Levain Bakery cookies, including their four flavors: Chocolate Chip Walnut, Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip, Chocolate Chocolate Chip, and Oatmeal Raisin. I also created a Funfetti Cake Batter version, and now THIS version. What can I say? I have been bitten by the Levain bug!
Even if you’ve never been to their famed NYC bakery, you’ve likely heard of Levain Bakery. They’re known for their whopping 6-ounce cookies the size of a baseball with irresistibly gooey and slightly underbaked centers that create huge, long lines snaked down the blocks outside their shops. You can order their cookies online for a pricey fee, and apparently you can get a very sad version in the frozen section (seriously – someone once reviewed copycat versions versus the actual Levain frozen version and preferred the copycat versions!).
There are a few key components to making Levain-style cookies, and those components are:
- Cornstarch: Cornstarch is my number 1 secret cookie ingredient for a light and tender cookie texture. Time and time again, it yields soft cookies!
- Cake flour: Cake flour is Levain’s secret ingredient for their cookies in creating a tender cookie with a lighter texture and fluffy crumb. If all all-purpose flour were to be used, the cookies would be more dense and scone-like, but the addition of cake flour lightens things up a bit.
- Extra mix-ins: Don’t be alarmed by the quantity of the mix-ins in this cookie recipe. I know 3 cups of chocolate chips is a LOT, but this quantity is crucial for maintaining the cookie’s structure, giving the cookie plenty of flavor, and helps prevent too much spreading.
- Brief chill time: These cookies only require about 20 minutes to chill for optimal results. We only bake one sheet of cookies at a time, so while the one sheet bakes, refrigerate the rest of the dough to keep it chilled. This prevents too much spreading as well.
And for optimal, bakery-style results, follow these tips:
- Shape: I like to shape these cookie dough balls very rough and loose. We’re so used to tight, smooth and compacted dough balls, but these are going to have a rougher, craggy exterior and a loose pack which gives it that texture. For accuracy, I recommend using a digital kitchen scale to measure out exactly 6 ounces of dough.
- Size: These cookies are monstrous, so I recommend only baking 4 on a baking sheet at a time, staggering them on the baking sheet so they are at least 3″ from one another. This helps so that when they inevitably do spread a little during the baking process, they don’t all form into one cookie and it keeps the baking consistent.
- Do not over-bake!: These cookies have a signature gooey and underdone center with a drier, duller exterior. While everyone’s ovens operate differently, these cookies take anywhere from 8-12 minutes to bake. I recommend baking one cookie first to gauge how quickly it will bake for you for your specific oven. For instance, mine baked perfectly at about 9:30. We’re also going to bake these sheets one at a time in the center rack of the oven for optimal results and the utmost consistency. Remember, these cookies will continue to finish cooking up and set once they come out of the oven, so don’t over bake!
- One at a time!: For best results, only bake one sheet at a time in the center rack of the oven.
Supremely soft, ultra gooey, richly chocolaty and SO decadent, you’ll love these insanely indulgent Red Velvet Cookies!
Levain Bakery-Style Red Velvet Cookies
These Levain Bakery-Style Red Velvet Cookies are inspired by the bakery but all my own creation! A whopping 6 ounces of gooey deliciousness packed with two types of chocolate chips in one decadent red velvet cookie!
Servings: 9 cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup COLD unsalted butter, cubed
- 1½ cups granulated white sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp red liquid food coloring
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup cake flour
- 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups white chocolate chips
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
Preheat oven to 410° degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners; set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the cubed cold butter and granulated sugar together with the paddle attachment on low speed for 30 seconds. Increase speed to medium and continue beating for 30 seconds. Lastly, increase speed to high and continue beating for 30 seconds or until mixture is light and fluffy, scraping down the bottom and sides of the bowl with a spatula.
Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and vanilla, mixing well after each addition. Beat in the red food coloring and cocoa powder and mix on low until incorporated. Lastly, beat in the baking soda, cornstarch, salt, cake flour and all-purpose flour until a soft dough comes together. Mix in both types of chocolate chips on low speed until incorporated. Refrigerate uncovered for 30 seconds to chill.
Using a digital cooking scale for accuracy, use your hands to measure out 6 ounces of dough, forming it into a rough, craggly/rough textured and tall ball (see photo in body of the post for example). Stagger the cookie dough balls about 3″ apart from one another, and only do 4 cookie dough balls per baking sheet. Keep any dough not being baked immediately refrigerated.
Bake one baking sheet at a time in the center rack of the oven for 8-11 minutes or until the tops are dull and dry looking and the centers appear mostly set. Remember, you want them to be gooey in the middle and keep in mind they will continue to set up some more as they cool. Mine baked for exactly 9:30. Remove from the oven and let cool for at LEAST 30 minutes on the baking sheets before serving. This ensures they maintain their structure (otherwise they are far too delicate and will completely fall apart).
Notes
You’re going to love these seriously decadent and ultra gooey cookies! I know I did!
Have a super sweet day!
xo, Hayley
