Levain Bakery Copy Cat Chocolate Chip Cookies

* Credit should be given to the rightful recipe creator and that is the lovely Lisa Michelle at lisamichelle.wordpress.com. Her recipe blog is "Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives"

Have you ever had a chocolate chip cookie and thought to yourself, it should be bigger than this? Well, look no further than this brute of a cookie! Weighs a ton, worth every bite! Thanks to Sally, I looked at a lot of copy cat recipes and hers looked the best. If they last longer than a day at your house, re-heat in the microwave for about 10 seconds or so, just to soften the inside. MMMMmmm, delish. Can't wait to try the real thing sometime in NYC!

Ingredients

2 sticks ‘cold and cubed’ unsalted butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar - (not packed too hard. Just spoon it in the cup(s) and press down lightly when full, sweeping off any extra that runs over.)
2 eggs
3 1/4 to 3 1/2 cups All Purpose flour - Spoon and Sweep method. (feel the dough, it should be moist, kind of like cold cookie dough in a tube.. but not super sticky, so you can portion the cookies with your hands)
3/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
3/4-1 teaspoon baking powder ( I don’t fill the tsp fully, hence the 3/4 tsp)
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 cups good quality semisweet chocolate chips or chunks (I am a milk chocolate kinda gal)
1 cup walnuts (optional, I omitted these. Sally used macadamia nuts)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
1. In bowl of electric mixer fitted with paddle, cream together butter and sugars until well blended and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time.. and beat until well incorporated.
2. Add flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and mix until just combined. Gently fold in chocolate chunks and nuts.
3. Transfer dough to clean work surface and gently mix dough by hand to ensure even distribution of ingredients. Divide into 12 equal portions, **about 4 oz each..
4. Place each on sheet pan lined with parchment paper and bake in the preheated oven 16-23 minutes depending on how gooey and raw’ish you like the middles (I bake mine at 375 for 18-20 minutes, as I prefer a less raw interior), until very lightly browned, taking care not to overbake. Let cool on rack and store what you don’t immediately eat, in an airtight container.

*notes. The 1st 3 italicized notes in the ingredient area are Sally's notes. Just want to give her the credit and not plagiarize! I followed her advice and baked mine at 375 for 18 minutes, and they turned out perfect. Have a gallon of milk ready!