Gluten-Free Levain Chocolate Chip Cookies
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If you love thick, bakery-style cookies, you’ll LOVE these Gluten-Free Levain Chocolate Chip Cookies! Learn how to make Levain Bakery style cookies at home with simple, no-fuss ingredients. You’ll love their gorgeous texture and show-stopping size!
I’ve been gluten-free for more than a decade, but every once in a while, I still get some sad gluten-free FOMO (more like SOMO–“sadness of missing out”). And Levain bakery chocolate chip cookies have been one of those things. Have you seen them? This New York City-based bakery is famous for their enormous 6 oz. (that’s 4″ wide and 1.25″ thick!) cookies.
Since I can’t try the real thing in person, I’ve spent the last few months reading EVERYTHING I can about Levain bakery cookies. And after some pretty thorough research and lots of testing, I think I’ve nailed copycat gluten-free Levain chocolate chip cookies. They’re GIANT, super thick, and have all the gooey goodness of the original, just without the gluten!
We’ll be making gluten-free two chip Levain cookies today, and here’s what makes them so unique and so delicious…
Here’s What Makes These Chocolate Chip Cookies So Unique
- Their Colossal Size. I mean, you can’t dance around it. The first thing you’ll notice about gluten-free Levain chocolate chip cookies is their size. Levain says their cookies are a whopping 6 oz. That’s roughly 3 times size of the average chocolate chip cookie! They even go so far as to give dimensions–they should be 4 inches wide and about 1.25″ thick. That may not sound like a lot, but when it covers all of your palm and half your fingers, it feels like a lot!
- Their Texture. One thing that’s surprising when you consider their enormous size is that Levain cookies are consistently described as having a light but crisp exterior that gives way to a gooey, gorgeous center. Another part of their signature look is the more rumpled, irregular surface shape. Instead of being perfectly smooth, they’ve got bumps and texture that bakes up beautifully. It gives these giant cookies a really fun, homemade look that just adds to the experience!
- Their Surprise Ingredient List. In my research, I came across several bake-off style recipe tests comparing popular copycat recipes to the real thing. (This one from The Kitchn and this one from Pancake Princess were both especially helpful as I compared recipes.) While the actual Levain cookies use a mix of white flour and malted barley flour (according to the package ingredients on their frozen cookies), most of the popular copycat recipes use a mix of white flour and cake flour (which has less protein than typical white flour) as a way to get that light, gorgeous texture. I use a combination of gluten-free measure-for-measure flour and cornstarch that gives really lovely results–light, crisp exterior and soft, gooey center that holds its shape and doesn’t taste floury.
- Their Baking Time & Temperature. Since they’re so large, thick gluten-free chocolate chip cookies like these Levain-style cookies need to be baked at a higher temperature than typical cookies. Baking them at a temperature more than 400 degrees F. helps set the edges so they don’t spread too much and helps with that gorgeous textural contrast.
Simple Ingredients To Start
Now, let’s get to the recipe! Part of why I LOVE this levain cookie recipe is that the main ingredients are all simple and straightforward. Nothing fussy about them!
- COOL Butter. A few of the Levain recipes I saw used cold cubed butter instead of softened butter. Dicing the cold butter into small cubes and beating them with the sugars means you spend a bit more time beating them. This incorporates more air into the dough, which helps keep them from being too dense. I kind of split the difference, and found that using slightly softened, but still cool butter was easy to work with and gave great texture.
- Brown Sugar & White Sugar. This classic cookie combo does wonders for flavor and texture, with brown sugar keeping them moist, while granulated sugar helps with that delicate crisp exterior.
- Eggs. Next up is a few eggs. These give the cookies some chewiness and help bind the dough together.
- Vanilla. According the ingredients list on their website, most of Levain Bakery’s cookies DON’T contain vanilla(!), but their two-chip chocolate chip cookies do. We’ll add a bit after the eggs, and I love the flavor it gives.
- Gluten-Free Measure-For-Measure Flour. We recommend King Arthur Measure For Measure Gluten-Free Flour. I love the mix of protein & starch and feel like it gives really consistent results. (If you use another brand (like Bob’s Red Mill), your results may vary slightly. Be sure the blend you use contains xanthan gum!)
- Cornstarch. Instead of the malted barley flour Levain uses, or the cake flour most Levain copycat recipes use, we’re adding cornstarch, which has more starch and less protein. Combined with the gluten-free flour, it gives these GORGEOUS texture without making them taste floury.
- Baking Soda. The original recipe uses baking powder, but in my tests, using baking soda gave these gluten-free Levain chocolate chip cookies better texture.
- Sea Salt. We’re using rather a lot of salt for a cookie recipe, but it MAKES the cookies. They won’t taste salty by any means, but much like the Pancake Princess test kitchen results, I found that recipes that use less salt tasted flat and a bit blandly sweet. This amount makes all the other flavors pop!
- Dark Chocolate Chips & Semisweet Chocolate Chips. Since we’re making gluten-free Levain two-chip chocolate chip cookies, we’re using a generous mix of dark chocolate chips and semisweet chocolate chips. These amazing cookies are known for having LOTS of chocolate inside!
Tools We Recommend
- The Best Gluten-Free Flour – makes light cakes & muffins, fudgy brownies, and gorgeous cookies!
- Inexpensive Kitchen Scale – Weighing your flour will give you the BEST bakes possible, and will help you make even balls of cookie dough. It makes a big difference in how evenly the cookies bake!
- Light-Colored Baking Sheets – For even baking. These cookie sheets last forever!
- Pre-Cut Parchment Sheets – To make things easier on yourself. Especially great when you’re working with multiple batches.
- Stand Mixer – I love my mixer and use it for EVERYTHING. All of the things. It’s great for big batches of dough like this one.
- Paddle Attachment – Great for mixing cookie dough and cake batter! It’s got a spatula edge that naturally scrapes the sides of the bowl so you don’t have to pause to scrape down the sides as often.
How To Make Gluten-Free Levain Cookies, Step By Step
As always, you can find the full recipe with ingredient amounts, detailed instructions and recipe notes in the recipe card below. We’re following the same basic assembly method as the Levain creators themselves use (see them mix up a batch here).
First, Mix Up The Dough
- Preheat The Oven & Prep Your Pans. Before starting your dough, preheat the oven to 415 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. (You’ll bake just one batch at a time, but you don’t want to put cookie dough on a hot baking sheet!)
- Cream The Butter & Sugars. In a stand mixer, combine cool cubes of butter, brown sugar, and sugar. Cream the mixture 2-3 minutes or until it’s slightly lighter in color, creamy, and fluffy. (Don’t rush this step!)
- Add Eggs One At A Time. Scrape down the sides of the mixer and add one egg at a time, beating well after each addition. Since the butter is slightly colder, you may need to beat the eggs in an extra 30-60 seconds to get the mixture to emulsify. Pause as needed to scrape down the sides of your mixer to help things along.
- Mix In Vanilla. Next, add the vanilla extract and mix to incorporate.
- Add Flour, Cornstarch, Baking Soda, And Salt. Now, it’s time for the dry ingredients. Scrape down the sides of the mixer again, and add the gluten-free flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Mix until almost combined. (The dough should still be a bit powdery looking.)
- Add the Chocolate. Lastly, you’ll add all the chocolate chips. Mix just until the dough is no longer dry and the chocolate chips have been incorporated. Turn off the mixer and stir through with a spatula to make sure everything’s evenly distributed. (The dough will be thick and sticky at this point.)
Shape & Bake The Cookies
- Scoop & Shape The Dough. Use a 2/3 cup measuring cup to scoop 6 oz. balls of dough. It’s best if you can weigh them to be even! Gently shape them into circular shapes with your hands. (Don’t pack the dough down tightly or roll them to be perfectly smooth!)
- Bake. Place 4 cookie dough dough balls on one cookie sheet (I put them offset from each other a bit–see the photos!) and bake 11-14 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown and set and the centers are still wet. Let the cookies cool on the baking tray for 2-3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Repeat with the second batch of 4-5 cookies on the second (cool) baking sheet.
- Cool 20-25 minutes before eating! It’ll be hard to wait (I know!), but you’ll need to let the cookies cool a full 20-25 minutes on the cooling rack before you eat them. The residual heat from the oven will help set and finish the cookies so they aren’t raw in the middle. Store leftover cookies in an airtight container at room temperature 2-3 days or freeze up to 2 months.
Key Tip For Shaping The Dough
One key factor to a Levain style chocolate chip cookie is not packing the dough overly tight. You’re working with about 2/3 cup of dough PER COOKIE, so to keep them light and airy, use a light touch when you’re shaping the cookies and don’t worry about rolling them perfectly smooth. It’ll give you the best results!
FAQ + Tips For The Best Gluten-Free Levain Chocolate Chip Cookies
Watch The Bake Time! These thick gluten-free chocolate chip cookies bake differently than most traditional chocolate chip cookie recipes. You’re baking at a high temperature, and a longer amount of time. The goal is for the cookies to be tall (not spread too much!) and golden brown on top. The baked cookie will look darker than most chocolate chip cookies, but should still be a little underdone and soft inside.
LET THEM SET BEFORE YOU EAT THEM! This is maybe the #1 most important tip I can give you about gluten-free Levain cookies. They’ll come out deep golden brown on the outside, but won’t be all the way done on the inside when you pull them out of the oven. Because of how thick they are, they. need the full 20-25 minutes to cool before you break into them. If you try to cut, break, or eat them before they’re fully cooled, they’ll be doughy in the center.
Use Quality Chocolate Chips When You Can. One thing that makes Levain two-chip chocolate chip cookies so impressive is the sheer volume of chocolate in the cookies. There’s a LOT of chocolate chips packed into these cookies! Because of that, the quality matters more. I recommend using the highest quality chocolate chips that fit your budget. My pick is Guittard dark chocolate chips (red bag) and semi-sweet chocolate chips (yellow/gold bag).
Does Levain Have Gluten-Free Cookies? Levain recently came out with a vegan, gluten-free chocolate chip walnut cookie. However, they state that these cookies are made by hand using shared equipment in a shared kitchen, so there’s a high-risk cross contamination. (They say that anyone with severe allergies should avoid them, so I don’t think they’re safe for celiac disease.) For those of use who don’t live in NYC, our gluten-free Levain chocolate chip cookie recipe is the closest we can get 😉
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Tell me all about it! Leave a star rating below when you try our Gluten-Free Levain Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe. I can’t wait to hear how it goes!
Gluten-Free Levain Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, cut into cubes (it should be slightly softened, but cool to the touch. You don't want the butter to be warm or even room temperature or the cookies will spread too much!) (2 sticks/226 grams)
- 1 cup light brown sugar (lightly packed) (200 grams)
- ½ cup sugar (100 grams)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ¾ cup gluten-free measure-for-measure flour,* scooped & leveled or weighed (330 grams)
- ¼ cup cornstarch (32 grams)
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 ½ cups dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat The Oven & Prep Your Pans. Before starting your dough, preheat the oven to 415 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment. (You’ll bake just one batch at a time, but you don’t want to put cookie dough on a hot baking sheet!)
- Cream The Butter & Sugars. In a stand mixer, combine cool cubes of butter, brown sugar, and sugar. Cream the mixture 2-3 minutes or until it’s slightly lighter in color, creamy, and fluffy. (Don’t rush this step!)
- Add Eggs One At A Time. Scrape down the sides of the mixer and add one egg at a time, beating well after each addition. Since the butter is slightly colder, you may need to beat the eggs in an extra 30-60 seconds to get the mixture to emulsify. Pause as needed to scrape down the sides of your mixer to help things along.
- Mix In Vanilla. Next, add the vanilla and mix to incorporate.
- Add Flour, Cornstarch, Baking Soda, And Salt. Now, it’s time for the dry ingredients. Scrape down the sides of the mixer again, and add the gluten-free flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Mix until almost combined. (The dough should still be a bit powdery looking.)
- Add the Chocolate. Lastly, you’ll add all the chocolate chips. Mix until the dough is no longer dry and the chocolate chips have been incorporated. Turn off the mixer and stir through with a spatula to make sure everything’s evenly distributed. (The dough will be thick and sticky at this point.)
- Scoop & Shape The Dough. Use a 2/3 cup measuring cup** to scoop 6 oz. balls of dough. It’s best if you can weigh them to be even! Gently shape them into circular shapes with your hands. (Don’t pack the dough down tightly or roll them to be perfectly smooth!)
- Bake. Place 4 dough balls on one of your baking sheets (I put them offset from each other–see the photos!) and bake 11-14 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown and set and the centers are still wet. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Repeat with the second batch of 4-5 cookies on the second (cool) baking sheet.
- Cool at least 20-25 minutes before eating! It’ll be hard to wait (I know!), but you’ll need to let the cookies cool a full 20-25 minutes on the cooling rack before you eat them. The residual heat from the oven will help set and finish the cookies so they aren’t raw in the middle.
- Store leftover cookies in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days or freeze up to 6 weeks.
Notes
- Gluten-Free Flour. We recommend King Arthur Flour Measure For Measure Gluten-Free Flour. If you use another brand, your results may vary slightly. Be sure to use a blend that contains xanthan gum! Also, weighing the flour will give you the very best results here to give the cookies enough structure without tasting floury. Do not substitute almond flour or coconut flour.
- A Note On Texture. A classic Levain cookie should be delicately crisp and deep golden brown on the inside, and soft and slightly gooey on the inside.
- If you prefer to make regular-sized cookies, you can use a large cookie scoop to form 1 1/2″ balls of dough. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes.
Video
Find the recipe:
sweetsandthankyou.com/gluten-free-levain-chocolate-chip-cookies/
I’ve made this recipe twice and these cookies are amazing. My kids said they were better than the fancy bakery cookies we buy. I love how easy the recipe was to follow. This is definitely going to be a repeat recipe in my house.
I’m SO GLAD you loved them Joey!!! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for taking the time to leave a review. I appreciate you so much!
What would happen it you use Earth Balance butter in this recipe? do you every use that or something similar for dairy free?
Renee – I haven’t made them with Earth Balance. Another reader did and shared some photos with me. It does look like the texture changes somewhat, but it’s probably the strongest option if you’d like to make them dairy-free!
These are sooo goood!! Turns out bigger can be better!
It’s truuuuue. Especially when it comes to chocolate chip cookies!
I made these with regular flour and they are delicious! I may try baking them at just a slightly lower temp next time as the middle stayed a bit gooey but I’m at high altitude. They are delicious! And I only used one bag of chips and they were still just filled with chocolate goodness! They would make fun gifts.
Robin – You are the literal BEST. THANK YOU!!!
I have a friend who lives near the bakery in NYC and before I was diagnosed with celiac, I had one. I made these last night for company and I finally had a second to try a bite, I about ran out the front door waving my hands and yelling, “everyone come please try these. These are the best cookies I have eaten.” Trust the recipe as written and make them asap. Thanks for making me feel normal again. I used Cup4Cup flour.
Suzanne!!! You absolutely, completely, TOTALLY made my day!!! I’m SO glad these satisfied the craving 🙂
delicious – I made a half portion which produced four absolutely enormous cookies. they are very good – crunchy on the outside but soft in the middle. I cooked them for 13 mins but next time I’d do it a bit longer as I’m not so keen on the semi raw/very soft middle. they were really easy to make
These are so yummy— salty, sweet, gooey on the inside!
Oh, I’m SO GLAD you loved them! I couldn’t agree more!
What can I use in place of the corn starch?
Hi, Mel! Cornstarch will give you the lightest, softest texture. If you have an allergy, you can try arrowroot. Otherwise, I’d use more flour. (Just know, they’ll be more dense with all flour.)
I used an equal amount of arrowroot with perfect results!
YAY! So glad you loved them!
These cookies turned out incredible! 10/10 recommend! I had a 3 year old sous chef and still had my sanity at the end, which reflects well on ease of recipe and my gluten eating family also gave 5 starts. I’ve been on a quest to recreate bakery-level gluten free baked goods and this recipe fit the bill. I will be making over and over. Thanks for your hard work in providing this for us!
Heather, I can’t tell you how much I LOVED this review! (Especially the notes about your sous chef!) I’m so glad you loved them. Thank you, thank you for taking the time to leave such a great review!
hi can i use all purpose flour?
Hi Claudine! Because of allergies, I can’t test recipes with regular flour, but in general the 1:1 flour I’m using is a 1:1 substitute for traditional white flour. (If your cookies spread more than mine, you can add an additional tablespoon or two of flour to the dough as needed!)
I read this recipe in Pinterest and written that eggs are refrigerated, so is it true or you just do a mistake there? Because it didn’t state any refrigerated eggs at this website. I confused
Hi! Sorry for the confusion. The eggs do not need to be room temperature for this recipe. They can still be cold from the fridge.
Can you make these smaller? Does the oven temp stay the same? I’m sure baking time is shorter. Just curious
Hi, Kelly! If you prefer to make regular-sized cookies, you can use a large cookie scoop to form 1 1/2″ balls of dough. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes.
Best cookie recipe! It bakes really nicely and you can make it dairy free easily too. No one notices that it’s not a “normal” cookie.
I’ve tried this recipe and all I can say is YUM! So, so good!
These were outstanding!! I say, OUTSTANDING! I followed the recipe almost to a tee — sheer perfection. I added 1/2 T dry milk powder to ensure nice browning on the cookie. I added a bit too much chocolate LOL. But they were so good. I used mini chocolate chips, chocolate chunks and chopped up a dark chocolate bar. In all – I had 18oz of chocolate. I probably could have used 15oz. 🙂 It made 8 cookies @ 6oz each and 1 cookie @ 3oz. This will be my new go-to! Thank you!
YUUUUM! Love that chocolate combination!
Awesome gluten free cookie recipe! I’ve been searching for a recipe that replicated this exact cookie. My only concern was I followed the directions exactly, plus waiting 20-25 minutes before breaking them open, and they still turned out very undercooked on the inside. Is this normal? Should they be cooked longer? I followed the 11-14 minute timeframe as well. If anyone has suggestions let me know 😉
Hi, Isabella! They are supposed to be less “done” than a traditional cookie. It’s part of a Levain cookie’s signature texture.
That said, a few things to check:
1. Are you at higher elevation, by chance? That can have an impact on your bakes. These tips can help!
2. Do you have an oven thermometer? Many ovens (most ovens) don’t run at the stated temperature. If your oven runs even 5-10 degrees cooler than stated, for instance, you might need a little extra bake time.
Made these tonight. WOW! Absolutely incredible. Better than glutenous cookies. Thank you for the recipe.
Patty, I’m SO GLAD you loved them! You totally made my day!
Hi, question, you say not to use room temperature butter bc cookies will spread out ? Will there be a difference if you do use room temperature butter and then chill the dough for a few bit before baking?
Hi, Jonathan! I find I get the best results from doing it as recommended. While using cool butter in the cookies helps prevent spread, I also prefer this method because I find the insides of the cookies bake better when the dough isn’t chilled, since the cookies are so big.
Chilling cookie dough is a trick I use often for regular-sized cookies, but with these extra-big cookies, I find the dough cooks better and more evenly when made with cool butter as directed.
me gustaría q las hiciera sin azucar, q utilizarás endulzante como alulosa o eretritol
Hi, Diana! These work best with sugar and brown sugar. I don’t recommend substitutes for this recipe.
These look amazing. Is there a way to make them vegan? I have flax egg replacer and plant based butter. Do you think these would work?
Hi Martha! I haven’t tested them vegan yet, but several folks have made them with vegan butter with good results, so at least that part should go smoothly! I often use powdered egg replacer for cookies, but you can absolutely try flax egg, if you like.
I made these last night for a friend and they turned out beautifully!! I did not make them quite as big as 6 oz but they were still perfect!!
SO so glad you loved them, Janet. THANK YOU for taking the time to leave a review! I appreciate it so much.
Hi there! I am very excited to make this recipe! I am wondering if I can make the dough and then bake the cookies the next day? Would they still be good? or is it better to bake them and then serve them 2 days later? thank you!!
Hi, Sammy! These cookies can be made in advance, for sure! If you chill the dough overnight, you’ll just want to make sure to cover it really well in the fridge so it doesn’t dry out, then let it come to room temperature before baking the next day. (Otherwise the cookies won’t spread properly.)
Otherwise, you can bake them, freeze them, and thaw them!
Hi Emily,
Looking forward to trying this recipe. It looks incredible!!
Would you kindly clarify if it’s salted butter or unsalted butter.
Many thanks!
Hi Nancy! Either works in the recipe. Use unsalted if are salt sensitive, otherwise I usually use salted butter!
Hi Emily….I took a chance, and decided to go with salted butter. Pure PERFECTION! thanks so much!
Hooray! So glad you loved them!
Hello Emily, I had to let everyone know that it is an absolutely amazing cookie! WOW! WOW! WOW! I have tried a similar recipe before from another site and it just didn’t turn out, the way I would have expected it. Your recipe, hit it completely out of the park! I am at high altitude (over 3700ft), so I made a few adjustments to the recipe. For anyone in Western Canada, I took a chance and tested it with Cloud 9 Gluten free flour. It did not disappoint. AMAZING results!!
Thank you Emily 😊
Thank you so much for sharing your tips and for taking the time to leave such a kind review, Nancy! You are so appreciated!
So, so, so, sooooooo good!!! Even soft and delicious days later. My new go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe!
I’m so glad they were a win for you! I LOVE them so much! (Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review–I appreciate you so much!)