Tag: Levain Bakery
In the Big Apple, Dim Sum & Then Some…Levain Chocolate Chip Cookies

In the Big Apple, Dim Sum & Then Some…Levain Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Yay. Back to my second favorite city in the world…New York.  In the immoral words of Tony Bennett, I left my heart in San Francisco and it will always be first.  But wow, New York, I love you.  Every time I return to this amazing city I am in awe of its energy.  The number of people that converge to live, work and play in Manhattan, all at the same time, is intimidating but oh so amazing.  Blaring horns, wailing sirens, screeching tires, rumbling subways trains, people yelling, music playing, dogs barking, the sounds of vibrant, urban life.

Home Away From Home

We are staying in LES (Lower Eastside) which exemplifies NYC.  We are within walking distance of neighborhoods that represent every economic strata.  Much like San Francisco, it is not unusual to walk a couple of blocks in any direction and see, homeless folks on the streets, millennials with their backpacks or totes making their way to the FiDi, the down and out struggling with addiction, to folks decked out in designer wear enjoying a latte and 8 dollar croissant.

The Daily Grind

We walk Moose to Chinatown to pick up breakfast, rice roll noodles filled with bbq pork and veggies, slathered with chili oil, peanut sauce, and hoisin.  Sitting on a stoop we wash it down with Milk Tea.  The next morning a walk down Ludlow finds us at my favorite spot, BBF. I pick up a coffee and an onigiri (a generous, warm ball of rice topped with pork belly or mushrooms). Our daily walks, navigating the streets through the LES, Chinatown, Ukranian Village, and Little Italy, are all reminiscent of growing up in San Francisco.

Left top corner BBQ Pork Pineapple & Siu Mai Bun Mei Lai Wah 🥟🥟 🥟 🥟 Clockwise dim sum assortment from Royal Seafood, Big Chicken Bun Royal again 🥟🥟 🥟

I LOVE it.  Faced daily with the spectrum of life, good and bad, keeps me somewhat grounded.  I am keenly aware of how lucky I am to enjoy a life built by the hard work and struggles of those who came before me.  Dad, a Paper Son, came to this country at 16.  Gung Gung left his family in China looking for a way to support them.  Mom, the eldest of 6 kids, started her hair salon at 17 but continued to study to become a businesswoman and real estate broker.  All their hard work focused on the future and a better life.

In Search Of…

We headed to midtown today, in search of shoes.  In particular, Hokas. I have developed plantar fasciitis, so to keep doing what I love best in Manhattan, WALK.  I am searching for new shoes. Plus I can hardly shirk my Moose-walking duties since that is my “excuse” for spending time in the Big Apple.  Mission accomplished, my foot feels infinitely better in my new shoes.  This calls for a celebration…we head to the nearest Levain Bakery for one of their scrumdidilyumptious chocolate chip cookies.

On our last visit we sampled CCC in NYC, so you wouldn’t have to (tough job, somebody’s got to do it).  Our winners included Levain’s, best described as a ginormous chocolate-filled, scone-like warm cookie, and Jacques Torres’s, classic CCC and oh-so-delicious. Not surprisingly, the chocolate in his cookies is amazing.

Levain Blueberry Muffin 🥟🥟 🥟 🥟 Chocolate Chip Cookie 🥟🥟 🥟 🥟 +

The hubs tried Levain’s popular Blueberry Muffin to compare it to Hummingbird’s version, which we make at home, and honestly, our homemade one is just as good if not better.  This got me thinking, is there a recipe out there for Levain’s CCC to try so I could avoid spending 5 dollars for a cookie, lol?

Pancake Princess to the Rescue

I turned to a favorite site, Princess Princess to search for a Levain knock-off.  Not familiar with Pancake Princess?  Best described as a one-woman version of America’s Test Kitchen.  She will test a slew of different recipes, in this case, Levain CCC knock-offs, and invite tasters to help her select the best of the bunch.  Her top two included Stella Parks’s from Serious Eats, and one from Hijabs and Aprons.  I perused both and decided to try Hijabs and Aprons as they looked easier and did not require resting the dough for 12 hours before baking (total dealbreaker).

It’s a good thing I picked the simpler recipe…rummaging through our home away from home kitchen, I found a gorgeous red ceramic bowl, one big spoon and a rubber spatula, a small cookie sheet, and a tiny (almost worthless) whisk.  I get the feeling very little baking goes on here.

Tips for Baking in a Tiny, No Baking Tools Kitchen

Here we go, I made sure my butter was room temp soft but not melty since I only had a spoon. Then, ran downstairs for Guittard chocolate chips (ya gotta have decent chips), a tiny bag of Gold Medal AP Flour (4 dollars!), vanilla extract, and dove in.

Muscle through beating the butter and sugars (unless you are lucky enough to have a mixer handy in which case, don’t overbeat),  Add eggs and vanilla, then sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt over the creamed mixture.  Fold the dry ingredients in and add chocolate chips and nuts last.  Voila’ that’s it. It took significantly longer than if I had a mixer but I got an arm workout, yay. Use classic chocolate chips, not chunks, and don’t bother cutting up a chocolate bar.  These cookies depend on a nice, even distribution of chips throughout the cookie.

The OG cookies call for walnuts but feel free to use pecans or another nut.  If you like that tannic bite from walnuts, don’t substitute.  Best to make these cookies as directed, BIG, 5-6 ounces of dough.  The cookies will be crisp with browned edges on the outside but moist and buttery on the inside.  You can make them smaller but the difference between the exterior and interior won’t be as pronounced.

When scooping out dough, don’t smooth the dough into a ball.  The craggy edges give the cookie character so plop the dough on the sheet, and keep the overall shape round.

Bake until the edges are a nice deep golden brown.  Serve WARM, really, so much better warm and gooey.  I zap next-day cookies in the microwave for a few seconds to warm them up before eating.

These easy-to-make cookies will satisfy your Levain CCC craving anytime!

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Levain Style Chocolate Chip Coookies with Walnuts

From Hijabs & Aprons, a delicious Chocolate Chip Cookie that comes oh so close to Levain's famous Chocolate Chip Cookies with Walnuts.
Course cookies, desserts
Cuisine American
Keyword chocolate chip cookies, chocolate chips, Levain Bakery
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 16 minutes
Servings 8 cookies

Ingredients

  • ½ cup butter, slightly softened 112g
  • 1 cup light brown sugar 200g
  • ¼ cup granulated sugar 50g
  • 2 eggs cold
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2½ cups all-purpose flour, sifted 300g. (Gold Medal works)
  • 1½ tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp fine sea salt or 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 2 cups walnuts, roughly chopped 250g , if omitting walnuts, you can add roughly 50g extra AP flour
  • 2 cups dark chocolate chips 325g Use a dark or semi-sweet that you like, I like Guittard’s chips

Instructions

  • Preheat your oven to 375ºF. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
  • In a medium sized bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
  • Beat the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until creamy smooth (about 3 minutes).
  • Add the first egg and beat on low-medium speed until fully incorporated. Repeat with the second egg. Add vanilla. MIxture will be soft and creamy
  • Add flour mixture to the mixing bowl. On low speed, pulse a few times to blend flour into creamed mixture. Low speed to prevent flour from exploding in your face.
  • Stir in the walnuts and chocolate chips.
  • Form and place eight 6-ounce rough/messy balls of cookie dough into your lined baking sheet. If you have a scale, weigh the dough then divide into 8-12 cookies. Each one will be approximately 4-6 ounces, as a general goal/guideline. Also, if the edges of the cookie dough ball are rough/not smooth, that’s better. I use 2 tablespoons In my experience, if you like craggly crispy tops, it’s best if you barely mush it together and smack it onto the pan.
  • At this point, if your dough seems like it has softened due to your kitchen's temperature or too much handling with hands, refrigerate the dough-balls for about half an hour before baking. Because of the relatively high flour content in this recipe, the dough tends to be pretty stiff and doesn’t require chilling.
  • Pop the pan(s) into the oven for 12-16 minutes. This time variation depends on your oven (I’m using conventional top and bottom heat, not convection) as well as whether or not you chilled your dough (and for how long). I recommend checking (look, don’t touch) the cookies every minute after hitting the 11 minute mark. Ideally, you want patches of deep golden brown and lighter golden brown.
  • No matter what, you need to let these cookies set! Similar to steak, you’ve gotta take the cookies out while they’re technically a bit undercooked, and let them finish cooking in the still-hot pan in order to achieve the cooked-but-gooey center. The amount of walnuts/chocolate chips will make it hard to really check the inside without just breaking a cookie in half.
  • If you need to reuse your baking sheet for the second batch of 4-cookies, you can do so. Just make sure the pan is clean of grease and has cooled down before you place the dough-balls on it.

Notes

FREEZING DOUGH: If you’d like to freeze the dough for later use, go right ahead! To be completely honest, I don’t know how long the dough stays good in the freezer (at least a month for sure from my own experience). Wrap the dough balls individually in plastic wrap and freeze them. You can thaw them for about 20-30 minutes prior to placing on a parchment lined sheet and baking them.
SMALLER COOKIES: The only alternative size I’ve tried for these cookies is 3oz (half of my original). I would bake them at 375ºF for 10-12 minutes. Again, the time will depend on the oven. When baking a single chilled dough ball in my toaster oven, 375ºF for 11 minutes is perfect. Any more time and the center is overbaked.
Blueberry Muffins-Humming a New Tune

Blueberry Muffins-Humming a New Tune

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My first stop at the farmers market is the blueberry stand.  I love those little blue gems and find myself adding them to salads, eating them out of hand, and feeding them to Moose (Jamie’s dog, not actual moose).  But my favorite thing?  Baking blueberry pastries like snacking cakes, hand pies, cobblers, and of course, MUFFINS!  A couple of weeks ago I made Smitten Kitchen’s Blueberry Muffins, easy and pretty darn tasty BUT I just found another recipe and it might just beat out SK’s (sorry Deb).  From Michelle Lopez’s blog, Hummingbird High, her version of Levain Bakery’s Blueberry Muffins.  Bursting with blueberries, tender, and a bit cakier in texture,  with a fine crumb texture and a fantastic crunchy top.

If her version of Levain Bakery’s Blueberry Muffin is any indication of the scrumptiousness of Levain Bakery’s pastries-I am making a beeline there when I am in New York (which will be soon since I now have a kid living there-oh happy day).  I hear they have a decent Chocolate Chip Cookie too, lol.  This muffin is so good it prompted me to pull out her cookbook (of course I have it-Silly), Weeknight Baking.  Her recipes are easy to follow and she provides detailed info, even a novice baker will be successful.

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy

Pros and Cons

The Smitten Kitchen muffin gets the nod for quick and easy.  Melt butter and stir all the ingredients together.  How simple is that?  While good right after they come out of the oven, they tend to fall off the scrumptious curve quickly.  SK’s suggestion is to split, toast, and butter day-old muffins, I agree.

The batter is not as stiff or thick as SK’s batter but dense enough so the blueberries do not sink to the bottom.

Her homage to Levain Bakery’s muffin is delicious.  The muffins are moist, bursting with blueberries, and tender, thanks to the addition of almond flour.  The top is crunchy from the generous sprinkling of sugar which is crunchier if you use raw sugar.  With crispy edges and a classic pointy dome, it is an impressive muffin.  But, it is a bit more work than the SK version.  Butter is creamed with sugar and the batter should rest an hour before baking.  So if you are looking for a freshly baked morning treat..get up early for this blueberry bad boy.  The cake part of the muffin holds up well but the top loses its crunch after a day.  I use paper liners because…well, I’m lazy.  The original recipe does not use paper and notes that it changes the outside texture.  What are ya gonna do? 🤷🏻‍♀️

I’m keeping both muffin recipes in my repertoire, a quick fix muffin and the out-to-impress late-morning Sunday Brunch muffin. After all, you should always be prepared!  Make either of these recipes, they are guaranteed to chase away the blues-berries.

Mine did not have the super domed peak but that may be because I did not fill the muffin tin as much as Hummingbird High’s.  I ended up with 11 muffins.  Fill for 9 to get the domed top.  But they’re still “purdy” and tasty.

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Levain Bakery Blueberry Muffins

From Hummingbird High, fabulous blueberry muffins, her take on NYC's Levain Bakery
Course Breakfast, Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword Blueberry Muffins, Hummingbird High, Levain Bakery
Prep Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Servings 9 servings

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour 9 ounces or 255 grams
  • ½ cup almond meal or almond flour 1.75 ounces or 50 grams
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt

Wet Ingredients

  • ½ cup whole milk, at room temperature 4 ounces or 113 grams
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup granulated sugar 7 ounces or 198 grams
  • ½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature 4 ounces or 113 grams
  • 2 large eggs at room temperature
  • 2 ½ cups fresh blueberries, at room temperature 13 ounces or 369 grams
  • For the Garnish
  • 9 teaspoons granulated sugar If you want more crunch use raw or turbinado sugar

Instructions

  • In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, almond meal, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
  • In a small liquid measuring cup, whisk together the milk and the vanilla. Set aside.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the sugar and butter. Beat on medium-high until light, fluffy, and doubled in volume, 2 to 3 minutes, using a rubber spatula to scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl as necessary.
  • Reduce the mixer to low and add the eggs one at a time, adding the next egg only after the previous one is fully incorporated, scraping down the bottom and sides of the bowl after each addition.
  • With the mixer still on low, add the dry ingredients in three equal parts, alternating with the wet ingredients in two parts. Start & end with the flour mixture. Beat until just combined, then scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl once more then beat on low for an additional 30 seconds.
  • Take ½ cup of the blueberries and crush them with your hands so they are juicy; add to the batter and increase the mixer speed to high for 5 to 10 seconds to break up the berries to release their juices a bit more.
  • Reduce the mixer to low and add the rest of the berries, mixing until incorporated evenly throughout the batter, another 30 seconds.
  • Rest the batter. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the batter rest at room temperature for 1 hour.
  • While the batter is resting, position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 400℉ using the convect setting (if possible).
  • Prepare two muffin tins by spraying the inside and border of every other cavity in the muffin tin generously with cooking spray. I have USA pans that are non-stick, so I didn't to spray and the muffins were easy t remove.
  • Use a 1-Tablespoon or 3-Tablespoon cookie dough scoop to fill each sprayed cavity with 6 tablespoons of the batter. It will be a ot of batter in each. The first muffin tin will have six cavities filled, whereas the second muffin will have three cavities filled.
  • For the second muffin tin, pour water into every other cavity to mimic the placement of the batter in the first muffin tin. Sprinkle the top of each cavity, aiming for the batter and avoiding the pan, with 1 teaspoon of granulated sugar each. Don't skimp! It helps the top form.
  • Bake each muffin tin for 18 to 22 minutes, or until the muffins are domed and golden brown around the edges. A skewer inserted into the center of a muffin should come out with a few crumbs attached.
  • Cool the muffins in their muffin tin on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then use an offset spatula to run underneath the edges of the blueberry muffin tops to prevent them from sticking in the pan. Be careful to just run the offset spatula under the edges—you don't want to accidentally cut into the muffin bottom and decapitate the muffin from its top!
  • After unsticking the muffin tops, keep cooling the muffins in the tins completely to room temperature. DO NOT TRY AND TURN THE MUFFINS OUT WHILE THEY ARE STILL WARM. Because these muffins are so top-heavy, you'll run the risk of accidentally pulling the tops and bottoms apart if the cake is still warm! Wait until they are cooled completely before turning them out of the pan. Run the offset spatula underneath each muffin top once more and gently tilt the muffin upwards to turn it out of the pan.
  • Serve and store. Serve at room temperature. The muffins are best on the day that they're made, but can be individually wrapped in plastic and stored at room temperature for up to 2 days.