Levain Bakery's cookies are the stuff of legend. The softball-sized treats continually make "Best of New York" lists, have inspired copycat recipes all over the Internet (including here), and they take up the bulk of the 20,000+ Instagram posts tagged #LevainBakery.
Given the fandom—and perpetual lines outside the store—you may be wondering what the deal is with these cookies, and whether they're any better than any you can find at your local grocery store. Thankfully, FYI's Food Porn took us behind the bakery, showing us how its chocolate chip walnut cookies are made (see every gloriously gooey detail in the video above!), and we did some research to find out what, exactly, sets these treats apart.
1. There's a Specific Reason Why They're So Massive.
Every ball of cookie dough is weighed before it's placed on baking sheets to make sure it clocks in at 6 ounces. Founders Constance McDonald and Pamela Weekes found that's the maximum size the cookies can get to stay crisp on the outside and gooey—to the point of being like molten dough—on the inside.
Any larger and the outside starts to burn, they told Food Porn.
2. They Invented the Cookies to Fuel Them During Workouts.
Cookies as fitness food? Sort of. While McDonald and Weekes trained for an Ironman, they often found themselves starving afterward. The conversation quickly turned to food, and before long, the pair set out to make what they deemed the world's best chocolate chip cookie. McDonald says it isn't something she has every day, "but sometimes I swear it speaks to me!"
3. You Don't Want to Know How Many Calories Are in One.
While we haven't heard exactly how many calories are in these massive cookies, Calorie Count and MyFitnessPal estimate each one to be between 538 and 606 calories. That's more than a Quarter Pounder from McDonald's.
4. You Can Use the Cookie Cam to Scope Out the Lines.
Lines snaking out of the front of the store—at all three locations—and around the block are so commonplace that the bakery installed a webcam at each one. The live feed helps you see how busy the shop is before you make a detour. (Tip: Head there in the early morning on a weekday. Lines are craziest on weekends, from what we've heard.)
5. There's One Secret They're Not Spilling.
Even the New York Times couldn't get Weekes and McDonald to explain how they keep their cookies from spreading while baking. In our testing, we've learned that chilling the cookie dough for 20 or so minutes beforehand can definitely help, along with using high-quality butter (not margarine).
6. This Flavor's the Most Popular.
Levain offers four cookie flavors—dark chocolate chocolate chip, dark chocolate peanut butter chip, oatmeal raisin and chocolate chip walnut—but the overwhelming bestseller is chocolate chip walnut, the founders say. Each one will set you back $4.
7. They've Got a Serious Celebrity Following.
Oprah's named the cookies one of her Favorite Things, Neil Patrick Harris deemed them his New York obsession, Taylor Swift couldn't resist 'gramming them, and Ellie Kemper said the bakery's the first place she'd take someone visiting New York for the first time (sorry, Freedom Tower and Statue of Liberty). That's just to name a few, though we're not sure how often you'd catch an A-lister—or, okay, even a C-lister—waiting in line for a cookie.
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