Two at a Time Baking

When Erik and I went to NYC last year, my friend Lisa asked us to bring her back some cookies from Levain Bakery.  Always willing to take one for the team, I readily agreed.  I soon learned that Levain specialized in gigantic chocolate chip cookies, uniformly considered to be the best in NYC.  We picked some up on the morning that we were flying home and they are definitely the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever eaten.  A few weeks later, I watched the episode of Bobby Flay's Throwdown in which he took on, and lost to, the Levain Bakery women.  I knew that there were several copycat recipes on the internet.  Inspired by the Throwdown episode, I decided to give them a try.  I was quite pleased with the flavor (though no where near as good as Levain's, they were the best tasting chocolate chip cookies I ever made) but they spread a bit more than I had hoped.  So I made them again a few times, tweaked a few things in the recipe and I am very happy with this version, especially the sea salt.  Erik and I were both craving chocolate chip cookies today. I decided to make these and realized that I had never posted the recipe - so here it is.

Chocolate Chip Cookies, Levain Style
Makes eight 6 oz. cookies
Adapted from Cookie Madness

8 ounces (two sticks) unsalted butter, cold
0.75 cup granulated sugar
0.75 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs, beaten
3 cups bread flour (13.5 ounces)
0.75 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/3 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I used Trader Joe's)
1 1/3 cups walnut halves or pieces (not toasted)
sea salt

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2.  Beat butter and sugars on low just until they come together.  Don’t overbeat.
3.  Beat eggs in separate bowl, add to batter and beat just until incorporated.
4.  In a separate bowl, mix together flour, salt and baking soda.  When thoroughly mixed, add to batter and stir just until blended.
5.  Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts (I stir these in by hand).
6.  The dough should be neither sticky nor dry.  Divide batter into 6 ounce mounds (don't handle batter too much or shape mounds).   Sprinkle mounds with sea salt.
7.  Bake for 19-23 minutes until lightly brown on top.
8.  Cool on sheet for about 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
9.  Enjoy with a glass of cold milk!