What is the Levain Bakery Fall Chocolate Chunk cookie?

It's Levain Bakery's seasonal fall cookie, available starting in September at their locations and online. It uses the same technique as all Levain cookies — cold butter creamed with sugar, shaped into giant 6-ounce mounds, and baked hot at 410°F — but the dough is built on dark brown sugar and molasses and warm fall spices (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, clove) with rich chocolate chunks instead of chips. It eats like a gingersnap and a chocolate chunk cookie fused into one thick, gooey monster.

Does Levain Bakery make a pumpkin chocolate chip cookie?

No. Levain's seasonal fall cookie is the Fall Chocolate Chunk — a spiced, molasses-based chocolate chunk cookie, not a pumpkin cookie. Levain does sell a separate Pumpkin Ginger Spice Cake in the fall, but there is no pumpkin in the cookie itself. If you specifically want a Levain-style pumpkin cookie, you'd be making an adaptation rather than copying an actual bakery product — this recipe recreates the real fall cookie they sell.

Why does this recipe use dark brown sugar and molasses?

They're the flavor. Dark brown sugar contains more molasses than light brown sugar, and the added 2 tablespoons of molasses on top of that give the cookie its deep, chewy, gingersnap-like backbone — the thing that makes it taste like Levain's fall cookie and not just a spiced chocolate chip cookie. Use unsulphured molasses (like Grandma's or Brer Rabbit mild), not blackstrap, which is too bitter and overpowers the spices.

Chunks or chips — does it matter?

It matters more than you'd think. Levain uses chocolate chunks (Valrhona), which are larger and irregular, so they melt into big molten pockets and veins rather than holding their shape like stabilized chips. For the closest result, use baking chunks or roughly chop a good dark chocolate bar (60 to 70%) into pieces. Chips will work in a pinch but give you a more uniform, less dramatic melt.

Can I use pumpkin pie spice instead of individual spices?

Yes. Substitute 2 1/2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice for the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Standard pumpkin pie spice (like McCormick) contains all four, and the ratio works well here. The individual spices give you more control — more ginger for punch, more cinnamon for warmth — but the blend is a perfectly good shortcut.

When is the Levain Fall Chocolate Chunk cookie available?

Levain offers it seasonally, typically from September through late fall, at their bakery locations and through their online shop while in season. Exact dates vary year to year, but it reliably appears when the weather turns. This copycat version can be made any time of year — the spices, molasses, and chocolate are all pantry staples.

How do I store Levain-style cookies, and can I freeze them?

Room temperature in an airtight container: up to 3 days. Microwave for 15 to 20 seconds or warm in a 300°F oven for 5 minutes to restore the gooey center. Freeze unbaked dough mounds on a sheet pan until solid, then transfer to a zip-lock bag — they keep for up to 3 months. Bake from frozen at 410°F, adding 2 to 3 minutes to the bake time. Baked cookies also freeze well; thaw at room temperature and reheat in the oven.

Levain Bakery Fall Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Name: Levain Bakery Fall Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 11 min
Total time: 36 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 cup cold unsalted butter (2 sticks / 225g), cut into small cubes — Cold is mandatory; it keeps the cookies tall. Softened or melted butter makes them spread flat.; 1 cup packed dark brown sugar (220g) — Dark, not light: the extra molasses in dark brown sugar is what gives this cookie its deep, chewy, spiced-caramel backbone.; 1/2 cup granulated sugar (100g); 2 large eggs, cold from the fridge; 2 tablespoons unsulphured molasses — Not blackstrap, which is bitter. This is the flavor that makes it taste like Levain's fall cookie and not just a spiced chocolate chip cookie.; 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract; 1 1/2 cups cake flour (180g) — The low protein gives the center its tender, almost molten crumb.; 1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (205g); 1 tablespoon cornstarch — Keeps the texture soft and slows gluten development.; 3/4 teaspoon baking soda; 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt; 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon; 1 teaspoon ground ginger; 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg; 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves; 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chunks (340g) — Chunks, not chips: Levain uses Valrhona chunks, which melt into larger molten pockets. Chop a good dark bar if you don't have chunks.; Flaky sea salt for topping (optional but recommended)

Prep time: 25 minutes (plus a 15-minute chill) Cook time: 11 minutes Servings: 8 enormous cookies

Every fall, Levain Bakery adds a Fall Chocolate Chunk cookie to their short menu of classics — and it sells fast. At $5 a cookie, the price reflects the bakery address and the Valrhona chocolate baked into every one. This copycat brings the same giant, warmly spiced, gooey-centered result home for about a dollar each.

A quick correction, because people search for it constantly: Levain’s fall cookie is not a pumpkin cookie. It’s a spiced chocolate chunk cookie built on dark brown sugar and molasses, with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and clove. (They sell a Pumpkin Ginger Spice Cake separately — but there’s no pumpkin in the cookie.) This recipe recreates the real thing.

Why Make It at Home?

Levain’s fall cookie is only available in the fall, only at their locations and online, and it goes quickly. Shipping a box costs nearly as much as the cookies themselves. This recipe makes 8 cookies for roughly $8 total — you get them warm out of your own oven in under an hour, and the molasses-and-spice aroma fills the kitchen in a way no mail-order cookie ever will.

The Two Rules of a Levain Fall Cookie

All Levain cookies share one foundational technique — cold butter creamed stiff, baked hot and fast — but the fall version adds a second rule for flavor:

Rule 1: Keep everything cold. Cold butter, cold eggs, a 15-minute chill after shaping, and a very hot oven (410°F). The cold dough sets the exterior fast enough to trap the gooey center. Warm butter spreads; cold butter builds height.

Rule 2: Dark sugar plus real molasses. Dark brown sugar carries more molasses than light, and the extra 2 tablespoons of unsulphured molasses on top give the cookie its deep, chewy, gingersnap-adjacent backbone. This is the single thing that separates a Levain fall cookie from an ordinary spiced chocolate chip cookie. Skip it and you’ve made something good but generic.

Tips & Variations

Nuts. A cup of toasted chopped pecans or walnuts folded in with the chunks is a natural companion to the warm spices — add them and reduce the chunks to 1 1/2 cups to keep the total volume consistent.
More spice. For a more forward fall flavor, add a half-teaspoon of espresso powder — it amplifies both the chocolate and the warm spices without tasting like coffee.
Maple. Replace the 2 tablespoons of molasses with 2 tablespoons of dark pure maple syrup for a lighter, rounder sweetness that still reads as fall.
Freeze the dough. Shape the mounds, freeze them solid on a sheet pan, then bag and store for up to 3 months. Bake from frozen at 410°F, adding 2 to 3 extra minutes. Having frozen Levain dough ready means you can bake one or two cookies at a time whenever the craving hits.

Levain Bakery is a trademark of its owner, used here only to describe the dish this recipe recreates. This is an independent copycat written in our own words — Copycat Spices is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Levain Bakery.

Levain Bakery Fall Chocolate Chunk Cookies

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