The cookies drawing the longest lines at trending bake shops are hefty in every way—some spanning nearly 5 inches in diameter and weighing in at a half-pound. Wrap up one or two of our copycats to make an enormously sweet gift.
by ERIN HOOKER photos CARSON DOWNING food styling CHARLIE WORTHINGTON
the big buckeye Everything about this cookie is over the top, including the calories—but who counts those at the holidays? A copy of Crumbl’s crowd-pleasing Buckeye Brownie Cookie, this decadent treat features a chocolate cookie topped with a layer of creamy peanut butter and silky chocolate ganache.
banana bread bliss Gideon’s Bakehouse at Disney Springs, FL, is known for thick, moist, seemingly barely baked cookies coated in toppings. Inspired by its Banana Bread Chocolate Chip cookie, our spin tastes exactly as you’d imagine banana bread as a cookie might. Instead of the chocolate chips, we rolled ours in banana chips, candied walnuts, and coconut.
in-the-pink sugars Crumbl’s pink-frosted classic sugar cookie is a semipermanent fixture on the menu—no doubt due to its broad appeal. Fans of frosting will appreciate the generous swirl of almond buttercream on top (nearly ¼ cup!), and sugar cookie purists will love the melt-in-your-mouth crumb.
chunky chocolate-walnut cookies NYC’s Levain Bakery is famous for its cookies, especially the Chocolate Chip Walnut, a 6-ounce mound of a cookie that’s crispy on the outside, gooey inside. Our secret ingredient for mimicking its height and texture is cornstarch in the dough—it does magical things to prevent spreading and promotes a soft, chewy center.
giant peppermint-chocolate cookies Another Levain favorite, the seasonal dark chocolate-peppermint cookie, inspired this riff. We turned down the chocolate flavor (cocoa and semisweet chips instead of dark chocolate) but intensified the mint by processing Starlight mint candies into a fine peppermint sugar that’s creamed with the butter in the dough.
lovely lemon-poppy seed cookies Surprise! Take a bite or cut these oversize citrus cookies in half, and you’ll find a cookie inside. We copied a monstrous, sandwich-cookie-stuffed creation called the Main Squeeze from a bakery in our own backyard, Iowa Cookie Co. We followed its lead with a lemon-poppy seed and white chocolate profile but gave it a translucent, puckery glaze to finish.
RECIPES BEGIN ON PAGE 159.
RECIPES BY MADALYN BENDGEN AND COLLEEN WEEDEN