The Dish: Levain recipe for brownie bites inspired by their original cookie

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- We know Santa loves cookies and if you're looking to sweeten him up this year, we've got the recipe for you!

Action News' Alicia Vitarelli visited a viral cookie chain that recently opened its doors here in Philadelphia: Levain Bakery.

In the words of Buddy The Elf, Levain's cookies are "ginormous."

The cookie is the size of your hand, weighing six ounces!

The two women who dreamed up the bakery almost 30 years ago met Vitarelli at their new Rittenhouse location to share a few secrets.

Pamela Weekes and Connie McDonald say their first cookie is their most famous. It's the chocolate chip walnut cookie.

It's crunchy on the outside and "ooey gooey on the inside."

"I think the nuts make it a little more savory," McDonald says.

"I never get tired of it," Weekes adds.

Their cookie story starts back in the 80s, when they were both training in the same swimming pool.

"We became fast friends," McDonald says. "We started doing a lot of triathlons together. One thing led to another and we ended up like opening a small bakery on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, which we thought was the goal."

That was in 1995. They then expanded to the Hamptons, and then across the country.

In October, they opened their 15th location in Philadelphia, at 15th and Walnut streets.

"We like to go places where we can become a part of the neighborhood, and where we think we can grow with the community, and hopefully, where we have some cookie fans," Weekes says.

"That's what we love about Philadelphia," McDonald adds. "You guys love your sports. You love to eat. We thought that you'd really love the cookies."

The cookies are so big because the ladies created them as personal treats and a reward for after rigorous workouts.

"We were training for, at one point, an Ironman Triathlon, and we wanted a good dessert," McDonald says.

And you don't have to eat the whole thing yourself.

"It's perfect to share," McDonald says. "It's so satisfying."

A fun fact about the company is that Levain started as a bread bakery.

"We're going to start with some brioche dough, which is a very like rich buttery dough," McDonald says, as she showed us how to make their famous chocolate brioche. "Instead of making croissants at the bakery, because you see a lot of croissants in the city and things, we decided to kind of do brioche instead."

After a trip to Paris, they decided to switch up the brioche and sell it in individual slices.

Turns out it was a brilliant move. The slices are a huge hit, and those slices have inspired many other bakeries to follow suit.

"You can fill your brioche rolls with anything you like," McDonald says.

The two friends work in tandem, dreaming up new flavors and deciding where to open the next Levain.

"We say that's our biggest achievement -- is that we're still friends," Weekes says.

"A lot of partnerships don't make it through the business part of this," McDonald adds.

The ladies couldn't share the secrets to their proprietary cookies or those brioche slices, but they did give us the recipe for their yummy brownie bites.

These brownie bites inspired by Levain's original and most famous cookie, the Chocolate Chip Walnut, are perfect for your holiday cookie exchange!

Levain Bakery's Brownie Bites Recipe

Cook Time - 40 minutes

Prep Time - 15 minutes

Yield - 16-25 small brownies

Ingredients

• 1 cup + 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, divided
• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided
• 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 medium eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup very roughly chopped large walnut pieces
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325F. Butter and flour 8"x8" baking dish (see note) using 1 tablespoon of the butter and 1 tablespoon of the all-purpose flour.

1. Add 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of flour to an 8"x8" baking dish (see note)

1. Melt chocolate and the remaining cup of butter in a medium saucepan on the stove over low heat. Stir well with a medium silicone spatula to combine thoroughly. Remove the chocolate and butter mixture from the heat once melted and combined, and immediately add white sugar to the pan, continuing to stir with a spatula until very well combined.

1. Remove the chocolate and butter mixture from heat once melted and combined, and immediately add white sugar to the pan, continuing to stir with a spatula until very well combined.

1. Beat eggs in a bowl with a whisk. Add the eggs and the vanilla to the chocolate mixture and continue to stir until combined. Gently stir in 1 cup of flour and the salt.

1. Toss walnuts and chocolate chips with the remaining 1 tablespoon of flour to coat. Gently stir in walnuts and chips into the brownie batter in the pan. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and bake for 40 minutes. Allow to cool thoroughly before cutting into bite-sized pieces.

1. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and bake for 40 minutes. Allow to cool thoroughly before cutting into bite-sized pieces.

1. Allow to cool thoroughly before cutting into bite-sized pieces.

Notes

For best results, be sure to bake Levain Bakery's brownie bites recipe in an 8"X8" baking pan (not a 9"x9" or other size) or else your brownies might overbake.