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Our Easy & Ultimate Rocky Road Cookies recipe is one you’ll want to make over and over, especially if you love thick, fudgy chocolate cookies with gooey centers and gooey marshmallows, melty chocolate chips and crunchy nutty goodness in every bite! Levain bakery style yumminess!

Love Rocky Road delights? You’ll Love this Chocolate Cherry Pistachio Rocky Road Fudge, these Rocky Road S’more Brownies and this Heavenly Chocolate Rocky Road Candy

Why You’ll Love These Levain Bakery Rocky Road Cookies

Imagine taking a bite into a warm, gooey chocolate cookie with chunks of marshmallows, nuts, and chunks of chocolate in every bite. The combination of rich chocolate and velvety marshmallows is enough to satisfy any sweet tooth.
You can achieve this indulgent treat without spending hours in the kitchen! Yes you read that right! These cookies are super easy to make and if you’re using cold butter, there’s not chilling of the cookie dough necessary and with the temperature of the oven, you’ll bake these quickly so you get super thick cookies!
If you love rocky road ice cream like I do, you’ll definitely love the texture and flavors of these chocolate cookies!
These delectable treats are the perfect blend of chewy and crunchy, and they’re sure to become a new household favorite.
Impress your friends and family with this simple yet impressive rocky road cookie recipe. Get ready to elevate your cookie game and get ready to be everyone’s new favorite baker.

What are Levain Cookies?

This famous bakery in New York City is known for its giant, melt-in-your-mouth cookies that are crispy on the edges and gooey in the middle. And you know what their secret is? The Levain-style baking method! Baking the cookies one sheet at a time and not leaving them in the oven for too long.

This baking technique, popularized by the iconic Levain Bakery in New York City, has taken the cookie world by storm. It involves using cold dough to create an indulgent treat that is unlike any other.

This cookie has a perfect crispy outside and a really gooey center. It’s baked at a high heat and piled up high, so the outside gets crispy while the inside stays gooey and creates pools of chocolate in the dough. It’s the ultimate indulgent experience, and it’s all thanks to the Levain-style baking method. But don’t worry, you don’t have to travel to New York City to taste this heavenly creation. With just a few extra steps, you can make your own Ultimate Rocky Road Cookies right in your own kitchen.

So what are you waiting for? Put on your apron and get ready to embark on a baking adventure. With our easy-to-follow Levain recipe, you can recreate the iconic Levain-style cookies and impress your friends and family. And trust us, they won’t be able to stop at just one. But be warned – these Levain cookies are super addictive. Once you try this Levain Rocky Road Cookie recipe, you won’t be able to resist going back for more.

Ingredients You Need

best levain bakery copycat rocky road cookie recipe

1 stick unsalted butter, cold straight from the fridge, roughly chopped
1 cup brown sugar
1 large egg, cold
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sift if lumpy (I used Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder & Hershey’s 100% cocoa powder, but you can use one or the other or something similar.)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup rich semisweet chocolate chips, add more if desired on tops
½ cup nuts of choice, roughly chopped, add more if desired on tops (I used cashews, but you can use walnuts, almonds, peanuts, pecans, pistachios or a combination.
1 cup mini marshmallows, add more if desired on tops

Instructions How to Make Effortless Thick & Gooey Rocky Road Cookies

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line two baking trays with parchment paper.
In a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the cold butter and sugar until combined and creamy. Add egg. Continue beating mixture until just combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt to combine all the ingredients together evenly. Make sure you measure you flour and cocoa powder correctly, because by adding too much flour or cocoa powder will make the dough crumbly. Fluff up the flour, lightly spoon the flour into your dry-cup measurement, without packing it down, then scrape off the excess with a straight edge by using the handle of a spoon or knife.
Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and beat on a low speed until soft cookie dough forms.
Add all the chocolate chips, cashews and and beat briefly. Scoop out cookie dough using a large cookie scoop (¼ cup size or ⅓ cup size), then roll the dark chocolate cookie dough into balls with your hands to compact the cookie dough together.
Place the cookie dough balls on prepared oven trays, leaving room for the cookie to spread a little. If you want to add any of the chocolate chips, nuts and marshmallows to the tops, you can do it now and you can also do it after they’ve baked. I like to add some marshmallows to the tops after the cookies have baked and use a hand held blow torch to give them a roasted look. If you’re roasting, add marshmallows about 20 minutes or after the cookies have come out of the oven for best results and make sure not to over torch! 🙂
Bake cookies for 9-11 minutes. Leave cookies to cool completely for 30 minutes on your baking sheets so so they don’t fall apart when you transfer them to your mouth, as they firm up in this 30 minute window. They’ll still be warm and gooey, chewy chocolate cookies when you want to indulge. You’ll want to make sure they are completely cool before you put them in an airtight container though!

Ultimate Tips for Perfect Thick Chocolate Rocky Road Cookies

Using cold butter yields thick cookies and helps the Levain rocky road cookies not to spread as much.
Using a high oven temperature bakes the cookies just perfectly, with a slight crispy outside and gooey, fudgy middle on the inside and help the cookies not to spread.
Make sure your measure your dry ingredients for the best results for this rocky road cookie recipe. Adding too much flour or cocoa powder will result in dry, crumbly cookies. If this happens, you can add a little milk to the cookie dough to moisten it.
Don’t overmix the cookie dough, just mix it enough to scoop it onto your cookie sheets then use your hands to roll them into balls. Add any extra goodies to the cookie tops if you want. I like to add some marshmallows to the tops after the cookies have baked and use a hand held blow torch to give them a roasted look. If you’re roasting, add marshmallows about 20 minutes or after the cookies have come out of the oven for best results and make sure not to over torch! 🙂
Make sure to let cookies cool on the baking sheets for 30 minutes so they set up, before transferring them off the cookie sheet using a metal spatula. If you want, you can place them on a wire rack to cool completely.

How to Store Rocky Road Cookies

Keep cookies in an airtight container at room temperature once they’ve cooled completely for up to 2-3 days.

In conclusion, these easy thick Levain chocolate rocky road cookies are a must-try for any chocolate lover. From the rich and decadent chocolate base to the gooey marshmallows and crunchy nuts, these cookies are truly a treat to indulge in. Not only are they delicious, but this rocky road cookie recipe is also simple to make and requires minimal ingredients.

Experiment with different add-ins and flavors to make these cookies your own signature treat. Enjoy these irresistible & ultimate chocolate rocky road cookies. Happy baking!

More Thick Cookies

Ultimate Levain Rocky Road Cookies

Kim Lange

Our Easy & Ultimate Levain Rocky Road Cookies recipe is one you’ll want to make over and over, especially if you love thick, fudgy chocolate cookies with gooey centers and gooey marshmallows and crunchy nutty goodness in every bite!

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Prep Time 15

Cook Time 11

Course Dessert

Servings Large Cookies

Calories

Ingredients

1 stick cold unsalted butter straight from the fridge, roughly chopped
1 cup brown sugar
1 large cold large egg
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder sift if lumpy (I used Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder & Hersheys 100% cocoa powder, but you can use one or the other or something similar)
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips add more if desired on tops
½ cup nuts of choice roughly chopped, add more if desired on tops (I used cashews, but you can use walnuts,almonds, pecans, pistachios or a combination.
1 cup mini marshmallows add more if desired on tops

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line two baking trays with parchment paper.
In a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the cold butter and sugar until combined and creamy. Add egg. Continue beating mixture until just combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt to combine all the ingredients together evenly. Make sure you measure you flour and cocoa powder correctly, because by adding too much flour or cocoa powder will make the dough crumbly. Fluff up the flour, lightly spoon the flour into your dry-cup measurement, without packing it down, then scrape off the excess with a straight edge by using the handle of a spoon or knife.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and beat on a low speed until soft cookie dough forms.
Add all the chocolate chips, cashews and and beat briefly. Scoop out cookie dough using a large cookie scoop (¼ cup size or ⅓ cup size), then roll into balls with your hands to compact the cookie dough together.
Place the cookie dough balls on prepared oven trays, leaving room for the cookie to spread a little. If you want to add any of the chocolate chips, nuts and marshmallows to the tops, you can do it now and you can also do it after they've baked. I like to add some marshmallows to the tops after the cookies have baked and use a hand held blow torch to give them a roasted look. If you're roasting, add marshmallows about 20 minutes or after the cookies have come out of the oven for best results and make sure not to over torch! 🙂
Bake cookies for 9-11 minutes. Leave cookies to cool completely for 30 minutes on your baking sheets so so they don’t fall apart when you transfer them to your mouth, as they firm up in this 30 minute window. They'll still be warm and gooey when you want to indulge. You'll want to make sure they are completely cool before you put them in an airtight container though!