The Bakery Chain Ranked As Best According To Customers Uses Wholesome Ingredients

Unlike those bakery chains which rely on ultra-processed ingredients and production shortcuts, NYC-born Levain Bakery stands out by making its baked goods using quality ingredients and crafting them fresh by hand daily. Customers consistently say they can taste the difference, especially when it comes to Levain's 6-ounce, thick and gooey cookies. Its cookies are largely responsible for fueling the chain's loyal following as well as its internet virality; earning it the top spot in our bakery chain ranking.

The hefty structure and fresh taste of Levain Bakery cookies are only possible by using real butter (and a lot of it) along with other classic ingredients found in most home kitchens, like eggs, cane sugar, brown sugar, flour, leaveners, vanilla, and a generous helping of chocolate chips. Cheap, heavily processed substitutes commonly used in commercial bakeries include seed oils in place of butter, artificial thickeners and emulsifiers instead of eggs, high-fructose corn syrup instead of sugar, and caramel coloring to mimic the golden-brown exterior traditional baking ingredients naturally create.

Though baked goods made with a laundry list of ultra-processed ingredients can sometimes still be insanely good, it's hard to beat the taste of treats made using traditional ingredients instead, especially when it comes to cookies. For instance, Crumbl uses a significant amount of ultra-processed ingredients, yet we still love its semi-sweet chocolate chip cookies, which ranked the best-tasting in our in Crumbl cookie ranking. However, in countless cookie comparisons between Levain and Crumbl across social media and Reddit, Levain consistently comes out on top as customers describing it as tasting more real compared to Crumbl.

"Cookies are a 9 out of 10," said one TikTok reviewer sampling Levain Bakery's cookies from one of its Los Angeles locations. The reviewer tried Levain's signature cookie flavors — chocolate chip walnut, dark chocolate chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, and dark chocolate peanut butter chip. The reviewer described them with the same homemade flavor they've long been known for: "Crispy on the outside, gooey on the inside." They also noted the abundance of melted chocolate chips throughout.

Another TikTok reviewer, who delighted in Levain's seasonal dark chocolate peppermint cookie, said the flavor was like "very high-quality hot chocolate," and she wasn't wrong. Levain's cocoa-based cookie flavors, including its signature dark chocolate chocolate chip (which made it onto Giada De Laurentiis' last meal request) and the customer-favorite dark chocolate peanut butter chip, are made with French cocoa powder; a type of Dutch cocoa powder that's richer and more complex in flavor than standard cocoa powders.

By this point, there's a good chance you may be craving a Levain cookie — I know I am. Levain Bakery currently operates locations throughout New York, other parts of the East Coast, Chicago, and California. Whether you're near a location or not, you can easily recreate the cookies at home since most of the ingredients are likely already in your kitchen and there's no shortage of Levain Bakery copycat recipes online. Levain Bakery also offers nationwide shipping and same-day local delivery through its website, allowing customers to enjoy the bakery's cookies made with the same wholesome ingredients and handcrafted approach found in-store.