Levain Bakery: A Story of Friendship, Community, and Cookies — But no cookie recipes

As many were, I was excited to learn that Levain Bakery: A Story of Friendship, Community, and Cookies was set for publication. I shared the news on several roundups – “it is coming!” I declared. I pre-ordered the book directly from Levain Bakery which offered copies that were autographed and provided a page of stickers for the pre-order (they threw in a postcard as well).

I received the book late yesterday. There. Are. Five. Recipes. None of the se recipes are any type of cookie. Truthfully, I did not expect the book to contain their famous recipe – but I expected more in the recipe department.

This is a gorgeous book – beautiful cover, lovely photographs and stunning illustrations. Caveat, I have not read the entire book so there may be some tidbits about the cookie recipes in there – but as for actual recipes (I just indexed the book) – here they are:

• Whole wheat walnut raisin rolls
• Oatmeal raisin scones
• Raspberry bomboloncini
• Blueberry muffins
• Family style pizza

Levain Bakery will never be unpopular. It is a must stop destination in any town where a location is available: New York City (many locations), with several others in Washington D.C., Maryland, Illinois, Massachusetts, and California. They even sell frozen cookies at some Whole Foods and some delivery services. So, I feel that they could have shared some type of cookie recipe. Joanne Chang and Dominique Ansel share their recipes and they are as popular as ever.

The selection of recipes is lacking, in my opinion. Offering two raisin recipes – I feel like I have been a naughty girl at Christmas time. This is not to insult anyone that loves raisins – I do not. I realize I can leave the raisins out – but it is the principle of the thing. How about offering the recipe for their banana bread or even the lemon cookie. And for them to share a pizza recipe – it might be an incredible pizza – but come on girls – I am talking to you Connie and Pamela – throw us a cookie!

Levain will always have a place in my heart – but after having their cookies in Chicago and ordering them online – they were just not the same as that first cookie or two I enjoyed when I lived in New York. Maybe mass production has lessened the quality or perhaps it will never be as special as the first time – when picky me had the thrill of biting into a spectacular cookie.

The book is a time capsule of the phenomenon that is Levain Bakery – and I will treasure it for that but I will have to print out my copycat recipes and place them inside the covers. I have made several of these types of copycats with great success. I shared my results and recipe links in this post: Battle of the Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookie.