Levain Bakery Cookies

The Levain Bakery cookie weighs about 6 ounces and the inside is basically raw dough that has been heated just enough to set the outside into a thick crust. The first bite breaks through that crust into a warm, dense center that tastes like someone mixed butter and brown sugar and chocolate chips into cement and then barely baked it. I ordered a 4-pack shipped to my dorm because the nearest Levain location is 3 hours away. They arrived in a box with ice packs, individually wrapped, looking like small boulders of dough. When I warmed 1 in the microphone for 15 seconds the chocolate pooled and the edges crisped and the smell filled my room. My suitemate walked in and asked if I was baking. When I told her they were mail-order cookies she ordered her own box before finishing the one I gave her. Levain has figured out that the correct ratio of cooked to uncooked in a cookie is about 30/70. Violates every food safety instinct but produces a texture that regular cookies, the ones that spread flat and crisp all the way through, can't touch. The portion size is aggressive, each cookie is big enough to split between 2 people. I think the excess is part of the appeal because a 6-ounce cookie is a statement, not a snack. The chocolate walnut is the one I keep ordering because the walnut pieces are large enough to provide a crunch that interrupts the softness. That contrast in texture between the yielding dough and the resistant nut is what keeps me eating past the point of fullness. Keeping the menu to 4 or 5 flavors signals confidence in the recipes they already have.