Giada De Laurentiss is one of America’s most famous celebrity chefs. She’s been on the Food Network for over two decades and has written several cookbooks that have made the New York Times bestseller list. She’s best known for her Italian recipes (a nod to her heritage—she was born in Rome), so you’d think her ideal last meal would involve a big bowl of pasta (it’s a staple for her, after all) or maybe a plateful of cannoli. Not so.

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Laurentiis revealed that her dream dish for the “Last Supper” is actually a cookie that she finds at one of New York’s most famous bakeries. We’re talking about Levain Bakery, which has made a name for itself since opening its first store on West 74 with its delicious treats, especially its legendary cookies.^th Street in 1995. The number has now grown to 14 additional locations, stretching from New York and beyond.

Laurentiis is just one of many famous fans who have confessed their love for Levain’s cookies (Blake Lively and Andy Cohen are among them too). The super-thick treats come in four basic flavors and measure about 1 inch tall and 4 inches wide. They weigh a whopping 6 ounces each—in other words, they’re huge. Giada’s favorite cookie? The decadent Chocolate Chip Dark Chocolate Cookie (yes, that’s “chocolate” listed twice), which Levain herself describes as “the ultimate chocolate chip cookie.”

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Giada De Laurentiis explains her love for this sweet treat—which she loves to buy at the OG branch of Levain Bakery—on her website Giadzy, writing, “This little French bakery on the Upper West Side is easy to miss, but trust me, the giant dark chocolate chip cookies are worth it. If I had to choose my last meal, it would be these cookies.” She also featured them in her column Giada’s Obsessions, hinting at Levain’s 2023 opening in Los Angeles: “These are my absolute favorite cookies. I can’t tell you how excited I was when they opened a bakery in LA. I literally always have them stocked up in my freezer.”

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But what exactly makes these cookies so worthy of praise? We know they’re significantly larger than regular cookies, but it’s their incredibly rich flavor that really sets them apart. As the name suggests, this one is created by combining two types of chocolate: an extra dark cocoa-flavored French cookie dough and a generous helping of semi-sweet chocolate chips. The result is a dense and chewy cookie, studded with pockets of gooey, chocolatey goodness. Anyone looking for tips on how to make extra chewy chocolate chip cookies should take the advice of one of America’s cooking queens and pick one up (or up to a dozen with one of Levain’s 12-packs). It’s sure to inspire you.

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