If you’re looking for a great recipe for high altitude chocolate chip cookies that are soft and chewy, then look no further! This is a classic chocolate chip cookie recipe developed specifically for high altitude bakers. So no fear of a flat cookie that spreads all over your baking sheet. These cookies are thick and chewy, soft for days after baking, perfectly salty and sweet, and loaded with chocolate chips.
What’s special about this cookie recipe is that instead of creaming softened butter with the sugar and other ingredients, you’ll simply be mixing in melted butter and stirring the dough completely by hand. The chocolate chip cookie dough only needs a brief time to cool and chill before it’s ready to bake, so you’ll have a fresh batch of warm, gooey cookies in less than an hour!
You might also love these caramel stuffed chocolate chip cookies, white chocolate chip chocolate cookies, and brown butter chocolate chip cookies.
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A Perfect Cookie for High Altitude
Have you ever eaten a chocolate chip cookie that was so amazing that it stands out in your mind above all others? A truly great chocolate chip cookie is the consummation of of butter, sugar, flour, eggs and chocolate, brought into perfect harmony. And maybe I’m alone in this preference, but I’d far rather eat a chocolate chip cookie that’s cooled off and set up after several hours than one that’s warm and gooey just minutes out of the oven.
A person could spend a lifetime trying to perfect a recipe for chocolate chip cookies, since “perfection” is so subjective. Browned butter, brown sugar or white sugar, milk chocolate or dark chocolate, a little or a lot salty, crispy, chewy, soft, or a little of everything… Perfect means something different to everyone. So maybe there really is no definition of a perfect chocolate chip cookie, simply one that’s perfect to you.
High altitude bakers know that you can’t just take any cookie or cake recipe and expect it to turn out at high altitude. So my high altitude chocolate chip cookies recipe is developed specifically for bakers looking for a dependable, great-tasting and great-looking chocolate chip cookie. I’ve carefully tested the amounts of sugar and flour to perfect the ratio of ingredients for a cookie that bakes up just right, without spreading too much and ending up flat. Also, the times I’ve noted for cooling the dough (which is made with warm melted butter) and chilling the dough balls should be followed carefully for perfect results.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- Unsalted Butter. Adds richness, moisture and flavor to the cookies.
- Granulated Sugar + Dark Brown Sugar. Adds sweetness and moisture, as well as subtle hints of caramel and molasses from the brown sugar.
- Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
- Egg. Gives the cookies structure and leavens the dough a little.
- All-Purpose Flour. Adds structure and stability so the cookie doesn’t spread too much.
- Corn Starch. A small amount of corn starch tenderizes cookie dough for soft, chewy cookies.
- Coarse Kosher Salt. A good amount of salt is essential in chocolate chip cookies to enhance the flavor of the chocolate and balance the sweetness.
- Baking Soda. Leavens the dough.
- Chocolate Chips. Choose your favorite chocolate chips for these cookies, whether they’re milk, semi-sweet or dark.
TIP: For extra crunch and flavor, add a handful of chopped nuts, especially pecans, hazelnuts, walnuts and macadamia nuts. I also really enjoy a little spice in my cookies, and I’ll often add a pinch of cinnamon and espresso powder.
Instructions
Beat the wet ingredients (by hand).
- In a bowl, combine the melted butter with the granulated sugar and brown sugar. Use a wooden spoon to mix vigorously for 2 minutes.
- Stir in the egg and vanilla until smooth.
Stir in the dry ingredients.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, corn starch, salt and baking soda.
- Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, stirring just until no more flour remains.
Cool the cookie dough, then add the chocolate chips.
- Let the dough sit at room temperature to cool for 10 minutes. I like to spread the dough out against the sides of the bowl to make sure it cools all the way through, and doesn’t stay warm in the middle. This step is important, or the warmth from the melted butter will melt the chocolate chips and make a mess.
- Stir the chocolate chips into the cooled dough. The dough will be thicker now than it was before cooling.
Shape and chill the dough balls.
- Divide the dough into 12 portions for medium-sized cookies and 24 portions for small cookies.
- Shape each portion into balls, and flatten slightly with the palm of your hand. If you don’t flatten the cookies, they’ll bake unevenly with puffed centers, and may not spread out quite enough.
- Refrigerate the dough balls for 25 minutes – no more, no less. I’ve tested this recipe with various chill times, and 25 minutes is the perfect amount to firm the butter back up before baking the cookies.
Bake the cookies.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place the chilled dough 2 inches apart on the baking sheet.
- Bake the cookies on the center oven rack for 9 minutes (for medium cookies) or for 6 1/2 – 7 minutes (for small cookies). The cookies should still be very pale, with the edges set and the centers still underdone.
- Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a mixer to make these cookies?
You sure don’t! You can easily make this recipe with just a bowl and spoon.
Why does this recipe use melted butter instead of softened butter?
By using melted butter, you won’t need to use a mixer to cream the butter and sugar, since you can easily mix the dough by hand. Also, though, I’ve tested the two methods multiple times, and as it turns out, creaming butter and sugar doesn’t do anything special for cookies. You will get identical results by starting with melted butter.
Why do my cookies always turn out flat at high altitude?
Flat cookies that spread out too much are the bane of a high altitude baker’s existence. The usual culprit is too much sugar and too little flour, both of which need to be adjusted for high altitude cookie recipes.
What does the corn starch in the cookie dough do?
Corn starch – just a little – tenderizes cookie dough for a soft, chewy cookie.
Are these cookies crunchy, or soft and chewy?
This is a very soft, chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe.
Why didn’t my cookies spread out enough?
If you don’t flatten the dough balls a little with your hand, your cookies might not spread enough. Chilling them for too long, too, might prevent them from spreading. Also, if you scoop too much flour (by using the measuring cup to scoop the flour and pack it in, rather than lightly spooning it into the measuring cup and leveling it off), then the excess flour will make a more dense dough that doesn’t spread enough. That said, though, these cookies aren’t supposed to spread a lot, but just enough. If you prefer a slightly flatter cookie, you can try reducing the flour by 1-2 tablespoons, and/or skipping the chill time.
What kind of chocolate chips should I use?
I prefer using dark chocolate chips, or a mix of dark and semi-sweet. If you love milk chocolate, though, use those! When I really want to splurge, I might chop a few bars of good quality dark chocolate instead of using chips.
What’s a good finishing salt to sprinkle on top of the cookies?
I love to use Maldon, which is a flaky sea salt.
How do you make perfectly round cookies?
There’s a technique called “cookie scooting”, and it’s genius! Immediately after taking a pan of cookies out of the oven, take a round cookie cutter or biscuit cutter (it needs to be slightly larger than the circumference of the baked cookies), and “scoot” it around the hot cookie. This pulls in any uneven edges to form a beautiful, perfectly round cookie. Watch the video by Cloudy Kitchen to see the technique in action.
Can I add nuts or spices?
Of course! My favorite nut to add is pecans, which add great crunch and flavor, but any nuts will do, especially hazelnuts, walnuts and macadamia nuts. I also really enjoy a little spice in my cookies, and I’ll often add a pinch of cinnamon and espresso powder.
You Might Also Like
Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies 
Caramel Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies 
White Chocolate Chip Chocolate Cookies 
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars
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Best Ever High Altitude Chocolate Chip Cookies
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet.
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 tsp corn starch
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 cup dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a bowl, combine the melted butter with the granulated sugar and brown sugar. Use a wooden spoon to mix vigorously for 2 minutes.
- Stir in the egg and vanilla until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, corn starch, salt and baking soda. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, stirring just until no more flour remains. Let the dough sit at room temperature to cool for 10 minutes.
- Stir the chocolate chips into the cooled dough. The dough will be thicker now than it was before cooling.
- Divide the dough into 12 portions for medium-sized cookies and 24 portions for small cookies. Shape into balls, and flatten slightly with the palm of your hand. Refrigerate the dough balls for 25 minutes – no more, no less.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place the chilled dough 2 inches apart on the baking sheet. Bake the cookies on the center oven rack for 9 minutes (for medium cookies) or for 6 1/2 – 7 minutes (for small cookies). The cookies should still be very pale, with the edges set and the centers still underdone.
- Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
I made this recipe twice… both times substituting a 1/2 cup of the flour for oat flour. I did not use corn starch either time. The cookies did not flatten/spread at all. Do you think they didn’t flatten because of the oat flour? They did taste yummy anyway.
Carole,
Oat flour absorbs more moisture than all-purpose flour, and probably prevented the cookies from spreading.
Thank you! I love this recipe! I live at 7000 ft and it made the perfect cookies. I used dark chocolate chips and added in an extra 1 cup of Reese’s pieces. Sooo good! The batch made 12 jumbo cookies (100g portions) and they baked for 15 minutes. I’ll be making these again and again.
I’m so glad to hear it!
Thank you so much from one curly haired Coloado baker to another. I have now made this recipe 4x… The first time I made it they came out like shiny bits love love and goodness… For some reason I can’t get back to that first recipe.
Question do you chill the pan when chilling the cookies? I have been, is that right or wrong?
Thank you so much!
I’m so glad you love them! I make them all the time, and my family never gets tired of them. Usually I just place all the flattened dough balls close together on a plate or baking sheet to chill them, then transfer what I want to bake to a baking sheet, although sometimes I do chill them directly on the baking sheet.
I made this. Recipe according to the directions. My cookies did not spread out at all either.
Katie, there are a few things that could prevent your cookies from spreading.
1. If you measured too much flour (by scooping the flour with the measuring cup which packs too much flour in, rather than spooning it in and leveling it off), then even a little excess flour could make the dough more dense and prevent the cookies from spreading.
2. Be sure you are flattening the dough balls, since they won’t spread without that step.
3. It could also be that your refrigerator is set to a colder setting, chilling the dough more than mine does,so you could try skipping the chill time completely before baking.
Would I be able to make these at a non high altitude?
Sure, but you’ll need to adjust for your altitude, or they probably won’t spread enough for you. This is a helpful article: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/learn/resources/high-altitude-baking
I’ve been trying to bake decent chocolate chip cookies at high altitude for over 25 years now, but hands down, this recipe is the best thing I have ever baked! I live at 5900 ft and didn’t change a thing. Thank you for being so detailed and specific in your instructions as I believe that’s a differentiator. So glad I found you!
Denise, this makes me so happy! Thanks for taking the time to comment. 🙂
Is the batter supposed to be super crumbly in the bowl and then shape in your hand?
No, the dough isn’t dry or crumbly. Sometimes chocolate chips don’t stick to dough until you squeeze together handfuls of dough, but the dough itself isn’t crumbly. It sounds like you might have measured too much flour, which can happen if you scoop the flour with your measuring cup rather than spooning it in and leveling it off.
Can I freeze the uncooked, slightly flattened cookies and then only bake what I need/want whenever I want?
Yes, that will work. If you’re baking them while frozen, you’ll need to add a few more minutes of bake time.
I never leave comments, but these were worth the effort! I live in Peru at 10,000ft and these are amazing! The texture is like no other cookie I’ve made here. I didn’t have brown sugar, only granulated golden kinda sugar so i did beat softened butter and the sugar to compensate for having only grainy sugar. I did have to add about 3TBS of extra melted butter later as they were too dry, but they came out amaazing. I used a chocolate bar chopped up. Wish I’d remembered to add Pecans as I originally planned. Thank you!!!
These are so good with pecans! Your cookie dough was probably a little dry since you didn’t use brown sugar, which adds more moisture to the cookies than granulated sugar. I’m glad it worked out with the extra butter.
OMG just made these last night…..AMAZEBALLS! So good! Your instructions totally worked! I’ve never used cornstarch in my cookies before, made a big difference. Thank you!!!
I’m so glad you love them! These are on constant repeat at my house. 🙂
These are amazing cookies!! I’m at 7000ft in CO and they came out perfectly. Instead of using melted butter, I thoroughly creamed room temp butter and the sugars and then cut down on fridge time before baking. I’ll definitely be making these again!
Another delicious recipe! Thank you!
These cookies are absolutely delicious! I can’t believe how good they are. I split the dough in half and made chocolate chip cookies and butterscotch-white chocolate cookies! They turned out amazing.
FINALLY a recipe that truly works in high elevation! I was giving up hope of ever baking a chocolate chip cookie that wasn’t pancake thin. With some skepticism I followed recipe exactly and was totally rewarded. These cookies are perfect in every way — appearance, taste, and complete satisfaction. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe.
I’m so glad you love them! 🙂