This high altitude recipe for classic peanut butter cookies makes the best cookies that are so soft and chewy, with a perfect salty sweet balance. The dough is also incredibly easy to make, with just a bowl and spoon, instead of a mixer. And since the dough doesn’t need to be chilled for very long, you’ll be enjoying freshly baked cookies in less than two hours!
Looking for more high altitude cookie recipes? Don’t miss these soft lemon cookies with white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts, chocolate white chocolate chip cookies, and caramel stuffed chocolate chip cookies.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
You can make these cookies plain, or with chocolate chips. And for a peanut butter blossom cookie, add a Hershey’s kiss on top, or a square of your favorite chocolate bar. I love to sprinkle mine with flaky finishing salt, which looks so pretty and tastes delicious. And if you don’t live at high altitude, don’t worry, this recipe is totally adaptable for low altitude and sea level bakers, too. If you’re looking for a flourless version, try my flourless peanut butter cookie recipe!
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- Unsalted Butter. Adds flavor, moisture and richness.
- Creamy Peanut Butter. I’ve used many kinds of creamy peanut butter when making cookies. If you use an all-natural peanut butter that needs the oil stirred in, you should increase the flour in this recipe by a couple of tablespoons.
- Dark Brown Sugar + Granulated Sugar. Sweetness.
- Egg + Extra Egg Yolk. Provides structure to the cookies, binding the dough together so it doesn’t crumble.
- Vanilla Extract + Cinnamon. Flavor.
- All-Purpose Flour. Thickens and strengthens the cookie dough.
- Corn Starch. Tenderizes the dough for a soft, chewy cookie.
- Oats. A handful of old-fashioned oats adds subtle texture and crunch.
- Baking Soda. Leavens the cookies so they puff up when they bake.
- Coarse Kosher Salt. Balances the sweetness and enhances the flavor of the peanut butter.
- Flaky Finishing Salt. Adds the perfect salty finish on top of the cookies.
Instructions
Melt the Butter and Peanut Butter.
- In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the peanut butter and stir until melted. Remove from the heat.
Stir in the Sugar, Eggs and Vanilla.
- Pour the melted butter and peanut butter into a mixing bowl.
- Stir in the brown sugar and granulated sugar, then stir in the egg, egg yolk and vanilla until well combined.
Add the Dry Ingredients and Chill the Dough.
- Separately, whisk together the flour, corn starch, oats, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Add the dry ingredients and stir the dough together until smooth.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour, to cool the butter back down and firm up the dough enough to scoop into balls.
Scoop the Cookie Dough into Balls.
- Use a cookie scoop to portion the dough into 2-dozen balls. Use the tines of a fork to slightly flatten each ball in a crisscross pattern.
- Place the dough balls back in an airtight container and freeze for 10 minutes while you preheat the oven.
Bake Your Cookies.
- Preheat the oven to 375 F, and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place the chilled dough balls 3 inches apart on the baking sheet and bake on the center oven rack for 8 minutes.
- Remove from the oven. If desired, lightly press a square of chocolate into the center of each cookie. Cool the cookies for 2 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Sprinkle the cookies with the flaky finishing salt.
- Once the cookies are cooled, the chocolate will still be quite melty. Go ahead and store the cookies in an airtight container, in a single layer, for several hours until the chocolate hardens again.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does high altitude affect baking cookies?
- The lower air pressure at high altitudes causes dough to rise faster. The structure of the baked goods then collapses, resulting in flat cookies, cookies that spread out too much, and cookies that are too sweet from the concentrated sugars.
- To compensate, cookie recipes for high altitude usually contain more flour, less sugar, and less leavening. Making these adjustments stabilizes the cookie dough, so we can make beautiful cookies that are soft, thick, and only spread out the perfect amount. I test all of my recipes at Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet.
Can I still make this recipe if I’m not at high altitude?
- Yes, you can! To adjust this cookie recipe for sea level or altitudes below 1,000 feet, I’d suggest reducing the flour by 2 tablespoons, and increasing the sugar by 2 tablespoons.
Will this cookie recipe work with gluten free flour?
- Yes, just use your favorite measure-for-measure gluten free flour instead of the all-purpose flour.
Why are my cookies dry and crumbly?
- If your cookies are too dry, then you’ve either over-baked them, or added too much flour. If you’re using the measuring cup to scoop your flour, then you’re likely packing too much flour into the scoop, resulting in a dry, dense cookie dough. Be sure to use the spoon and sweep method to measure your flour.
- Another reason is that most recipes call for creaming together the butter, peanut butter and sugar. When peanut butter is whipped, it tends to get dry and crumbly. So in my recipe, I melt the butter with the peanut butter, and then gently stir in all the ingredients. This keeps the cookies so soft, moist and chewy!
Can I use natural peanut butter for cookies?
- You sure can! Natural peanut butter that needs to be stirred is runnier and less stable than other peanut butters that have added oils. When I bake cookies with natural peanut butter, I add a couple extra tablespoons of flour to make up for the thinner consistency.
Does the dough need to be chilled before baking the cookies?
- Since this recipe begins with melted butter and peanut butter, you do need to chill the dough to cool it down before you can shape your cookies. It’s not a very long chill time, though. After mixing the dough, I chill it for 1 hour, then scoop the dough balls. Then, while the oven is preheating, I freeze the dough balls for 10 minutes before baking.
What does the corn starch do?
- Corn starch lowers the protein content of the flour, which tenderizes the dough for soft, chewy cookies.
What’s the best flaky salt to sprinkle on top of the cookies?
- I use Maldon sea salt.
What kind of chocolate is on top of your cookies?
- Chocolove 55% Dark Chocolate. It’s so good!
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Best High Altitude Peanut Butter Cookies
A classic recipe for soft and chewy peanut butter cookies, perfected for high altitude bakers.
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- ¾ cup creamy peanut butter
- ½ cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk (save the extra white for another use)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- ½ cup old fashioned oats
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 bars good-quality chocolate, broken into squares, optional
- ½ tsp flaky finishing salt, optional
Instructions
- In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the peanut butter and stir until melted. Remove from the heat.
- Pour the melted butter and peanut butter into a mixing bowl. Stir in the brown sugar and granulated sugar, then stir in the egg, egg yolk and vanilla until well combined.
- Separately, whisk together the flour, corn starch, oats, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Add the dry ingredients and stir the dough together until smooth.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour, to cool the butter back down and firm up the dough enough to scoop into balls.
- Use a cookie scoop to portion the dough into 2-dozen balls. Use the tines of a fork to slightly flatten each ball.Place the dough balls back in an airtight container and freeze for 10 minutes while you preheat the oven.
- Preheat the oven to 375 F, and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place the chilled dough balls 3 inches apart on the baking sheet and bake on the center oven rack for 8 minutes.
- Remove from the oven. If desired, lightly press a square of chocolate into the center of each cookie. Cool the cookies for 2 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely.Sprinkle the cookies with the flaky finishing salt.
- Once the cookies are cooled, the chocolate will still be quite melty. Go ahead and store the cookies in an airtight container, in a single layer, for several hours until the chocolate hardens again.
Notes
- Cookies will stay soft and chewy, stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3-5 days, or frozen for 3-6 months.
- Peanut butter that’s not labeled “all-natural” is usually best for baking, as it’s more stable. If using an all-natural peanut butter, which is more runny, increase the flour by a couple of tablespoons.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
https://curlygirlkitchen.com/
Can I refrigerate overnight, Bring to room temp making into balls chill again. Then bakd?
I’m sure that would be fine!
Can I omit the oats?
You can, but you might need to increase the flour a little, maybe by 1/4 cup. I haven’t made this recipe without the oats.
Will this work @ 9,000 feet?
My guess is you’d probably need to add 1-2 extra tablespoons of flour so they don’t spread too much. You might try a small batch to test it. Happy baking!
Can you tell me what elevation this was made at? Will this work for 4000 to 4600 feet?
Thank you,
Everything on my site is for 5,000 feet, so yes, it should work well for you.
What is this witch craft!! I thought I’d never have fluffy delicious cookies again (high altitude baking 😭) and a quick google search I found them. I didn’t add cornstarch because I didn’t have it. Still turned out amazing. Wtf. So good. Thanks so much!!! Current elevation is 7500
Gina, I’m so happy you love them! 🙂
Haven’t made these yet but am anxious to try cookies from your Christmas Cookie Boxes. I live just north of Atlanta, GA and have to deviate for canning since we are above 1000 ft, but only a little under 1100. Do I need to reduce or add anything?
Sharon, please see my FAQs: https://curlygirlkitchen.com/baking-faqs/
I loved these cookies!!! I have had a hard time making cookies since I moved to Colorado from Texas and this recipe made me feel like I can still bake. The texture and flavor are delicious!! Thank you for your website with high-altitude baking recipes. I’m so thankful to have found you:)