Chocolate chip cookies for two is the ultimate dessert for chocolate chip cookie lovers! This is a high altitude tested, small batch recipe for two big chocolate chip cookies that are crisp around the edges and thick, soft and chewy in the middle. You’ll love this easy recipe that’s perfect for sharing, or for baking just for yourself.
You might also love these high altitude recipes for soft and chewy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, chocolate brownie cookies, and soft brown sugar pecan cookies.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Perfect for Sharing. These cookies are pretty big, about 5 inches wide, so they’re certainly big enough to share. But you’ll get no judgement from me if you eat the whole thing yourself! And since there’s two cookies, you can enjoy one warm from the oven, and save one for later.
Date Night. I love a dessert that a couple can make together on a laid back date night in, and chocolate chip cookies for two is an easy and fun treat to bake with someone special. Serve a cookie warm from the oven, topped with scoops of vanilla ice cream, and you have the most incredible dessert for sharing while watching your favorite show.
No Mixer Needed. You don’t even need a mixer to make these cookies, and you can easily mix up the dough by hand. Then there’s just a brief chill time before you can bake the cookies. From start to finish, you’ll have warm cookies in about an hour.
Standard Pantry Ingredients. Just a few simple ingredients from your fridge and pantry is all you need to get to cookie bliss.
High Altitude Tested. I based today’s chocolate chip cookies for two on my popular best high altitude chocolate chip cookies recipe, which I’ve tested dozens of times at Denver’s high altitude of 5,280 feet. Mountain bakers can bake my recipes with confidence, knowing they’ll get amazing results.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- Unsalted Butter. Adds richness and flavor to the cookies.
- Sugar. A combination of granulated sugar and light brown sugar adds sweetness, and gives the cookie its golden brown color as the sugars caramelize while the cookies bake.
- Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
- Egg Yolk. Since this is a small batch recipe, I scaled my recipe down to only use an egg yolk, rather than a whole egg. The egg yolk keeps the cookie tender and chewy.
- Flour. All purpose flour adds structure and strength to the dough.
- Corn Starch. A little corn starch tenderizes the dough for a softer cookie.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness and enhances the flavor of the chocolate. I like to sprinkle a little salt on top of the cookies, too, for a sweet and salty finish.
- Baking Soda. Leavens the cookie dough so they puff up and spread as they bake.
- Chocolate Chips. I prefer dark or semi sweet chocolate chips, not milk chocolate.
Instructions
Make the cookie dough.
- Melt the butter, then pour it into a bowl. Add the granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla and egg yolk. Whisk the mixture, as hard as you can whisking by hand, for 2 minutes.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, corn starch, salt and baking soda, until evenly distributed.
- Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, and use a spatula to fold the dry ingredients in until incorporated. Let the dough rest and cool for 10 minutes, then stir in most of the chocolate chips, reserving a few for the top of the cookies. (Sometimes the chocolate chips don’t want to stick to the dough, but if you press them in with your hands, it will all come together.)
Chill cookie dough for 30 minutes.
- Divide the dough into two equal portions – I suggest weighing your dough with a food scale, so each portion is exactly the same size. Shape the portions of dough into two balls, then flatten them between your hands into disks, measuring about 1 inch high and 3 inches wide. Press the remaining chocolate chips on top of the dough balls.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and place the cookie dough balls on the baking sheet, leaving plenty of space for them to spread. Cover the dough balls with a piece of plastic wrap to keep them moist, and refrigerate on the baking sheet for exactly 30 minutes.
Bake the cookies.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
- Take the pan out of the fridge and remove the plastic wrap. Put the cold pan in the oven, and set a timer for 17 minutes.
- When there’s 7 minutes left on the timer (the cookies have baked for 10 minutes at this point), take the pan out of the oven, and rap it a few times on the counter to help the cookies spread. Take a 5-inch round cutter and “scoot” it around the cookies to pull in any uneven edges and to keep the cookies perfectly round (if you don’t have a large cutter that’s big enough to encircle the cookies, you can just use two spoons to neaten the edges of the cookies). Do all this quickly, and return the pan to the oven to continue baking the cookies.
- When there’s 2 minutes left on the timer (the cookies have baked for 15 minutes at this point, take the pan out of the oven, and repeat the above step of rapping the pan on the counter and scooting the edges.
- Return the pan to the oven, and bake for 2 more minutes.
- Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then use a large spatula to transfer them to a cooling rack. Enjoy the cookies while they’re warm, or let them cool completely to room temperature. If you like, sprinkle the top of the cookies with a small pinch of flaky finishing salt.The baked cookies will measure about 5 inches in diameter and 1/2 inch thick.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I make the cookie dough and freeze it?
The cookies may not spread enough if the dough is too cold or frozen. I’ve carefully tested the chill time and bake time to get the results that I want for this recipe.
How should I store the cookies?
You can store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or wrap them individually in plastic wrap and freeze them for up to 3-6 months.
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High Altitude Big Chocolate Chip Cookies for Two
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
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- 2 ½ tbsp granulated sugar
- 2 ½ tbsp light brown sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 egg yolk (save the white for another use)
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- ½ tsp corn starch
- ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ½ cup semi sweet chocolate chips, divided
Instructions
Make the cookie dough.
- Melt the butter, then pour it into a bowl. Add the granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla and egg yolk. Whisk the mixture, as hard as you can whisking by hand, for 2 minutes.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, corn starch, salt and baking soda, until evenly distributed.
- Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, and use a spatula to fold the dry ingredients in until incorporated. Let the dough rest and cool for 10 minutes, then stir in most of the chocolate chips, reserving a few for the top of the cookies. (Sometimes the chocolate chips don't want to stick to the dough, but if you press them in with your hands, it will all come together.)
Chill the cookie dough.
- Divide the dough into two equal portions – I suggest weighing your dough with a food scale, so each portion is exactly the same size. Shape the portions of dough into two balls, then flatten them between your hands into disks, measuring about 1 inch high and 3 inches wide. Press the remaining chocolate chips on top of the dough balls.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and place the cookie dough balls on the baking sheet, leaving plenty of space for them to spread. Cover the dough balls with a piece of plastic wrap to keep them moist, and refrigerate on the baking sheet for exactly 30 minutes.
Bake the cookies.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
- Take the pan out of the fridge and remove the plastic wrap. Put the cold pan in the oven, and set a timer for 17 minutes.When there's 7 minutes left on the timer (the cookies have baked for 10 minutes at this point), take the pan out of the oven, and rap it a few times on the counter to help the cookies spread. Take a 5-inch round cutter and "scoot" it around the cookies to pull in any uneven edges and to keep the cookies perfectly round (if you don't have a large cutter that's big enough to encircle the cookies, you can just use two spoons to neaten the edges of the cookies). Do all this quickly, and return the pan to the oven to continue baking the cookies.When there's 2 minutes left on the timer (the cookies have baked for 15 minutes at this point), take the pan out of the oven, and repeat the above step of rapping the pan on the counter and scooting the edges.Return the pan to the oven, and bake for 2 more minutes.
- Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then use a large spatula to transfer them to a cooling rack. Enjoy the cookies while they're warm, or let them cool completely to room temperature. If you like, sprinkle the top of the cookies with a small pinch of flaky finishing salt.The baked cookies will measure about 5 inches in diameter and 1/2 inch thick.
Deeeelish! Needed a Sunday night sweet treat, we ate these warm from the oven with Halo Top sea salt caramel ice cream.. yummy! Dangerously easy. -Fellow Denverite. 🙂
This is my go to cookie recipe. I always seem to want to make them on the fly when the kiddos are in bed and it’s just the hubby and I hanging out. I love that this recipe doesn’t require large machinery and is so quick to whip up. Also love how the recipe just makes two large cookies. Thank you for such a delicious chocolate chip recipe!
I’m so glad you love them! I’ve made them countless times and I never get tired of them.
Hi Heather!
I recently moved to Denver from Louisiana and baking (a once beloved pastime) has been a nightmare for me. I was ecstatic to come across your blog, and even more so when I saw you had a single serving recipe, which can be hard to come by.
I whipped these up tonight and they were so easy! Absolute breeze to make. I did have a question, though. The flavour of these are nice, but the texture wasn’t very chewy for me. It was more fluffy/dry. This has happened with several different cookie recipes I’ve tried. Do you have any advice where I may have gone wrong? My only guess is that I usually add more vanilla to my recipes because I like a really strong flavour (1 tsp vs 1/2 tsp, etc.). It’s never thrown off a recipe before, but I was always at sea level. Could it have done it here?
Thanks in advance.
My guess would be too much flour, which will make a fluffier cookie. Be sure you’re measuring your flour correctly, by fluffing it up in the canister/bag, lightly spooning it into the measuring cup, then leveling off the top.
I live in the beautiful Black Hills of SD, where the elevation of my home is 5432 ft. I just made this recipe for my husband, as he loves sugar cookies. Absolutely delicious with a crispy edge and soft center. I am a seasoned baker and have been tweaking recipes for the last fourteen years, having moved from MN. I look forward to your recipes each week.
I’m so glad you love them! We just passed through that area two days ago on our way home from a visit to North Dakota.