Soft and chewy, high altitude chocolate marble cookies, made with chocolate and vanilla cookie dough swirled together. This is an easy recipe for marbled chocolate and vanilla cookies, with no mixer needed and no chilling the dough required.
You might also love these high altitude cookie recipes for brown butter chocolate chip cookies, s’mores cookies, and chocolate brownie cookies.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
No Mixer, No Chilling. Although you will be making two separate batches of cookie dough, you’ll find it goes quickly, as they’re both very easy recipes that you can mix up by hand.
Chocolate + Vanilla. When you can’t decide between chocolate or vanilla, chocolate marbled cookies gives you some of both!
No Chocolate Chips. Not everyone likes a chocolate chip cookie, and if this is you, you’ll love the soft, chewy texture of these marbled chocolate chipless cookies made with the same dough that I use for my popular chocolate chip cookies.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
Today’s recipes for vanilla and chocolate dough use almost identical ingredients, except for the addition of cocoa powder in the chocolate dough. However, the quantities will vary between the two recipes, and this is intentional. You’ll also notice that the chocolate dough will feel a little more soft and moist than the vanilla dough, which is how it should be. Cocoa powder absorbs more moisture than flour, so chocolate cookies tend to spread less than vanilla cookies, which is the reason for the different textures and moisture levels.
- Butter. Use unsalted butter, or reduce the added salt in the recipe.
- Sugar. A combination of granulated sugar and light brown sugar adds sweetness and promotes spreading.
- Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
- Eggs. The eggs add structure, strength and moisture.
- Flour. All purpose “plain” flour adds structure and strength.
- Cocoa Powder. Dutch processed cocoa powder adds the chocolate flavor and a rich, dark color.
- Corn Starch. Tenderizes the dough to keep the cookies soft.
- Baking Soda. Leavening agent.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness and adds flavor. I use Kroger brand coarse Kosher salt, which is almost half as salty as Morton’s. If you use Morton’s you should use less salt than the recipe calls for.
Instructions
Vanilla Cookie Dough
- In a bowl, whisk together the melted butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar, until well combined. Add the vanilla, egg and egg yolk, and whisk until smooth.
- Separately, combine the flour, corn starch, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and stir everything together with a spatula until all the flour is incorporated.
Chocolate Cookie Dough
- Make the chocolate cookie dough, following the same instructions as the vanilla dough.
- Add the cocoa powder to the dry ingredients, before mixing the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
Shaping the Cookies
- Use a medium cookie scoop with a release lever (2 tbsp capacity) to scoop all the vanilla dough into equal sized balls. Repeat with the chocolate dough.
- Press a vanilla dough ball and a chocolate dough ball together. Tear it in half, then stack the pieces, so they alternate vanilla-chocolate-vanilla-chocolate. If you like, you can repeat the tearing and stacking one more time, so you have eight alternating layers instead of four.
- Now roll the dough into a smooth ball between your hands. Slightly flatten the balls into thick disks.
Baking the Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place the cookies onto the baking sheet, with 3 inches between them. For a 13×18 inch rimmed baking sheet, I only baked 8 cookies at a time. The unbaked dough can just sit on your kitchen counter while you bake it in batches.
- Bake the cookies for 9 – 9 1/2 minutes, just until the edges are set, but the centers are still soft and slightly underdone. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 3 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
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
Store leftover cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for up to 3-6 months.
You can also add chocolate chips, around 1/2 cup for the vanilla dough and 1/2 cup for the chocolate dough.
Yes, you can freeze the dough balls in an airtight container for up to 3-6 months. If the dough is too cold, the cookies may not spread enough, so you may need to let them warm up completely to room temperature before baking the cookies.
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High Altitude Chocolate Marble Cookies
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Medium Cookie Scoop with Release Lever (2 tbsp capacity)
Ingredients
Vanilla Cookie Dough
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, melted
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk (save the extra white for another use)
- 2 â…” cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- 1 ½ tsp corn starch
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ¾ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
Chocolate Cookie Dough
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp light brown sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk (save the extra white for another use)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- 6 tbsp unsweetened Dutch processed cocoa powder
- 1 ½ tsp corn starch
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ¾ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
Instructions
Vanilla Cookie Dough
- In a bowl, whisk together the melted butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar, until well combined. Add the vanilla, egg and egg yolk, and whisk until smooth.
- Separately, combine the flour, corn starch, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and stir everything together with a spatula until all the flour is incorporated.
Chocolate Cookie Dough
- Make the chocolate cookie dough, following the same instructions as the vanilla dough.
- Add the cocoa powder to the dry ingredients, before mixing the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
Shaping the Cookies
- Use a medium cookie scoop with a release lever (2 tbsp capacity) to scoop all the vanilla dough into equal sized balls. Repeat with the chocolate dough.
- Press a vanilla dough ball and a chocolate dough ball together. Tear it in half, then stack the pieces, so they alternate vanilla-chocolate-vanilla-chocolate. If you like, you can repeat the tearing and stacking one more time, so you have eight alternating layers instead of four.
- Now roll the dough into a smooth ball between your hands. Slightly flatten the balls into thick disks.
Baking the Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place the cookies onto the baking sheet, with 3 inches between them. For a 13×18 inch rimmed baking sheet, I only baked 8 cookies at a time. The unbaked dough can just sit on your kitchen counter while you bake it in batches.
- Bake the cookies for 9 – 9 1/2 minutes, just until the edges are set, but the centers are still soft and slightly underdone. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 3 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
I made these cookies, taste great!! BUT my first batch I followed the instructions and they melded together then had one HUGE cookie. So next batch, tore them a second time rather than stacking, rolled and made into a disk. This produced individual cookies.
So glad you loved them!
I hope you all love this recipe as much as I do!
I did not think I would be successful at making these cookies! I thought they would just melt into thin breakable bits, but you have mastered the high altitude adjustments and they were super!! Not only did they look great, they tasted super great! I would recommend that people follow your directions to a T and use your helpful pictures. You’ve got a winner on your hands! Thank you
I’m so glad you loved these cookies!
OK, I live in almost 8000 feet and I adjusted this a little bit just like I always do with these recipes but they turned out kind of flat nothing like the pictures but they taste fine so what did I do wrong?
They likely need more flour and less sugar for your altitude. Please see my FAQs for some guidelines on adjusting for various altitudes.
https://curlygirlkitchen.com/baking-faqs/