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Peanut butter cookies sprinkled with salt.

Best High Altitude Peanut Butter Cookies

Heather Smoke
This high altitude recipe for classic peanut butter cookies makes the best cookies that are so soft, thick, and chewy, with a perfect salty sweet balance.

All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.

5 from 8 votes
Logo with the initials CGK.
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 9 minutes
Chill Time 2 hours
Total Time 2 hours 29 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings28 cookies

Equipment

  • Large Cookie Scoop with Release Lever (2 1/2 - 3 tbsp capacity)

Ingredients
 

  • ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
  • ¾ cup creamy peanut butter
  • ½ cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 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
  • 1 tbsp corn starch
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Instructions
 

  • In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat, then remove from the heat. In a bowl, whisk together the hot melted butter with the peanut butter until smooth.
  • Whisk in both the sugars and the vanilla extract, then whisk in the egg and egg yolk until well combined.
  • Separately, whisk together the flour, corn starch, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and stir the dough until all the flour is incorporated.
  • Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 1/2 hours.
  • Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
  • Use a medium cookie scoop (1 1/2 - 2 tbsp capacity) with a release lever to scoop 28 balls of dough or a large cookie scoop (2 1/2 - 3 tbsp capacity) to scoop 16 balls of dough. Use the tines of a fork to slightly flatten each dough ball in a classic criss-cross pattern.
  • Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
  • Place the dough balls 3 inches apart on the baking sheet and bake on the center oven rack for 8-9 minutes for medium cookies, or 10-11 minutes for large cookies.
  • Cool the cookies for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely. If you like, lightly sprinkle the tops of the cookies with cinnamon sugar and flaky salt.

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 a drippy all-natural peanut butter (which contains only peanuts and salt, with no other oils), you should increase the flour by a couple of tablespoons to keep the cookies from spreading too much.
Keyword Chocolate, Cookies, High Altitude Cookies, Peanut Butter
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