Altitude Adjusted Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Is there anything better than a delicious cookie, fresh from the oven?

One of the big challenges in making cookies at higher elevations is the recipes in cookbooks don’t take our unique elevation into account, which creates a cookie that is either way too puffy, or way too flat. This recipe has been modified to create a delicious cookie at a higher altitude that maintains its chewiness, even after a day or two of storage.

Ingredients

* 2 sticks butter (make sure your sticks are the 1/4 lb variety for a total of 1/2 lb of butter)
* 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/4 cup granulated sugar
* 1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
* 1 egg
* 1 egg yolk
* 2 tablespoons milk
* 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 12 oz bag milk chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside.

Pour the melted butter in the mixer’s work bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar. Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed. Add the egg, yolk, 2 tablespoons milk and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Chill the dough, then scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets, 6 cookies per sheet. Bake for 11 minutes or until golden brown, checking the cookies after 5 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet for even browning. Cool completely and store in an airtight container

For an added zing, top each cookie with a few crystals of either fleur de sel, or coarse sea salt.

A few tips for this cookie:
-In a traditional cookie recipe, one will cream softened butter with sugar, and then go straight to the oven with the dough. This process introduces air into the cookie, which can be problematic at higher altitudes. But, melting the butter, creaming the sugar, and then refrigerating the dough causing the butter to re-harden significantly decreases the amount of air pockets captured in the dough. This technique creates a much denser/chewier cookie.
-Brown Sugar will absorb water when left in a relatively humid environment, which is why it’s included in this recipe. It guarantees a chewy texture.
-After the dry ingredients are added, beat the cookie a minimal amount. You barely want to incorporate the flour. Anymore and you’ll have a tough cookie.
-Baking the cookie on parchment or silpat will make it easier to get the cookies off the baking sheet as soon as they come out of the oven. Leaving the cookies on the cookie sheet after they come out of the oven will cause the bottoms of your cookie to be overdone.
-Make sure your brown sugar is REALLY well packed. Not packing it enough can cause the cookies to fall flat.
-Another common challenge with these cookies is an oven that isn’t preheated, or calibrated properly. If your first tray of cookies are flat, try increasing the temperature in your oven to 375.