Photo: Photo: Sarah Ottino
Recipe for Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies by Sarah Ottino
Being from the east coast, I'm used to baking cookies at pretty much zero sea level. But when we moved to Colorado for a month to a town that was around 7,000 ft above sea level, my first batch of cookies were a disaster! Seriously, like a cookie ball that didn't spread or rise, and was burnt on the outside and raw on the inside. After a lot of experimenting, research, and learning to increase the liquid, decrease the baking powder, and adjusting the temp and baking time, I have finally created a delicious yummy cookie recipe that can be made while you're living in the mountains. These peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies turn out fluffy, slightly chewy, and so delicious.
Ingredients
1 cup of creamy smooth peanut butter
3/4 cup of white granulated sugar
3/4 cup of unsweetened almond milk
2 tsp of vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup of all purpose flour
1/8th tsp of baking soda
1/4 tsp of salt (optional - omit if using salted chocolate)
1/4 cup (2oz) of chocolate chunks (I used 3/4 of a Beyond Good Sea Salt & Nibs Chocolate Bar)
Directions
Preheat your oven to 345° F.
Combine the peanut butter, sugar, almond milk, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl.
Using a large spoon or electric mixer, mix them until evenly combined.
Add 1/2 cup of the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix into the wet ingredients.
Add the rest of the flour and mix until it's just combined.
Gently fold in the chocolate chunks.
Take a small scoop of the cookie dough and roll it into a ball, about 1 inch in diameter.
Flatten the ball into a cookie shape, about 1/4 inch thick. These rise but do not spread out much, so it's important to form them into the desired shape.
Place the cookie dough on a greased baking sheet.
(Optional: bake one test cookie first to see how they turn out before making the rest).
Repeat with the rest of the dough until you have 9-12 cookies on the baking sheet.
Bake for 8-9 minutes on the middle rack of the oven.
Remove from the oven and let the cookies rest for 1 minute on the baking sheet.
Use a spatula to transfer the cookies over to a cooling rack.
Repeat with the rest of the cookie dough until all the cookies are baked.
Let them cool for a few minutes on the drying rack before enjoying. 
