High Altitude Sugar Cookies You’ll Love!

These gorgeous and delicious high altitude sugar cookies are perfect for any occasion!

This no chill recipe yields a very sturdy cookie, which is great if there will be small, clumsy hands helping you decorate!

When the holidays roll around, this is a reliable recipe to have on hand.

You can essentially make these as drop cookies. We are simply rolling them into balls and then flattening them for a more elegant presentation.

That being said, the dough is very easy to work with and not too sticky. If you want fun shapes, you can definitely roll it out and use cookie cutters. Just don’t forget to flour your rolling surface and your hands.

When they are freshly baked, these high altitude sugar cookies have a small amount of crunch.

However, once you put them in an airtight container and let them rest overnight, they soften up and may remind you a bit of Lofthouse sugar cookies (except for the cream cheese in the icing).

P.S. Want to save this high altitude sugar cookie recipe for later? It’s in this E-Book!

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These cookies get their heft from a secret ingredient: einkorn flour!

This helps them maintain their structure when baking at high altitude.

What is high altitude baking?

While cooking can be very spontaneous and forgiving, baking is less of an art and more of a science.

If you’ve ever moved across the country, you probably know firsthand that your favorite recipes may not turn out quite the same.

For a full breakdown of specific adaptations, you can read the introduction to my high altitude banana bread muffin recipe.

Or, if you’d prefer the free PDF cheat sheet, you can download it here.

In short, if you are at or above 3,000 to 3,500 feet in elevation, baked goods tend to rise more quickly, and then collapse if you’re not careful.

In addition, evaporation occurs more quickly at high altitude, so you sometimes need more liquids.

This evaporation also means you often need less sugar, since the recipe will be too sweet if a lot of the liquid has evaporated, leaving behind a more concentrated dessert.

To combat this, you’ll notice these cookies are relatively low in sugar (minus the icing). If you eat them plain, they taste rather healthy, and almost like a biscuit (US style, not necessarily like all UK biscuits).

(You may also enjoy my high altitude chocolate chip cookies!)

What is einkorn flour and why use it?

So why use einkorn flour?

Einkorn has 29% more protein than modern wheat (according to Jovial Foods, who sell einkorn flour).

This higher protein content helps with the structural integrity of baked goods as they rise at high altitude.

For comparison, if you only used plain white flour, your cookies would likely come out flat and not have the height or body of these ones.

If you’re not familiar with einkorn, people consider it to be an ancient grain (like emmer and spelt).

People know einkorn as the first wheat, or one of the oldest varieties of wheat, from before people hybridized and otherwise altered it.

What are we normally eating, then?

Originally, people hybridized wheat to make it more resistant to disease as well as to produce more food by increasing the yield.

While this is admirable from the standpoint of reducing hunger, hybrid varieties of wheat nowadays generally have much thinner husks.

Again, this makes processing it easier on massive farms.

That being said, these same massive farms tend to use large quantities of pesticides and fertilizers, so some people are uncomfortable with modern wheat from a health perspective.

Is Einkorn flour gluten-free?

No. Einkorn flour contains the same amount of gluten as regular flour.

However, the gluten in einkorn does not contain the high molecular weight proteins found in things like white bread, which are hard to digest.

In plainer terms, the structure of the gluten in einkorn is very weak, so dough tears easily.

This is in sharp contrast to a typical wheat dough, which is quite stretchy (think of a pizza crust being tossed in the air).

People with mild gluten intolerance (NOT Celiac disease – please consult with a doctor) often report being able to eat einkorn without any issues.

However, these cookies use both plain flour and einkorn flour.

The einkorn flour supports the structural integrity of the cookies, while the plain flour allows them to rise.

Can I bake two trays of cookies at the same time on different racks?

Yes! Depending on your oven, you may need to turn the pans halfway through to ensure even baking.

For me, the tray on the top rack was just fine without moving, but the one on the bottom baked faster, and the back of that tray also baked faster than the front.

Just keep an eye on them, and they will turn out fine!

High Altitude Sugar Cookie Ingredients

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Before you begin, you will need:

For the high altitude sugar cookies

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) of unsalted butter, softened

• 2/3 cup sugar

• 1 egg

• 1/3 cup Greek yogurt

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1/4 tsp almond extract

• 1 cup einkorn flour (see notes – you can find it at some health food stores or on Amazon)

• 1 1/4 cups + 3 Tbsp flour

• 5 tsp cornstarch

• 1 tsp baking powder (scant is fine)

• 1/4 tsp salt

For the cream cheese icing

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) of unsalted butter, softened

• 2 ounces of cream cheese, softened

• 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract

• 3 drops of almond extract

• 2 3/4 cups of powdered sugar

• 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp milk (I used 2%)

• Decorations (optional – I used blue sugar pearls)

Tools

• 2 cookie sheets (or one and allow extra time for baking a second batch)

• Stand mixer with paddle attachment for cookie dough and whisk attachment for icing (or allow extra time for stirring)

• Wire cooling rack

• Mason jar or cup to flatten cookie dough (side note – mason jars can also make decent rolling pins in a pinch)

• Parchment paper

• Measuring cups and spoons

• Spatula or spoon to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

How to make high altitude sugar cookies

First, make the high altitude sugar cookies

1. To begin, cream the butter and sugar in your stand mixer.
2. After that, add in the egg, Greek yogurt, vanilla, and almond extracts and combine. You may need to scrape down what sticks to the sides of the bowl with a spatula so it is fully blended.
3. Next, add in the salt, baking powder, and cornstarch, and then mix.
4. Then, slowly add in the einkorn flour, mixing as you go.
5. Add in the regular flour slowly, continuing to mix as you go.
6. Once your cookie dough is thoroughly combined, preheat your oven to 385° and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
7. Using a tablespoon as your scoop, measure out your cookies (mine were a bit heaping).
8. After that, roll them into spheres for pretty cookies.
9. Then, cover the bottom of a mason jar or cup with parchment paper. Use it to squish down each cookie to somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 inch (this is the most fun part!).
10. Depending on your oven and how large you made the cookies, bake them for between 8-12 minutes. For me, the tray on the bottom was slightly overdone at 10 minutes, and the top tray was perfect at 12 minutes.
11. While the cookies are baking, you’ll probably need to wash the mixing bowl from the stand mixer. We will be re-using it for the icing, along with measuring cups and spoons as well as a spatula for scraping down the sides of the bowl.
12. Immediately transfer the hot cookies (carefully!) to a wire cooling rack. Allow to cool fully before decorating.

After that, make the icing and decorate!

1. First, remove the paddle attachment from the stand mixer and replace it with a whisk attachment.
2. After that, add the butter and cream cheese to the bowl and combine thoroughly.
3. Then, add in the vanilla and almond extracts and mix well.
4. Next, slowly add in the powdered sugar a little at a time, blending as you go.
5. Once all the powdered sugar has been fully combined, add in the milk and keep mixing until the cream cheese icing is an even consistency. (If you want, you can add food coloring or beet juice, etc. at this stage for more colorful cookies).
6. Ice the cookies as desired with a butter knife or spatula, and add any toppings you’d like. I had a lot of leftover icing, so feel free to use as much as you want, and you’ll probably still have extra.
7. Finally, serve and enjoy! Store cookies in an airtight container.

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Variations on this recipe

If you can’t find einkorn flour, you can try white whole wheat flour. This flour also has more protein than plain flour.

While the name sounds confusing, white whole wheat flour comes from a different variety of wheat that is lighter in color. For this reason, it won’t affect the color of your baked goods in the same way that traditional whole wheat flour would.

For more of a true sugar cookie, you can certainly skip the cream cheese, but I thought it added some nice flavor.

You can also substitute sour cream in place of the Greek yogurt if you have some handy.

As I mentioned earlier, feel free to get creative with colors and shapes.

Similarly, you can play with flavors as well. Try using mint, lemon, or rum extracts in place of or in addition to the almond and/or vanilla extract.

You could even add lemon zest or crystallized ginger to spice things up.

As with any sugar cookie recipe, you can make them as unique and charming as you’d like. I’m envisioning lavender buds added in, or perhaps using earl grey tea instead of milk in the icing.

For holiday baking, you could add matcha green tea to the icing in place of green food coloring, and beet juice in place of red food coloring.

If you found this article helpful, please consider joining my email newsletter community for new recipes delivered straight to your inbox!

You can also download my FREE High Altitude Baking Adjustments Chart PDF for further reference.

Similar Dessert Articles

High altitude banana bread muffins

High altitude chocolate chip cookies

Marbled cookie brownie recipe

Cashew butter cookies

Fig bread (another freezer-friendly recipe great for the holidays, similar to gingerbread)

Important: This post is for informational and educational purposes only. This post should not be taken as medical or nutritional advice or used as a substitute for such. You should always speak to your own doctor or nutritionist before implementing this information on your own. Thank you!

I hope you love this recipe for high altitude sugar cookies!