These Lemon White Chocolate Cookies are a lemon lover’s dream. Bursting with fresh, tart lemon flavor and sweet white chocolate chips, they taste like sunshine in every bite. With perfectly chewy edges and soft, fudgy centers, these cookies are easy to make with just a few simple ingredients and one bowl—no mixer required!
Dive into a burst of sunshine with these irresistible Lemon White Chocolate Cookies! They have perfect balance of zesty, tart lemon flavor with the creamy sweetness of white chocolate chips. They have perfectly crispy edges, soft and chewy centers which makes them absolutely irresistible.
And the best part? You can whip up these beauties with just a handful of simple ingredients and a single bowl!
For more cookie recipes try my blueberry white chocolate cookies, or lemon blueberry cookies or espresso chocolate chip cookies.
Jump to:
Why you will love these lemon white chocolate cookies
- Bright and Refreshing Flavor: The combination of fresh lemon zest and juice gives these cookies a delightful, zesty flavor that’s perfect for spring and summer.
- Perfect Balance of Sweet and Tart: The sweetness of the white chocolate chips balances the tartness of the lemon, making these cookies perfect for citrus lovers.
- Perfect Texture: These cookies have a wonderfully soft and chewy texture.They have slight crisp and chewy edges and fudgy centers.
- Easy to Make: This cookies come together in no time with simple pantry ingredients and can be made without a mixer!
- Customizable: You can add other ingredients to the dough, such as poppy seeds or even some orange zest.
Ingredient notes
- Unsalted butter – I like to use unsalted European butter. You can use salted butter instead however be sure to omit the salt to in the dry ingredients.
- Egg- I like to use room temperature large egg.
- All Purpose Flour: Provides structure to the cookies. Measure carefully to avoid dense or dry cookies.
- Lemon: Use fresh lemon zest and juice for the most vibrant flavor. Organic lemons are best if you can find them.
- Brown Sugar and Granulated White Sugar: Light Brown sugar adds moisture and a hint of caramel flavor, while granulated sugar helps with spreading and sweetness.
- Baking Soda- It helps to brown the cookies and gives them a crisp edges
- Lemon extract- Pure lemon extract really helps gives these cookies that extra zesty flavor.
- Vanilla extract- Enhances the overall flavor and balances the lemon.
- White Chocolate Chips: Opt for high quality white chocolate chips or chop a good quality white chocolate bar into chunks for the best results. My favorite white chocolate chips are these are these!
- Salt: A pinch of salt balances the sweetness and enhances the other flavors.
Step by Step Instructions
Here is how to make and bake these lemon white chocolate cookies recipe. A hand mixer or stand mixer with the paddle attachment is recommended to mix the batter, but isn’t necessary.
Step 1: Mix the dry ingredients together. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.
Step 2: Rub the lemon zest with the sugars. In a separate bowl using a microplane zester, zest the lemon. In a small bowl rub the sugars and grated zest using your fingers. This helps the oils in the zest to release.
Step 3: Beat the melted butter and sugars. In a large bowl beat melted butter and both sugars on high speed for 2-3 minutes using a hand mixer or in the bowl of your stand mixer until well combined.
Step 4: Beat in the egg, vanilla extract, lemon juice and lemon extract. With the mixer on low speed add the egg, ensuring it is fully incorporated.Mix in the vanilla extract, lemon extract and fresh lemon juice.
Step 5:Stir in the dry ingredients.To the wet ingredients stir in the flour mixture and white chocolate chips until just combined.
Step 6: Scoop the cookie dough. Using a large cookie scoop, roll out as many cookie balls out of the dough as possible and place on a baking sheet.
Step 7: Chill the dough. Place the cookie dough in the refrigerator for 30 mins or in the freezer for 15 mins.
Step 8: Bake the cookies. Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C) and line 2 large baking sheets with silicone mat or parchment paper. Arrange the chilled cookie dough balls 1 inch apart on the baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until edges are lightly golden.
Allow cookies to cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Optionally you can sprinkle the tops of the cookies with some fresh lemon zest and add a few extra white chocolate chips as soon as they come out the oven.
Tips & Tricks
- How to prevent spreading: Bake the cookies on parchment paper or silicone mat to prevent spreading too much.
- Chilling the Dough: Chill the cookie dough for at least an hour (upto 24 hours) before baking to prevent excessive spreading and achieve a chewier texture.
- Uniform Sizes: Use a cookie scoop to portion out dough for consistent cookie sizes and even baking.
- Zest First: Always zest your lemons before juicing them for easier handling and maximum flavor extraction.
- Use real white chocolate chips: For the best flavor, make sure to use white chocolate chips that list cocoa butter as an ingredient. Avoid white baking chips or morsels, which often contain no real chocolate and can affect both taste and texture.
FAQ’s
This has to do with the flour. The flour needs to be spooned and leveled. If you scoop using the measuring cup directly into the flour, it will be compacted. Compacted flour means no spread with your cookies.
Yes, you could only use lemon extract, although I highly recommend using fresh lemon juice for the best flavor!
Yes! I know it sounds hard to wait on baking these cookies but its essential to chill these. Chilling would allow the butter to solidify and the flour to rehydrate. If you bake these immediately the cookies will spread way too much.
Yes. you could the leave out the white chocolate for a soft lemon cookie.
Yes, you can use either white chocolate chips or chopped white chocolate chunks, depending on your preference.
Storage & Freezing
Store these Lemon and white chocolate cookies in an airtight container for 3-4 days at room temperature.
FREEZING
Freeze the baked white chocolate and lemon cookies in an airtight container or ziplock bag up to 30 days. Thaw for 1 hour on the counter or overnight in the refrigerator.
Wrap the raw cookie dough balls in plastic wrap and store in an airtight container. Freeze up to 30 days.
The frozen cookie dough balls can be baked straight from the freezer. Just add an extra few minutes to the bake time.
More Cookie Recipes to try
Recipe
Lemon white chocolate Cookies
Equipment
- Stand Mixer
- Cookie scoop
- Baking sheets
Ingredients
- ½ cup granulated white sugar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar packed
- Zest of 1 large lemon
- ½ cup unsalted butter melted
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer or a large mixing bowl the sugars and the grated lemon zest using a fork or your fingers.
- Cream together melted butter and both sugars on high speed until light and fluffy.
- With the mixer on low speed add the egg, ensuring it is fully incorporated.Mix in the lemon extract, vanilla extract and fresh lemon juice.
- Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet, mixing until just combined and no specs of flour remain.
- Gently fold in the white chocolate chips being careful not to over mix the dough.
- Using a large cookie scoop drop dough balls onto a baking sheet. Refrigerate the cookie dough for a minimum of one hour and up to 24 hours.
- Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C) and line 2 baking sheets with silicone mat or parchment paper.
- Arrange cookie dough balls evenly on the baking sheets.Bake for 10-12 minutes or until edges are lightly golden.Once you remove the cookies from the oven, tap the baking sheet on the counter, this allows the cookies to flatten a bit and get ripples.
- Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Leave a Reply