Lemon and White Chocolate Cookies

These lemon and white chocolate cookies are ooey gooey with slightly crisp edges. They are perfect to satisfy your summer cravings and you can always have a batch of them frozen for yourself throughout the year if you’re a big chocolate chip cookie person like me. I love everything about these cookies from browned butter and white chocolate to the fact that they are NO chill cookies. Trust me, if you’ve been looking for a perfect chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe, you’re at the right place. Oh and I almost forgot to mention, if you’re looking for a very small batch lemon white chocolate chip cookies recipe that you can just bake and eat right away? This is it. Scale it as you like to make anything from 3 to 24 cookies! 

INGREDIENTS YOU WILL NEED:

• Unsalted butter, browned: Browned butter gives a far better flavour and a richer texture. You must always start with a larger quantity of butter as compared to what you finally need browned at the end. Read below on how to brown butter. It is very important to cool the butter once browned. I also prefer to use unsalted butter because salted butters have varying amounts of salt content in them and it is always a good idea to add it on your own and avoid your bakes from being too salty.
• Sugars: You will need both brown and granulated sugar for this recipe. Adding a higher amount of brown sugar as compared to granulated sugar adds a richer texture, chewiness and moistness to your cookies. I highly recommend using light brown sugar as it has a lower content of molasses and thus give a more well rounded flavour to these cookies. 
• Eggs: Use large eggs and bring them to room temperature before mixing in. Eggs strengthen the binding of your bakes and also add moisture. Having your eggs at room temperature makes it easier to incorporate them and allow them to mix thoroughly in your cookie dough. A good way of doing this is by letting them sit in a bowl filled with room temperature water for around 10 minutes or until they come down to room temperature.
• Fresh Lemon Juice: You can use large or mini lemons in this recipe. Fresh lemon juice adds a slightly tangy flavor to these cookies which goes very well. You can use store bought lemon juice or equal quantities of lemon extract alternatively. 

• All-purpose flour: I highly recommend weighing all your ingredients using a kitchen scale for accurate recipe results. If you’re using cups, don’t scoop your cup into the flour. Spoon the flour into your cup and level it off with the back of a knife.
• Leaveners: You will need a quarter teaspoon baking soda to make these cookies. Check the expiry date on your baking soda to make sure they’re still fresh!
• Salt: Adding a pinch of salt helps to balance out the flavours in the cookies. I have added sea salt for a little extra flavour however you can use normal iodised salt too. However you will need flaky sea salt to top these cookies.
• Fresh Lemon Zest: You can use large or mini lemons in this recipe. You will need freshly grated lemon zest to add in the cookie batter as well as for topping baked cookies. Even though this is an optional ingredient in the filling, I highly recommend adding it.
• White Chocolate Chips: I highly recommend using good quality baking sweet chocolate chips or chocolate bars (I use callebaut) to ensure the best flavor. Couverture chocolates are made of cocoa butter as compared to regular compound chocolates which are made of saturated fats like oil. You can use dark, white or milk chocolate chips to make this recipe, however I highly recommend using white chocolate chips.

BAKE ALONG WITH ME:

Here are step by step photos and instructions on how to make the best white chocolate cookies lemon! For the full ingredient list and instructions, scroll to the recipe card at the end of this post.

Step 1: Prepare baking sheets, lined with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

Step 2: Sift together the all purpose flour, baking soda, and salt in a mixing bowl. Toss in the fresh lemon zest to add lemon flavor. Mix until combined. 

Step 3: In a separate bowl, melt and brown the butter. Add the brown sugar and granulated sugar and mix until combined. Add in the eggs and fresh lemon juice. Whisk together until fully combined.

Step 4: Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Mix until evenly combined. A few streaks of flour remaining is okay. Toss in the white chocolate chips and mix until combined. 

Step 5: Roll the cookie dough into ~70g balls and place on the prepared baking sheet. Press some more white chocolate chips on top.  

Step 6: Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes. Cookies will continue to bake as they cool. 

Step 7: Take a bite. Enjoy!

FAQ

Secrets to Success for this White Chocolate Raspberry Blondies Recipe

These homemade easy lemon and white chocolate cookies, are meant to be soft and gooey on the inside with crisp, chewy edges. They are crazy simple to make and they’re almost impossible to mess up. There are however a few universal truths when it comes to making foolproof cookies that you’ll need to keep in mind!

• Measure the flour carefully. Too much flour in the mix is the number one reason why cookie recipes fail. Excess flour makes cookies {and most other baked goods} dry and prevents them from spreading in the oven. Carefully spoon your flour into the measuring cup and then level it off with the flat edge of a knife. Whatever you do, don’t scoop the flour directly from the bag or container with the measuring cup as it causes the flour to be packed in too tightly.
• Use high quality chocolate. It is so so important to use good quality white chocolate chips in these cookies. Not only do they enhance their taste a lot but also help you get those melty pools of chocolate. And I mean who doesn’t love those in every single bite right? I use Callebaut or Guittard chocolate. They’re both amazing. Whatever you do, don’t skimp on good chocolate for the very best flavor. These cookies are as good as they are because they’re basically a 1-to-1 ratio of chocolate to cookie dough. Yes please!
• Use room temperature ingredients. You know the drill my friends. For a smooth, lump free batter be sure your eggs are all room temperature. For best results, take your ingredients out of the fridge the night before you bake these soft and chewy cookies. Cold ingredients do not emulsify well and can lead to a lumpy, bumpy batter that bakes unevenly. By beating together room temperature eggs with the sugar, you’ll create chewy cookies that are still sturdy enough but also will be light. For best results, leave your ingredients out the night before you bake these blondies.
• Do not over mix. I can’t stress enough on this. You want to keep the stirring at a minimum for these white chocolate cookies to bake perfectly. Stop mixing once the dry ingredients are combined in the batter. A few streaks of flour remaining is okay!
• Do not over bake: For those soft, gooey centers be sure to pull the cookies from the oven when the edges are set and golden brown and the center of the cookie is puffed and pale. The middle of the cookies might seem slightly under baked but the residual heat from the pan will continue to bake the cookies once they are removed from the oven. Once the cookies cool they will have perfectly soft and chewy centers.
• Don’t skip the lemon zest! Just a little sprinkle of zest enhances the flavor of the massive amount of lemon and chocolate found nestled inside the cookies. I could tell you it’s optional, but I’d be lying. The added zest doesn’t make these cookies overly sour. Just a pinch of it is like a chef’s kiss to these lemon chocolate chip cookies.
• Round the cookies. These cookies are pretty much round when they come out of the oven. They will of course taste incredibly delicious and you may not want to wait anymore to have them. But if you want to get perfectly round cookies, this is the time to put in those extra 2 minutes of effort. Take a cookie cutter of a slightly larger size than your cookies and place the even edge around the cookies on the baking tray. Round the cookie 2-3 times so that it takes the perfect shape. The cookies are soft at this time and thus take the shape of the cookie cutter. This is also a great way to cover up your baking fails if two cookies have stuck together. This will do the trick by separating them into two beautifully round cookies. 

Last but not the least

All of the recipes on the blog are thoroughly tested multiple times and carefully designed so that anyone can reproduce these delicious baked good in their own kitchen and enjoy them to the fullest. The only way to make this possible is when anyone can exactly replicate the measurements and temperatures.

• In order to standardise the way ingredients are measured, I highly recommend that you weigh them in grams. Volume measurements are nearly not as accurate and have a lot of scope for errors. To precisely be able to replicate the recipes, all you will need is a kitchen scale!
• Every oven heats up differently. Your oven might be over heating or under heating by around 50 degrees or more and you might not even know. In order to ensure that you are baking at the right temperatures, I highly recommend investing in an oven thermometer!

If you would still like to bake using volume measurements, I mentioned those below. However, I primarily test my recipes in grams and cannot promise the best results if you do so. Trust me, once you’ll start using these tools you’d never want to go back.

MORE LEMON RECIPES FOR YOU?

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