These blueberry lemon cookies have a bright lemon sugar cookie base studded with fresh blueberries and white chocolate chips.
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Why this Recipe Works
We use cream cheese in addition to butter to make these blueberry lemon cookies soft and STAY soft! While the sugar rolled on the outside of the cookies gives them a light and crispy exterior, while maintaining a tender interior.
The lemon flavor comes in a few different ways, the first being lemon zest. The lemon zest adds so much wonderful flavor, way more than the lemon juice alone ever could! Only a little bit of lemon juice can be added to this dough to avoid making the cookies cakey. We add just a little bit of pure lemon extract to make that lemon flavor really shine through in these blueberry lemon white chocolate chip cookies. .
The lemon pairs perfectly with the juicy blueberries and white chocolate and comes together for the perfect soft and chewy cookie!
And if you're a fan of fruity cookies try out our fruity pebbles cookies and strawberry jam cookies next!
Ingredient Notes
- Cream Cheese. Cream cheese makes these cookies soft and rich and keeps them soft for days.
- Sugar. We use only granulated white sugar in this recipe to keep the cookies light without overpowering the lemon sugar cookie flavor.
- Lemon zest & Lemon Juice. The lemon zest and juice adds a punch of fresh lemon flavor to these blueberry lemon cookies. Be careful to not get any of the pith (the white part of the lemon rind) when zesting your lemon—it is bitter.
- Lemon Extract. Lemon extract amps up the lemon flavor that we get from the lemon juice and zest without adding too much extra liquid.
- White Chocolate Chips. White chocolate chips add sweetness, a little texture, and pair perfectly with the lemon and blueberry flavors.
- Blueberries. You can use fresh or frozen blueberries, see our FAQ section for all the tips and tricks if you want to use frozen blueberries.
How to Make this Recipe
- Cream butter and cream cheese. Take your room temperature butter and cream cheese and cream together with the sugar until the mixture is completely smooth and fluffy (about 2 minutes).
- Add wet ingredients. Add in your egg, vanilla, lemon juice, lemon zest, and lemon extract and beat the mixture again for 1 minutes.
- Add dry ingredients. Add in the dry ingredients—salt, baking soda, and flour. Gently mix until the dry ingredients are just incorporated.
- Fold in mix-ins. Gently fold in the blueberries and white chocolate chips, trying not to mash them.
- Scoop & Freeze. Scoop 3-4 tablespoons of dough and roll them in sugar. Freeze the cookie dough balls for at least 1 hour before baking. (This is my favorite microplane to use for zesting lemons, and this is my favorite cookie scoop, I almost always use the 4 tablespoon one for perfectly sized cookies every time!)
- Bake. Bake the cookie dough balls at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 13-16 minutes—the edges of the cookies should be just barely golden. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Cool the blueberry lemon cookies completely before eating.
Frequently Asked Questions and Expert Tips
In this recipe you can use fresh or frozen blueberries. I’ve found that fresh works best, but in a pinch frozen blueberries will do. Frozen blueberries tend to release more liquid when baked and have a tendency to streak the cookie dough with purple. If you decide to use frozen blueberries, add them to the dough while still frozen (do not thaw)
Yes! If you do not have lemon extract or prefer not to use it, you can simply double the amount of lemon zest that goes into these lemon blueberry cookies.
Freezing the cookie dough is an important step in this recipe. This dough, because of the high amount of butter and the addition of cream cheese, is SUPER soft. So because the dough is looser than your typical cookie dough you need to freeze it to help the cookie maintain its shape in the oven. If you don’t freeze the cookie dough before baking them you’ll find that your cookies will melt into puddles and the texture of them won’t quite be right.
After you’ve creamed your butter, sugar, cream cheese, and eggs together, you’ll add in your dry ingredients. It’s important that you only mix this in until the flour and other dry ingredients just disappear. If you over mix the cookie dough the gluten in the flour will start to develop and your cookies will lose their tender texture and become dry and tough.
When you add in the blueberries, try to do it as gently as possible. The blueberries are fragile and have tendency to mush. So be careful when incorporating the blueberries so we can avoid mashed blueberries and streaking in these blueberry lemon cookies.
If you have a choice, when picking your blueberries, go for smaller blueberries. I've found that larger blueberries sometimes can burst in the oven, leaking juice, and can sometimes make them a bit too soft.
How to Store this Recipe
Room Temperature. These blueberry lemon cookies are okay at room temperature for 2-3 days. I don’t like to keep them in an airtight container because I’ve found the blueberries tend to make the cookies go a little soggy. I like to cover them loosely with a cloth overnight.
In the Freezer. One of my favorite ways to eat them is to freeze them! The cream cheese in the blueberry lemon cookies keeps them soft even when frozen. Plus freezing them is a great way to store them long term. You can freeze these lemon blueberry cookies for up to 2 months. But we all know they won’t last that long!
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Blueberry Lemon Cookies
blueberries, and sweet white chocolate chips. The sugar on the outside gives
them a crispy exterior, while the inside stays nice and soft.
Ingredients
- ¾ cup butter room temperature
- 4 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 1 ¾ cups granulated sugar + 5 tablespoons for rolling cookie dough in
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 teaspoons lemon extract
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 3 cups flour measured correctly
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- 1 cup fresh blueberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and either grease or line 2 baking sheets, Cream together butter, 1 ¾ cups of sugar, cream cheese, for 2 minutes until smooth and fluffy. Add in egg, vanilla, lemon extract, lemon juice, and lemon zest and beat for 1 minute.
- Mix in salt, baking soda, and flour by hand until flour is just combined. Then gently fold in chocolate chips and blueberries—try not to mash any of the blueberries.
- Place 5 tablespoons of sugar in a small bowl. Scoop about ¼ cup of dough and roll the ball of dough in the sugar. Freeze the dough balls for at least 1 hour before baking (You need to the freeze the dough or you’ll end up with cookies that look like puddles).
- Bake for 13-16 minutes until the edges of the cookies are just barely golden. Let cookies sit on the cookie sheet for at least 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. If you make small cookies be sure to decrease the baking time.
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originally posted August 22, 2018
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Phoebe
These cookies are a hit with my family. I made them 3 days ago and I’m already being requested to make them again haha…also I cut the cookie size in half because it just would have been too big for me….plus it ended up making 40 smaller cookies so you feel less guilty eating multiple lol. Amazing recipe! Thank you for sharing!
Robin
These cookies are my families new favorites! They even beat out my "famous" chocolate chip cookies that have always held that spot!! The only small tweaks I made were to decrease the lemon extract by 1/2 teaspoon and add additional lemon zest to replace it, and to cut sugar to 1 1/4 cups. This is a personal preference not a flaw with the recipe. Used fresh blueberries while they are in season but will keep frozen on hand for the out-of-season months. So glad I tried these!!
Nicki
I used Krusteaz GF flour and they turned out wonderful!
Liz
How many cookies does this make? I may need to cut the recipe in half due to the cookie balls needing to freeze an hour and having no room in my freezer!
In Fine Taste
Hi Liz, this makes around 20 cookies (3-4 tablespoons of dough per cookies). If you have room in your fridge you could scoop the cookie dough and lime the dough balls on sheet and refrigerate it for about 2 hours. Just make sure you wrap it well in plastic wrap so the cookie dough doesn’t dry out.
- Alyssa
Shelby
Super delicious! I used frozen blueberries and it worked wonderfully as well as adding some extra lemon juice and zest to make up for my lack of lemon extract and they turned out perfectly. I will totally make these again!
Claire
Do you use bleached or unbleached flour?
In Fine Taste
I typically used bleached, all-purpose flour.
- ALyssa
lori bartholomew
Amazing cookies , I doubled the recipe , I didn't make all the cookies , will the balls of dough that I left in the freezer be ok to make at a later time ?
In Fine Taste
Yes, you can freeze the cookie dough to bake at a later time. I'd let the cookie dough thaw for about 30 minutes before baking. You may need to add 1-2 minutes to the bake time.
- Alyssa
Jennifer
how long do they last for
counter life, refrigerator, freezer?
thank you
In Fine Taste
Hi Jennifer, they'll be good 2-3 days at room temperature, about a week in the fridge, and 3 months in the freezer.
- Alyssa
Suzie
Lemon and blueberry is the best when it comes to desserts and this knocked my socks off!!!! So so good.
Saraya
I don’t have any more lemon zest. Can I substitute it with more lemon juice? If so how much, thanks!❤️
In Fine Taste
Hi Saraya, I would not recommend adding any more lemon juice. You’ll end up with a very loose cookie dough and the cookies will be become very cakey. Most of the lemon flavor comes from the lemon zest, so just be aware of that if you decide to omit it.
- Alyssa
Courtney
Hi, can you make these with Gluten Free Flour?
In Fine Taste
Hi Courtney, I have never made these with gluten-free flour, I cannot personally attest to how they turn out. I imagine if you used a 1:1 gluten free baking flour that they'd turn out fine. If you try it out let me know how it goes!
- Alyssa
Kathy
I made these cookies and I didn't have any lemons so I added 1 tablespoon of limoncello liqueur for the substitute. I am definitely going to make these again, they were outstanding!
Jacklyn
Can you use frozen blueberry?
In Fine Taste
Hi Jacklyn, yes you can use frozen blueberries in this recipe.
- Alyssa
Lauren
I love this recipe so much! My husband asks for it as his birthday cake and I shared them at work and get told I should quit my day job and open a bakery with them haha. Do you think I could sub strawberries for blueberries just cut them up into smaller pieces? I
In Fine Taste
I'm so glad you guys loved these, Lauren! My Dad always requests these for his birthday too! I'm personally not a huge fan of fresh strawberries in cookies. They leak a lot of juice and I feel like the texture is always a little off. But try it for yourself and see what you think! I'd love to hear what you think. I think raspberries could be a great swap for blueberries in this recipe.
- Alyssa
Tracy
I haven't made yet but they are for my daughter's wedding shower next weekend. can't wait to make eat and serve if there are any left over!!
I'd like to reply to Lauren..
there is a recipe on pintrest for dried strawberries . my guess is if secured those dice up after they were done I bet this would be yum...
Kerrie
These were amazing, and disappeared so quickly; I’ve had 3 people ask me for the recipe already.
I doubled the amount of blueberries; although it made some cookies fall apart straight out of the oven, once they had cooled it wasn’t an issue at all. I would do that again, but perhaps freeze them for longer than an hour.
Jennifer Von Behren
These are amazing! I assume mine had too much flour as they didn't flatten out hardly at all. They weren't in the freezer longer than an hour. These cookies are delicious!! They definitely don't look like yours, but my husband told me to keep this recipe and that it's now one of his favorite cookie doughs to eat!