These blueberry lemon cookies have a bright lemon sugar cookie base studded with fresh blueberries and white chocolate chips.
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!
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
- 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 in your egg, vanilla, lemon juice, lemon zest, and lemon extract and beat the mixture again for 1 minutes.
- Add in the dry ingredients—salt, baking soda, and flour. Gently mix until the dry ingredients are just incorporated.
- Gently fold in the blueberries and white chocolate chips, trying not to mash them.
- 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 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)
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.
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!
If you're a fan of blueberries and lemon check out these other favorites!
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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.
Notes
Nutrition
originally posted August 22, 2018
These turned out super yummy the only thing I would cut back on is the salt 1 teaspoon was too much even when I cut back on that. But other than that they are really yummy and I like how poofy they are
I've made these cookies 3 times and they always turn out perfect! My grown kids love these so much too that they always come over for them!
The flavor and texture of this cookie is fabulous. When my son tasted it he described it as refreshing. But, 1/4 cup is just too too big of a cookie. I made the recipe exactly as it was posted but I was afraid to try and adapt the size because I did not want flat cookies. I will make them again and try to make them smaller. This recipe is a keeper.
These were DELICIOUS ! Thank you for posting!
Tasted like some we got at a bakery.
thanks again!!
These cookies are delicious! We liked them so much that my daughter asked me to add them to her dessert table for her upcoming wedding! My question is, do you think I can I freeze the dough balls 2 weeks ahead and then just bake them 2 days before the wedding to save time?
Hi Julie!
I am so happy you guys liked them! These are my Dad's absolute favorite cookie of mine. I think you should be fine to make and freeze the dough ahead of time. You might need to let them thaw out for 20 minutes before baking so they spread properly. They only thing I can think of that might change from freezing them is that the blueberries might bleed a little more after being frozen. I hope that helps, and let us know how it goes!
- Alyssa
Is it necessary to add the white chocolate chips?
Hi Julie, You can omit the chocolate chips if you wish, but they do pair nicely with the fresh blueberries and lemon zest! If you choose to omit the white chocolate chips, I would suggest adding an extra 2-3 tablespoons of flour to help compensate for some of the lost volume from the chocolate chips. I hope that helps!
- Alyssa
These cookies are fantastic! We just recently started doing homemade cookies, this recipe is great, our favourite thus far
Thank you so much
What type of flour do you use?
Hi Melinda, I just use all-purpose flour!
- Alyssa
Can you substitute dried blueberries in this recipe?
Hi Cindy, I would not recommend using dried blueberries. Part of what makes these cookies so good is the fresh blueberries paired with the fresh lemon taste, I don't think dried blueberries would have the right flavor or texture to go with them.
- Alyssa
Found your recipe and decided to try them for our groups annual youth cookie bake for elderly friends. Wanted something different from the usual and boy did this do the trick! My new personal favorite cookie as well. Taste is amazing without being overly sweet and the combination of flavors is amazing. A big hit here at home and to those that we made them for.
I almost never leave comments, but these are so amazing. I have made several batches now. I love that they bake from frozen so I actually freeze the dough balls, put them in a bag in the freezer and then when I need a quick dessert, pop them out and bake and have fresh cookies. My husband, who prefers chocolate and usually only eats one of any sweet I made has declared these the best cookies ever and he always eats several.
Yes! So glad you love them! And i always keep cookie dough in the freezer for this very reason! Though I really like these cookies (once baked) frozen too, it might sound weird, but try it next time!
- Alyssa
Mine are still ball shaped after cooking. What am I doing wrong? Flavor is amazing
Glad you love the flavor!
It's hard to say exactly why they're not spreading without me being there. But the first things I would check, are: Are you making them big enough? I like to use 1/4 cup of dough when i make these, and as weird as it sounds, the bigger the cookie, the better it spreads.
You can also give the cookie sheet a good bang on the counter when they come out of the oven and that will help them spread too!
I hope that helps!
- Alyssa
Do you use unsalted or salted butter in this recipe?
Hi Chelsea! I typically used salted butter, but you can definitely use unsalted. I would add an extra 1/4 teaspoon of salt to the recipe if using unsalted.
- Alyssa
They turned out perfect! Brought them to our local Blueberry Jubilee Party and they were everyone’s favorites! Sent the recipe to so many that asked for it! It’s everyone’s new favorite cookie! Thank you!
That is so great! That makes me so happy to hear, so happy they turned out and everyone loved them 🙂
- Alyssa
Question: Am I baking the cookies as 1/4 cup balls or do I make smaller ones to bake?
Hi Kathy! 1/4 cup cookie dough balls are the size I’ve found best for the best crispy and soft cookie ratio with these cookies! So, yes, you’re leaving them in 1/4 cup size balls for baking.
- Alyssa
Made these before and they were delicious! I am making them again but not baking till the next day do I have to defrost before sticking them in the oven? They will be in the freezer overnight before baking. Do they need to be stored in a certain way when you freeze them?
Hi Reena, so glad you liked the cookies!
I would scoops them and then freeze them with parchment paper or wax paper in between the layers of cookie dough to make sure they don’t stick together. I’ve never baked them from frozen over night, I would let them sit out for about 15 minutes before baking and them! You’ll have to let me m ow how they turn out after you bake them.
- Alyssa
Hi Reena, just wondering how your cookies turned out after you froze the dough overnight? I’d like to do this too for a party this weekend. It’ll be much easier to prepare these the day before & just bake the day of. Thank you!
I baked them both after 1 hour in the freezer and after being frozen overnight and they baked up almost identically for me!
Made these for my family to munch on during quarantine - they LOVED them! My kiddo usually o my likes chocolate chip, so this is a big deal. I made sure that the dough was frozen before baking - boy, that is SUPER important! Even frozen, my dough balls spread a lot during baking. Didn’t stop any of us from eating them up though!
These cookies were the perfect thing to make for our party. I made them a week in advance and froze them. They turned out great! Have to say they were a favorite at our party! Will be making them again soon.
Thank you so much Kristen!
- Alyssa
Can u substitute egg in this recipe? My son has egg allergy.
Thanks,
Nicki
Hi Nicki, I have personally never tried substituting egg in this recipe so I cannot say how it will turn out! If You try something let us know how it goes, we'd love to hear what you used and how it turned out!
- Alyssa
Can we use a different kind of flour to make them gluten free? What would be best?
I've never tried a gluten-free flour, so I cannot say for sure how they will turn out. But I did have one or two people message me that they have tried bob's red mill gluten free baking flour and had good results. So if you do try something, I'd love to know how it goes!
- Alyssa
would it be advantageous to use frozen blueberries so they don't smash while icing?
Hi CJ, I typically use fresh blueberries and don't have too many problems with them getting smashed while gently folding them in. Frozen blueberries would definitely be less likely to smash and bleed than defrosted blueberries! Give it a try!
- Alyssa
These cookies are so unusual and delicious. Its fun to serve something different.. Each time I serve these, there are no left overs!
These cookies are ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!!! They top my list of favorite cookies EVER, and my family agrees! I made them exactly as directed, and they turned out beautifully. They are a bit more work than your average cookie, but it is well worth it! Thank you so much for this recipe!
Yay! Nothing makes us happier than to hear that someone loves our recipes as much as we do!
I just made this this evening.. very delicious. Would they stay good in the refrigerator longer? If I freeze them, can I heat them back up in the microwave? Thank you. 🙂
I've never tried refrigerating them, so I can't say! You should be able to warm them up in the microwave after freezing them, just be careful when warming them up in the microwave or they can burn or get super melty very quickly!
- Alyssa
I’m wanting to make these, but question the fresh blueberries available, has anyone done frozen blueberries in there? They’re typically good for baking…?
Hi Hanna, I think fresh blueberries are always best in this recipe but Frozen blueberries will work too! You will probably get some bleeding from the frozen blueberries when mixed into the dough, but other than that it shouldn't be a problem.
- Alyssa