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These Lemon White Chocolate Cookies are buttery soft and bursting with bright lemon flavor! Made with fresh lemon zest and creamy white chocolate chunks, the cookies have the perfect balance of creamy, sweet, and tangy in every bite. If you love bakery-style lemon cookies, these are the cookies to make!

Soft and buttery lemon sugar cookies already hard to beat, but when you add white chocolate into the mix – it takes it to a whole new level! These chewy Lemon White Chocolate Cookies are lemony and sweet with just the right amount of tangy, with creamy white chocolate tucked into every bite.

Lemon White Chocolate Cookies 🍋

Lemon desserts have my heart because they’re sweet, fresh, and a little tart in the best way. And these cookies are giving bakery-style without being fussy! They have crisp edges, soft chewy centers, and a lemon flavor without being overpowering. Oh and those sweet white chocolate chunks? They enhance the buttery flavor of the cookie so perfectly! As a certified lemon lover, this lemon cookie recipe hits every time!

Flavor Note 🍋

A lot of lemon cookie recipes call for fresh lemon juice, but I found that it doesn’t add much flavor once the cookies bake. Since lemon juice mostly evaporates in the oven, the real lemon flavor comes from fresh lemon zest and lemon emulsion — or lemon extract, if that’s what you have. So for this cookie recipe, skip the lemon juice and save it for my lemon bars or lemon curd cake instead. That’s where the tangy lemon juice really gets to shine!

Key Ingredients

(full list of ingredients can be found in the recipe card)

Lemon emulsion is going to give you the best flavor — it’s my secret ingredient 😊 Unlike lemon extract, lemon emulsion is water-based, so the flavor doesn’t bake out as much. It gives these cookies a bold, bright, bakery-style lemon flavor.

A 4 oz bar of white chocolate is my go-to for this recipe! I prefer it over white chocolate chips because chopped white chocolate melts into the cookies better and gives you those creamy little pockets in every bite. White chocolate chips work too, but a chopped bar makes the cookies feel a little more bakery-style and special.

A mix of bread flour and all-purpose flour gives these chewy cookies their signature texture. The bread flour adds chew and helps the cookies stay thick, while the all-purpose flour keeps them soft and tender. Together, they help prevent too much spreading and give you cookies with crisp edges, soft centers, and that perfect chewy bite.

A tiny bit of almond extract enhances the lemon flavor. You won’t really taste almond in these cookies, but it adds a little warmth and depth that makes the lemon taste even brighter. It’s one of those small ingredients that quietly makes the whole cookie better.

For more lemon recipes, make my lemon meringue cake and no bake lemon icebox pie!

How To Make Lemon White Chocolate Cookies

These step-by-step photos are here to guide you through the process. If you’re ready to get started, scroll down to the recipe card for the full recipe or tap “Jump to Recipe” for the full printable version with measurements and instructions.

Step 1: Cream the butter, sugars, and lemon zest. Start by rubbing together lemon zest and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Fit with the paddle attachment, then adding brown sugar and butter and mixing until light and fluffy. This helps build that soft, chewy cookie texture while pulling all those bright lemon oils into the dough.

cookie dough in the bowl of a stand mixer.

Step 2: Mix in the eggs and flavor extracts. Add the egg and egg yolk, then mix in the vanilla extract, lemon emulsion, and a tiny splash of almond extract. The lemon emulsion gives these lemon white chocolate cookies that bold, bakery-style tart lemon flavor, while the almond adds a little something special in the background.

cookie dough balls on a baking sheet with white chocolate chunks pressed into the tops of the cookies.

cookies on a baking sheet spaced out before baking.

Step 3: Add the dry ingredients and white chocolate.
Mix in the bread flour, all-purpose flour, baking soda, and kosher salt just until combined. Then fold in chopped white chocolate or white chocolate chips. (Reserve some chocolate to press into the top of the cookie ball, totally optional but fun!)

Step 4: Chill, roll in lemon sugar, and bake.
Scoop the dough into large cookie dough balls and place onto a baking sheet. Chill for 1 hour, then roll each one in fresh lemon sugar before baking. Bake for 13-14 minutes (or 9-10 minutes for smaller cookies), until the edges are set and the centers are puffed.

a hand dunking a cookie into a glass of milk.

Pro Tips For Success

Be sure to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. This ensures that the cookie dough is mixed properly.
Use a kitchen scale to measure your ingredients for the best results. Flour can be easy to overmeasure with measuring cups, which can make the cookies dry or too thick. A scale keeps the recipe consistent every time.
Fun tip: Add a few drops of yellow food coloring to make the cookies look extra lemony! This is totally optional, but it gives the cookies that pretty bakery-style lemon color.