Lemon Blueberry Cookies

Lemon Blueberry Cookies make the magical and delicious combination of lemons and blueberries shine. They're delightful with your morning coffee, a satisfying sweet afternoon snack, and of course they're a most excellent after dinner dessert.

Lemon and blueberry is a classic delicious flavor combination. Fresh lemons in cakes, cookies and quick breads, always make for a lovely light summery dessert. (And of course they're equally as wonderful year-round.)

There is a secret easy "trick" in this recipe that's similar to the trick in my cookies with raisins, that make these blueberry lemon cookies a notch above others.

The trick: The lemon zest is first rubbed into sugar to release its natural oils, and this is then steeped in melted butter. These two things combined intensify the lemon flavor.

I think you're going to love them!

Jump to:

• The Ingredients
• How to Make Them
• Variations
• Recipe Tips
• How to Store Them
• More Blueberry and Lemon Desserts
• Lemon Blueberry Cookies Recipe

The Ingredients

• fresh blueberries - Look for blueberries with smooth skin that are deep purple to almost black in color. Fresh blueberries are always my first choice, but you can substitute with frozen or dried. Frozen wild blueberries are excellent, though a bit smaller. If you use either of the frozen blueberries, thaw them first, and if there's excess liquid, drain them also.
• granulated sugar
• lemon zest
• pure vanilla extract
• unsalted butter - Be sure to use unsalted!
• brown sugar - Light brown is preference for this recipe, but dark brown also works.
• Kosher salt - I always cook and bake with Kosher salt. If you use table salt, use half the amount.
• egg
• all-purpose flour - For a gluten-free version, this can be substituted with Cup4Cup Multipurpose Gluten-Free flour.
• baking powder - If you don’t bake regularly, it’s a good idea to check to be sure it's still good. To do so, pour a couple of tablespoons of boiling water over about ¼ teaspoon of the baking powder. If it starts to fizz, it’s still good.
• baking soda - Like the baking powder, If you don’t bake regularly, it’s a good idea to check to be sure your baking soda is still good. Pour a couple of tablespoons of vinegar or lemon juice over about ¼ teaspoon of the baking soda. If it starts to fizz, it’s still good.

(See recipe card below for quantities.)

How to Make Them

- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside.

- Combine the lemon zest with ¼ cup of the granulated sugar and use your fingers to rub the zest into the sugar. This intensifies the lemon flavor by bringing the natural oils to the surface.

- Add the butter to a small saucepan with the lemon sugar blend and the vanilla. Turn the heat to low to melt the butter. Once it's completely melted, turn off the heat and let it sit for about 10 minutes.

- In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk to blend and then gently combine it with the blueberries. This will help them not all sink to the bottom of the cookies.

- In another mixing bowl, combine the brown sugar and remaining granulated sugar with the melted butter-zest mixture. Mix it well, add the egg and mix until smooth.

- Make a well in the flour bowl and pour the wet ingredients into it. Use a rubber spatula to get every last bit. Then gently fold the two together.

- Use a 1 ½-inch cookie scoop to scoop the cookie dough into balls -- the bottom of each one should be leveled off. At this point, they can be place close together.

- Gently cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

- About 15 minutes before you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F and line a a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

- Add the now refrigerated balls of dough to the new parchment-lined baking sheet. They should be spaced a few inches apart. You should have about 9 per sheet.

- Bake in the preheated 350°F oven for about 14 minutes, turning them about halfway through.

- Repeat until you've baked all of them.

- Let them cool on the baking sheets for about 10 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack.

Variations

• If you want to add chocolate chips, white chocolate is lovely with lemon and blueberry. I also recently spotted cream cheese chips and lemon chips, which, if you can find them, would be fun. (I would add about 1 cup.)

Recipe Tips

• To intensify the lemon flavor further, add a teaspoon of pure lemon extract or lemon oil.
• These are soft cookies. If you let the cookies go a couple of extra minutes in the oven, they'll be crisper and slightly more firm.
• Don't skip the short refrigeration time. The cookies will be more plump if you do. If you don't, they'll spread more and be thinner.
• If you don't have cooling/baking racks, just cool the cookies on the baking sheets.

How to Store Them

• Once they're completely cooled, the lemon blueberry cookies can be stored in an airtight container, at room temperature a day or so. Since they contain fresh fruit, they will loose their crispness a bit faster than other cookies. ,
• If you don’t plan to serve them within the first day after baking them, you can freeze them.
• They can be kept frozen in an air-tight container for up to a month. (Longer is okay, but the longer they’re frozen, the more moisture they’ll loose.)

More Blueberry and Lemon Desserts

• Mini Lemon Berry Pavlovas
• Peach-Blueberry Cobbler
• Meyer Lemon Flan Recipe
• Blueberry and Strawberry Cookies
• Lemon Frozen Custard with Lavender
• Blue Corn Blueberry Chocolate Muffins

I hope you love every last crumb!