These chewy lemon white chocolate cookies with fresh lemon zest are easy and delicious. These cookies are bursting with bright citrus flavor and the perfect amount of creamy white chocolate. They don't require chilling, so you can make them in no time at all!
Place rack in center of oven. Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit (177° Celsius, Gas mark 4).
To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the granulated sugar. Zest the lemons directly over the bowl to catch the zest and citrus oils. Massage the zest into the sugar until it is moist and yellow. Add the butter. Cream the butter and lemon sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Add lemon oil, egg, and salt and mix until fully incorporated. Scrape down sides of bowl.
1½ teaspoons lemon oil, 1 large egg, ½ teaspoon kosher salt
Add flour and baking soda. Mix on low speed until just a few flour streaks remain. Use a spatula to scrape down the bowl and incorporate the last of the flour.
180 grams (1½ cups) all purpose flour, ½ teaspoon baking soda
Use a spatula to stir in the white chocolate chunks.
85 grams (3 ounces) white chocolate
Using a 1½ Tablespoon cookie scoop (medium, size 40), portion 6 scoops of dough out onto a parchment lined rimmed baking sheet.
Bake one sheet of lemon white chocolate cookies at a time for 9-10 minutes. Cookies should still be pale, just turning golden brown on the bottom and somewhat soft in the center. They will continue to cook on the hot baking sheet and will firm up as they cool.
Immediately after removing cookies from oven, place a round cookie cutter or the rim of a wide drinking glass around each baked cookie and gently swirl the edges of the cookie. This will push the cookie into a uniformly round shape.
Fully cool cookies on the baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough.
Notes
Make sure the butter and sugar are well creamed together. This takes about 2-3 minutes on medium speed. Creaming helps dissolve the sugar and adds air to the butter. This provides additional volume to the cookie dough.Lemon oil - I use lemon oil (affiliate link) in this recipe to add an extra boost of lemon flavor to the shortbread. Lemon oil is concentrated and helps achieve a powerful citrus tang. I find it much more flavorful than lemon extract.For uniformly round lemon white chocolate cookies like you see in my photos: immediately after removing cookies from oven, place a round cookie cutter or the rim of a wide drinking glass around each baked cookie and gently swirl and nudge the edges of the cookie inward. This will push the cookie into a uniformly round shape.