These lemon coconut white chocolate cookies are thick, chewy with a bright citrus flavour thanks to a secret ingredient — preserved lemon! These bakery style cookies are made with browned butter for a rich, nutty depth and toasted coconut for extra texture. Easy to make and perfect for baking ahead, these cookies are sweet, slightly salty and very moreish.
About These Lemon Cookies
These lemon cookies are a delicious chewy cookie flavoured with lemon, coconut and white chocolate. These are an amazing bakery style cookie that you'll want to make over and over again. There's a secret ingredient in them that really makes them pop with bright lemony flavour too! We are using preserved lemon paste in these cookies. This ingredient is usually used in savoury dishes but it's also great in sweet (see my preserved lemon & ginger cake).
Why You'll love These Lemon Cookies
These are chewy and thick cookies that taste like they came from a bakery. They're inspired by some preserved lemon cookies I had at Uptown Chunk cookie store in Potts Point.
We use browned butter to enhance the flavour and to make these tasty nutty and delicious. They're based on my recent jam toast cookies.
The preserved lemon is an intensely lemony and salty paste which I love because I love strong lemon flavours and salt in my baking. But use lemon zest if you prefer something more traditional!
Video How To Make Lemon Cookies
Video: How to Make Lemon Cookies
Ingredients For Lemon Cookies
Coconut - We use shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened) but you can also use desiccated coconut.
Butter - Salted butter please :)
Sugar - Caster or superfine and brown sugar so that the sugar and melt in the dough. Then we use icing or powdered sugar in the lemon drizzle.
Eggs - Eggs give the cookie rise and add moisture. Adding the extra yolk makes the cookie even more moist.
Bicarb - Keeps cookies tender and allows them to brown.
Baking powder - Gives the cookies a rise.
Salt - Fine or kosher salt
White chocolate chips - Look for chocolate bits rather than melts as bits contain cocoa butter and melts contain vegetable oil (cocoa butter tastes better!).
Lemon juice - Fresh or bottled lemon juice.
Tips For Making Lemon Cookies
1 - We toast the coconut first to bring out the flavour. Like nuts in baked goods, toasting the coconut really brings out the flavour of it.
2 - These cookies will spread if baked straight away. Refrigerating the cookies for anything from 2-48 hours controls the spread and improves the flavour of the cookie.
3 - Don't throw away the milk solids at the bottom of the pan when you brown the butter. They are filled with flavour! I usually cook some rice in the same pot and it flavours the rice beautifully.
4 - The baking time depends on how long they've been refrigerated. You may need to add another minute or two if the cookies have been refrigerated for over 2 hours. I usually bake these for the full 13 minutes.
Preparation time: 25 minutes plus overnight chilling time
Cooking time: 12 minutes per tray of 6
Serves: 12
Ingredients Needed
For Cookie
60g/2oz shredded coconut
120g/4oz butter
50g/1.7oz butter, cold, cubed
165g/5.8oz caster or superfine sugar
60g/2oz brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons preserved lemon paste or lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla
200g/7oz plain all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarb
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
150g/5ozs white chocolate chips
For Icing
toad
- 100g icing or powdered sugar
- 2-3 teaspoons lemon juice
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1 TOAST - Gently toast the coconut in a large, dry frying pan on medium heat. Turn frequently and allow become golden and toasty. Set aside.
Step 2 BROWNED BUTTER - In a small saucepan on medium heat, add the 120g/4oz of butter. Allow to melt and bubble and when it smells toasty, remove from heat (the telltale visual sign is when you get lots of bubbles and there is a brown patch in the bubbles). Drain the butter from the solids with a sieve and set aside 80g/2.8oz of this melted, browned butter.
Step 3 BEAT - In a mixer bowl, add the liquid brown butter, cubed butter and white and brown sugars and beat for 2-3 minutes on medium high speed until smooth and pale. Scrape down the sides and add the egg, egg yolk, preserved lemon and vanilla and beat for 1-2 minutes. Whisk the flour, bicarb, baking powder and salt together and then add this mixture to the mixing bowl on low speed until just combined (or do this by hand). Stir in chocolate chips until evenly distributed.
Step 4 SCOOP - Line 2 large containers with lids with baking paper. Take a 60g/2oz scoop and scoop out 12 balls of cookie dough and place on the parchment. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, up to 48 hours.
Step 5 BAKE - Preheat oven to 190C/374F fan forced or 210C/410F conventional. Place 6 balls of chilled dough per tray 2 inches apart to account for spreading. Bake for 11-13 minutes. Allow to cool completely. If the cookies aren't perfectly round, use a large round cutter or mug to nudge it back into shape while it is still hot out of the oven (will only work within 2 minutes of it coming out of the oven).
Step 6 ICING - To make the drizzle icing, sift icing sugar until there are no lumps and gradually add in the lemon juice by the teaspoonful until you get an icing that is spoonable. Drizzle over cookies and allow to set.
Personal Note
Someone that loves it when I bake cookies and breads is Teddy Elliott. I've mentioned before that he absolutely loves carbs despite his tiny frame. Croissant crumbs? He's your boy. Milo is too - somewhat, but really he considers crumbs a bit too insignificant. Teddy looks upon a croissant crumb as if he is being bestowed a gift. He's a bit Dobby at times.
We consider ourselves quite good dog parents but we recently figured out that we weren't. Teddy was never a big eater. He and Milo eat in the kitchen but in different areas. Milo eats near a window and Teddy tucked away behind the kitchen island and they can't see each other. But I always got the feeling that Teddy wanted to eat more but his slightly bigger and significantly more boisterous younger brother could be intimidating as far as food was concerned. Teddy would always leave 15% of his food which we dubbed the "protection fee". We would usually try and pack it away so that Milo wouldn't eat it but sometimes we wouldn't be quick enough.
One night when Mr NQN was out, I took Teddy's food to my office and shut the door to give Teddy some privacy. He looked up at me and then down at his food. And then he just devoured the whole lot without stopping. And now every lunchtime and dinner, that's where Teddy now eats his dinner, in peace without the shadow of his brother hoping for a share. We feel terribly guilty because he had 3 years of this and I hope that tiny Teddy forgives us. I also sneak him some baking crumbs too!
So tell me Dear Reader, would you prefer these with preserved lemon or lemon zest?
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