I call these Florida Lemon Cookies because they taste like Florida and they were inspired in Florida! These are made with fresh lemon zest and juice, coconut, white chocolate chips and walnuts – they are so darn good!
We visit my parents every year in Florida. It’s such a fun trip – Raya LOVES to swim and loves the beach. Nora is just 14 months so she didn’t care really, but she did love the sand and surprisingly, didn’t stuff her mouth with it!
Anyway, we went to the clubhouse for lunch one day and they brought out these lemon cookies with the check. I didn’t think much of it…I gave one to Raya and she ate it…of course she did. It’s a cookie!
We brought them home.
That afternoon, I made my usual cup of coffee and I decided to try one.
I couldn’t believe it. It was one of the best cookies I had ever eaten. It was obvious they were lemon. I was like YUM. Then I noticed the coconut and the walnuts and I was like SO YUM. So I ate another one…but this one was different. A lemon cookie with white chocolate in it. I liked that one, too!
Dead. Just dead. I loved everything about these cookies. I immediately knew that when I got home, I had to recreate my Florida Lemon Cookie experience.
I decided to make one cookie with all the goods in it – a simple chewy cookie dough mixed together with fresh lemon zest, lemon juice, walnuts, white chocolate chips and coconut. Everything you need in a dessert.
The cookie dough batter was INSANE. I couldn’t stop eating it and actually got a stomach ache from it…it was worth it.
These are a soft and chewy cookies and they have so much texture which I LOVE.
I gave a few to my friend and she freaked out…said they were everything she wanted in a cookie.
This kind of stuff makes me happy! This is why I blog about food.
I hope you try these out. I really do because out of all the cookies, I’ve made, these are in the top 5. They’re so unusual but in the best way possible!
- 2½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) room temperature unsalted butter (if you use salted butter, omit the salt above)
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- zest of two lemons
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
- 1 cup chopped walnuts (macadamia nuts would work too, just chop first)
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Measure out the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda and salt) into a bowl and mix; set aside
- Using a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (hand-held works too), cream together butter, granulated sugar and light brown sugar until smooth; scraping down sides of bowl as necessary.
- Next add lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla extract and mix until incorporated, again scraping down sides of bowl.
- Add the egg and mix well. The dough will look lumpy. Mix until it smooths out.
- Next, with mixer on low-speed, slowly add the bowl of dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated. It's okay if there is some flour on the sides of the bowl.
- Lastly, stir in the coconut, walnuts and white chocolate chips.
- Measure about 1½ tablespoons of dough, drop on cookie sheet and bake for 9-12 minutes. You should be able to fit 12 cookies on your cookie sheet. They shouldn't spread much. Mine baked for 11 minutes. Do not over bake or else they won't be chewy. Bake just until they puff up and the very bottom is golden. Let cool on cookie sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.
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