Copycat Panera Lemon Drop Cookies

These dense, chewy, buttery lemon drop cookies are studded with white chocolate chips for a fresh and unexpected take on cookies, inspired by Panera’s Lemon Drop Cookie.

I’ll admit it. I’m a cookie snob. I love cookies. But mainly just my cookies. When I try other cookies I am invariably let down. They might even look chewy and delicious, like Subway’s cookies floating temptingly by the cash register, but they taste like sugar-coated nothingness.

So when I became the recipient of a free Panera cookie last summer, I was shocked to find that they were not only good, they were my-level good. Overcome with thoughts and emotions, I quickly returned to the register to buy one of every cookie, and sat there, analyzing bite after bite as if to figure out how and why they tasted so delicious.

My first attempt to replicate the cookie prowess of Panera came in the form of my popular Copycat Panera Kitchen Sink Cookie recipe. Don’t make these unless you’re planning on eating the entire batch in one go. Fair warning.

I had planned to try my hand at those dark, decadent Triple Chocolate Cookies next, until I bit into this Lemon Drop Cookie. Panera describes the cookie as a lemon sugar cookie, but to me it was too moist and chewy to be like the sugar cookies I knew of. It tasted more like a snickerdoodle or drop cookie spiked with lemon and white chocolate.

So, that’s what I did. I made a delicious buttery drop cookie with the perfect amount of fresh lemony flavor and dense white chocolate. Now, I know Panera dusts theirs with lemon flavored powdered sugar, but I didn’t see the need. Feel free to dust away on yours though!

Copycat Panera Lemon Drop Cookies

★★★★★ 4.8 from 13 reviews

• Author: Katelyn Masters
• Prep Time: 15
• Cook Time: 10
• Total Time: 25 minutes
• Yield: 36 1x

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Description

Chewy, buttery lemon drop cookies studded with white chocolate chips.

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Ingredients

3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 – 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 – 1/2 teaspoons pure lemon extract
zest of one lemon
2 eggs
1 – 1/2 cups white chocolate chips

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Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt and baking soda. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugars.

Mix in vanilla extract, lemon extract, and lemon zest along with one egg. Add second egg and mix.

Slowly beat in flour mixture in several additions, mixing lightly between each.

Fold in white chocolate chips.

Scoop golf ball sized balls of dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes or until edges are just turning golden brown.

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Notes

If time allows, chill dough before baking. I like to do this by scooping the dough into balls and placing them onto a single baking sheet or large platter, spaced very close together, then refrigerating them, covered, for about an hour or up to overnight. When baking time comes, move the balls to a new baking sheet, spacing them far enough apart to leave room for spreading.