Easy Lemon and Blueberry Cookies

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These soft and chewy lemon and blueberry cookies are bursting with fresh flavor from juicy blueberries and bright citrus. With a tender, cakey texture and no chill time required, this easy recipe is perfect when you want a quick, fruit-forward treat. Made with fresh blueberries, lemon zest, and lemon juice, these cookies strike the perfect balance of sweet and tangy in every bite.

Pile of baked blueberry lemon cookies, sitting on a wooden cake stand.

Whether you're baking these for a spring brunch, birthday party, or simply craving a blueberry-packed dessert, these chewy cookies are a fun, easy twist on sugar cookies. They're also a perfect cookie for spotlighting seasonal fruit.

From strawberry filled vanilla cupcakes to this lemon berry mascarpone cake, I love finding ways to incorporate fruit into desserts. If you're in the same boat, here are a few more fruity recipes you might enjoy:

Blueberry and pear crumble - Juicy and satisfying with tons of fruit flavor 🍐
Blueberry filled cupcakes with basil buttercream - This combo of ingredients is so good. Don't knock it 'til you've tried it! The basil frosting gives it such a refreshing taste. 🫐
Chocolate cake with strawberry filling - This cake is a total showstopper and is perfect for the chocolate lover in your life. 🍫

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💙 Why You’ll Love This Recipe for Lemon and Blueberry Cookies
📋 Cookie Ingredients
Best Results: Baking in Grams
📖 Step-by-Step Cookie Instructions
❓Common Questions
⭐️ Tips for the Best Lemon and Blueberry Cookies
💡Recipe Variations
📝 Tips for Cookie Storage
More Fruity Dessert Recipes
Soft Lemon and Blueberry Cookies

💙 Why You’ll Love This Recipe for Lemon and Blueberry Cookies

No chill required – These cookies go straight into the oven once mixed. No need to refrigerate or rest the dough.
Quick recipe – From start to finish, you can eat one of these cookies within an hour of beginning to mix your ingredients!
Fresh and bright flavor – A triple dose of lemon (zest, extract, and juice) brings lots of citrusy zing to balance the blueberries.
Soft, tender texture – The chewy texture here leans toward a cakey cookie.
Simple ingredients – You likely have everything you need in your pantry already.

Overhead image of the ingredients for lemon and blueberry cookies.

You'll find all the ingredients in the recipe card below, but here are a few key players that bring both flavor and structure to these chewy lemon blueberry cookies:

Unsalted butter, room temperature – Helps create soft, tender cookies with a delicate crumb.
Granulated sugar + tablespoon of lemon zest – Rubbing zest into the sugar releases oils for bright citrus flavor.
Fresh lemon juice (or bottled) and lemon extract – This one-two punch, on top of lemon zest, gives the dough a zingy taste!
Almond and vanilla extract – Adds depth and a subtle bakery-style sweetness.
Baking soda and baking powder – This combination lifts the cookies while controlling spread.
Kosher salt – A must for balancing sweetness.
All-purpose flour – For best results, weigh with a kitchen scale. If you don’t have a scale, the spoon-and-level method is the next best option, but I highly recommend getting yourself a scale!
Fresh blueberries – Use smaller blueberries for more even distribution. Avoid frozen ones, which can bleed color and alter texture.

Best Results: Baking in Grams

If you’re not already, use a kitchen scale for accuracy in baking.

While I include cups and grams in my recipe cards, weighing your ingredients and writing or following a recipe using a standard metric like grams ensures consistency.

I highly recommend investing $30 or less in a kitchen scale.

1. Preheat the oven and prep pans. Set your oven to 350°F.

You don't necessarily need to line your baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. However, because these cookies are more cakey, I do find that lining the pans is helpful for easier release.

2. Infuse the sugar. In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the granulated sugar and lemon zest. Mix on low speed with an electric mixer for 1–2 minutes to release the lemon oils.

3. Cream the butter and flavorings. Add room temperature butter, vanilla extract, lemon extract, almond extract, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Beat on medium-high speed for 3–5 minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy. Pause to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Mixing bowl with dough for lemon and blueberry cookies.

4. Finish making the dough. Stop the mixer and add your egg, lemon juice, and flour. Beat until smooth, about 45 seconds.

5. Fold in blueberries. Using a silicone spatula or large spoon, gently fold in the fresh blueberries by hand. The dough should be soft but hold its shape. If the blueberries are bursting, that’s totally okay. They bake up really nicely.

Folding blueberries into mixing bowl of dough for cookies.

6. Scoop, space, and bake. Use a cookie scoop or larger spoon to portion the cookie dough into golf ball-sized mounds. Place cookie dough balls about 2 inches apart on the lined baking sheet for best results. Bake for 17-19 minutes.

Dough balls for lemon and blueberry cookies, sitting on a cookie sheet.

7. Cool. Let the baked blueberry lemon cookies sit on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes (or until they're cool enough to handle). Transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Pile of baked cookies, packed with blueberries and lemon zest, sitting on a baking sheet.

❓Common Questions

I have a cookie recipe that calls for lemon zest. Can I just use lemon juice instead?

Lemon juice adds moisture, which can throw off the dough’s consistency. Your cookies may turn out too wet and not bake properly. Use lemon zest when a recipe calls for it.

If you don't have it, you could add a bit more lemon extract. It's more concentrated than lemon juice, so you can add a lot of flavor without adding an excessive amount of moisture.

How do you keep cookies from spreading?

Too much butter, not enough flour, or overly warm dough can cause spreading. Stick to the measurements and bake on cool, lined baking sheets.

Should you refrigerate this cookie dough before baking it?

If a recipe calls for you to refrigerate any kind of dough before baking it, do it!

This is a no chill recipe, though, so that isn't necessary here.

What other fruits pair well with lemon flavor in baking?

Among other fruits, lemon pairs well with berries. I use it to brighten up the flavor of the roasted strawberries in this vanilla cake with strawberry filling and many of my cupcake recipes.

Can I use frozen blueberries instead of fresh?

You can, but fresh blueberries yield a better result.

Frozen berries can release excess moisture and bleed into the dough, affecting the texture and color.

⭐️ Tips for the Best Lemon and Blueberry Cookies

Here are a few general tips to keep in mind for this recipe, and baking in general:

Periodically check the freshness of your leavening agents. Mix a pinch of baking powder with hot water to see if it reacts. For baking soda, you can mix a pinch of it with a few drops of something acidic, like vinegar or lemon juice. If your leavening agents have no reaction (i.e. you see no fizzing or bubbling), it means they also won’t help your ingredients rise during the baking process.
Before diving into the recipe, clear your workspace and set out all your ingredients in front of you. This will make it less likely that you’ll forget to leave something important out of your mixing bowl!

💡Recipe Variations

Alternative berries: A friend of mine has really enjoyed making this recipe with raspberries in lieu of blueberries! I think most berries around the size of a blueberry would work well.
Extra fruity flavor: Freeze-dried fruits are some of my favorite ingredients in baking. When I want to punch up fruity flavor without adding liquid to a baked good (which can negatively impact the outcome and make it too runny), freeze dried fruit is a go-to. For some added flavor, consider adding a teaspoon or two of freeze dried blueberry, raspberry, strawberry, or another berry powder of your choice to the dry ingredients. And if you're a freeze dried fruit fan, see my raspberry cream cheese frosting, mango buttercream, and blueberry cream cheese frosting for more inspiration on this front!
Different citrus: Instead of lemon zest, use orange or lime zest.

I've personally not tested this recipe with the swaps above. But if you change the recipe, I'd love to hear how it turned out in the comments below!

ISO more cookies with fruity flavor? Try my pink sugar cookies or strawberry sandwich cookies. 🍓

Room temperature - This batch of cookies will still taste fresh at room temperature in an air-tight container (around 70°F) for about 3 days.

Refrigerating - Instead of refrigerating them between servings, I'd recommend freezing them. Bring them out in small quantities at a time if you plan to share them over the course of more than 3 days.

Freezing - They also freeze well for up to three months in an airtight container.

I add wax or parchment paper between the layers as I stack them.

To enjoy, let them come to room temperature before serving. You may also gently warm them for a few seconds on low power in the microwave.