White Chocolate Lemon Cookies with Toasted Coconut

We’ve had such terrible weather in the Seattle area lately that it seems like February outside. I’ve been getting away with making wintery things just because the weather has been so dreary. Well, I’m hopeful that the sun will eventually make an appearance, and I wanted to bake something a little more summery.

I went out searching on the Internet, trying to find something with lemon. I then remembered that I had white chocolate chunks at home and changed my search for lemon white chocolate cookies. I found a lot of lemon bar cookies with white chocolate, but that wasn’t exactly what I was looking for. I came across these cookies and they looked perfect. Lemon, white chocolate and toasted coconut had to be good.

These have a nice buttery flavor and a good crunch from the coconut. The lemon flavor is there but it’s not too strong. They are really easy to make, as simple as a chocolate chip cookie, but they seem a bit more special. They are certainly a cookie for sunnier days, and I just hope that the weather will cooperate soon!

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
2 1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Zest of 2 lemons
1 cup shredded coconut
6 oz. white chocolate chunks
1/2 cup shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread all the coconut on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for 3-5 minutes. Set toasted coconut aside. Line baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the sugar, brown sugar and butter until thoroughly combined and fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla, and lemon juice until combined. In a small separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture beating at low speed until just combined. Stir in the lemon zest, 1 cup of coconut, and white chocolate chunks.

Roll dough into 1-inch balls. Dip each formed ball in the ½ cup coconut. Place prepared balls on the prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 10-13 minutes. Let cool 2 minutes on cookie sheet before transferring to a wire cooling rack.

Recipe from Goodlife Eats