Lemon Crunch Oreo Cookies

I was looking around for cookies to make with our sunnier weather and I came across a couple of variations of this Lemon Crunch Cookie. The recipes vary a little bit, but most are flavored with lemon and white chocolate chips, then include chopped vanilla or lemon Oreos. That couldn’t possibly be bad, right? I picked this recipe and thought it would be great. I figured I might change the ratio of white chocolate chips and Oreos, but that’s not too significant.

This is a pudding cookie, which means you add pudding mix to the dough. The original recipe calls for lemon pudding, but there was a note in the recipe that lemon flavor may be difficult to find. That was true in my case, and I ended up using vanilla pudding mix and added the zest of a lemon. I guess I never look too closely at the variety of puddings available for purchase, but I suppose they are somewhat interchangeable.

This dough comes together easily, and I ended up using about a cup of white chocolate chips and 14 of the Lemon Oreo thins. I don’t know if they make non-thin lemon Oreos, but these were pretty good and I am happy to report that there are lemon Oreos left over for eating. The dough is soft and sticky, but that isn’t uncommon for a puddling cookie. These cookies browned quickly, so you do have to watch the timing, Other than that, they are a lovely cookie that makes a generous amount.

Lemon Crunch Oreo Cookies
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
3 ounce instant lemon pudding mix
½ teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
14 lemon lemon Oreos, chopped
1 cup white chocolate chips

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Mix on medium until
incorporated. Add the pudding mix, salt, and eggs and stir again to combine. Stir in the vanilla. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour and baking soda, mixing until the dough forms. Fold in the chopped cookies and white chocolate chips.

Shape the dough into 1-1/4” balls and place on the prepared baking sheet. Press additional chopped lemon Oreos to the top of the cookies if desired.

Bake for 9-11 minutes, until lightly browned along the edges. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Shugary Sweets