Lemon Blueberry cookies are beautiful and taste like pure sunshine

One of my friends I teach with requested this particular flavor a few months back, and I haven’t been able to get the idea of lemon and blueberry in a cookie out of my head since.

Still, I wanted to incorporate the blueberry into the cookie, not just on top like you’d get in a thumbprint cookie. Had I known that creating the marbling was this easy, I would have made these months ago.

Why lemon blueberry cookies will brighten your day

1. So soft: My everyday soft sugar cookies are already ultra soft and tender, but these little gems? They are the perfectly soft cookie you only dream about.
2. That color contrast: Always looking for more ways to make the decoration in the baking, the bold blue purple streaks against the pale lemon cookie base looks gorgeous without any extra work or time-consuming frosting application.
3. Lemons and blueberries are made for each other: Blueberries with their mild floral taste is instantly brightened with a shot of lemon. Pop that flavor in a cookie with its crisp edges and chewy centers, and you’ve got a cookie that tastes plain amazing.

Step by step process for making blueberry lemon cookies

1. Make the blueberry jam: Pour the berries and sugar in a small pot over medium heat with a tiny bit of water.  Cook the berries, stirring occasionally, reducing the heat slightly until the jam is quite thick.  When the juices are about the thickness of thick honey, turn off the heat and let the jam cool.
2. Make the cookie dough: Whisk the oil together with the vanilla and the lemon juice. Beat the butter in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer just to soften it.  Slowly drizzle in the oil with the mixer on until you have a smooth mixture of butter and oil.  Add in the sugars and beat to combine. Mix in the egg and lemon zest.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and then mix for a few more seconds until you have a very smooth batter. Whisk the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt in another bowl. With the mixer on, slowly add the flour to the liquid mixture just until combined.
3. Mix in the jam: Take the bowl off the mixer and spread the dough up the sides of the bowl. Use a spoon to dot the dough with the jam randomly over the dough.  Scrape the dough over itself to make random swirls of blue in the dough.  Only fold the dough 4 or 5 times so that you get the swirled look.  If you mix in the jam thoroughly, you’ll lose the marbled effect.
4. Scoop: Portion out the cookies with a 2 oz. scoop and place the dough balls 6 or 7 to a sheet.
5. Bake the cookies at 350 for 12 minutes total, pausing halfway through to rotate the pans 180 degrees and swap the position of the trays in the oven.

Tricks for making the best lemon blueberry cookies

1. Cook the jam until it’s thick: When you’re making jam in general, you can choose to keep cooking it if you like it thicker. Here, you want to cook it until the jam sits on a spoon without running off. Any liquid from the juices and sugar should be the consistency of thick honey. This consistency will keep the jam from adding too much moisture to the cookie which will wreck its final texture.
2. Reduce the jam if you use jarred jam: If you don’t make fresh jam for these cookies, simmer the jarred jam you have until it’s the same consistency as thick honey. Any visible liquid will seep into the cookies and it won’t be pretty.
3. Mix the lemon juice with the oil and vanilla: This way you can stream in the liquid ingredients while you’re beating the butter to make a creamy soft base before adding in the egg and dry ingredients.
4. Don’t get too aggressive with folding in the jam: Plop the jam over the dough and fold in the jam with 3 or 4 turns of a spatula and no more. The streaks of blue look cool! If you keep folding until the color is evenly distributed, you’ll lose the pattern.
5. Scoop, don’t stir: To keep the streaks in the dough after you’ve mixed in the jam, use a cookie scoop to gently portion out the dough, being careful not to disturb the dough too much while you’re scooping to preserve the marbled pattern.

Print