White Chocolate Lemon Bar Cookies from Baking with Blondie

White Chocolate Lemon Bar Cookies - made dough July 1, 2023 from Baking with Blondie

1 cup unsalted butter, cold

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs, cold

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons lemon zest

1 tablespoon lemon extract

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips (reserve a handful to press on top after baking)

1 cup crumbled Lemon Oreos (reserve 1/4 cup to press on top before baking)

1. Preheat oven to 410 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter for 1 minute until light and fluffy. Add brown sugar and granulated sugar and beat for 3 minutes on high speed, scraping sides and bottom to keep texture even textured.
3. Add eggs, vanilla, lemon zest and lemon extract; mix until combined.
4. Add flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt on low speed until just combined; do not overmix.
5. Reserve 1/8 cup white chocolate chips and 1/4 cup crumbled lemon Oreos then mix in the rest on low speed.
6. Portion dough into 8 equal-sized dough balls. Flatten slightly and handpress crumbled lemon Oreos on top. Evenly space 4 cookies per baking sheet.
7. Bake for 7-9 minutes. They should be slightly golden on the outside, slightly mounded in the middle and thick/tall and gooey in the center. Remove from oven and gently press reserved white chocolate chips over each cookie. Let rest on baking sheets for several minutes then transfer cookies to wire rack to cool completely.

I've never had Lemon Oreos before, have you? I tend to be a purist so I've always stuck to the original Oreos. No double stuff, no weird filling flavors, no cakey Oreos (cakey Oreos, I mean why??)

But I've had good results from pretty much every recipe from Baking with Blondie so I decided to give this a try. I'm glad I did as these were excellent, as per usual with one of her cookie recipes.

I do advise not pressing the Lemon Oreo pieces or white chocolate chunks on the outside until after you take the cookies out of the oven, not before baking. White chocolate will burn too easily at the 410-degree temp the recipe calls for and won't look as pretty.

But look at the texture of the inside - that's what I'm talking about. Dense, chewy, moist. The lemon flavor came out well, thanks to the lemon extract as well as the Lemon Oreos; the lemon flavor also paired nicely with the white chocolate. I really enjoyed the cookie itself so next time I might cut back on the Lemon Oreos and just enjoy the soft texture of the cookie without too much crunch.