This Panera Lemon Drop Cookie recipe is packed with a sweet and tangy lemon flavor and loaded with white chocolate chips. They’re crispy on the outside and chewy in the middle, making for the perfect copycat recipe for all lemon lovers!
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You’ll never have to return to Panera Bread again, now that you have this delicious lemon drop cookies recipe in your back pocket! Using simple ingredients, you can make this copycat Panera lemon drop cookie recipe anytime!
Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the printable recipe card. Happy baking friends!
The Players for this Lemon Drop Cookie
Ingredients:
- Butter –I’ll be using salted butter, but you can use unsalted butter if you have that!
- Sugar – Plain white sugar is all you’ll need for the lemon cookie dough.
- Eggs – Two large eggs at room temperature is what we’ll be using.
- Lemon Juice – Fresh lemon juice is essential for this favorite Panera lemon drop cookies recipe. Using real lemon juice will bring out a vibrance and freshness to our cookies.
- Lemon Extract – Using pure lemon extract will bring forward that fresh lemon flavor in conjunction with the lemon juice.
- Lemon Zest – You’ll need 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon zest.
- Flour – All purpose flour is what you’ll need for these lemon white chocolate cookies.
- Leaveners – You’ll need to use both baking soda and baking powder per the ingredients from Panera’s website.
- White Chocolate Chips – One cup of white chocolate chips is needed for our lemon sugar cookies.
- Powdered Sugar – A light dusting of powdered sugar will go over the tops of our cookies once they have cooled completely.
Tools:
- Cookie Sheet – You’ll need some cookie sheets to bake our delicious cookies on. While I love to use the Williams Sonoma Gold Touch Baking Sheet when baking cookies, these baking sheets look like a great dupe!
- Silicone Mats – To bake our Panera’s lemon drop cookies, you’ll need either some parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
How to Make Panera Lemon Drop Cookies Recipe
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and set it aside.
In a large bowl of a standing mixer with a paddle attachment, begin to cream butter on low speed for 1 minute. Add in your sugar and beat for an additional minute.
Add in your two eggs and mix well.
Pour in your lemon juice, lemon extract, and lemon zest into the bowl, and mix well.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients of flour, baking powder, and baking soda.
Add flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix for 1 minute. You might need to grab a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
To your cookie dough, add in your white chocolate chips and stir.
Bake the Lemon Drop Cookies
Drop 1/4 cup size dough balls onto your prepared cookie sheets, ensuring to leave enough space in between the cookies for them to spread. This will make 5-inch cookies, so aim for about 6 cookie dough mounds per cookie sheet.
Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes until golden brown on the edges of the cookies. Place the cookies on a wire rack to cool completely.
Once the cookies have cooled, dust the tops of the cookies with powdered sugar. Enjoy!
Baking Smaller Cookies
If you don’t want large 5-inch cookies like Panera Bread’s Lemon Drop Cookies, you can make 2-inch dough balls and bake them for 11-12 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Storage and Freezing Instructions
To store your baked lemon white chocolate chip cookies, keep them in an airtight container or wrapped in plastic wrap. They can be kept at room temperature for up to 4 days on your counter.
If you don’t want to bake all of the cookies at one time, you can freeze the dough and use it in the future! Make a disc shape out of the lemon cookie dough and wrap it in saran wrap. Place it into a freezer bag and it will keep in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Pin it for Later!
If you end up making these Copycat Panera Lemon Drop Cookies, leave me a comment. I’d love to chat with you!
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Panera Bread Lemon Drop Cookie (Copycat Recipe)
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter (2 sticks)
- 1 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 4 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp lemon extract
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 2 3/4 cup flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a standing mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the softened butter for 1 minute. Add in your sugar and beat for an additional minute.
- Add in your eggs and mix well.
- Pour in your lemon juice, lemon extract, and lemon zest and mix well.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and baking powder.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix for 1 minute. Use a rubber spatula along the sides of the bowl to scrape any dough that is not being incorporated.
- Add in your white chocolate chips and mix.
- Drop 1/4 cup size dough balls onto your prepared baking sheet and bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool completely on a wire rack.
- Once the cookies have cooled, dust with powdered sugar. Enjoy!
Deuteronomy 31:6 - "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”
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