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Satisfy your sweet tooth with these delicious White Chocolate Key Lime Cookies. Made with zesty lime and creamy white chocolate chips, these cookies are the perfect treat for any occasion.
A while back, the hubby and I were trying to decide on dessert for the evening. We kept going back and forth about what we wanted. Then our dear friends stopped by and voted for trying out a new cookie, the Key Lime Cookie. I actually really liked them. I would have liked a touch more lime in mine, but everyone else liked them as they were, so I guess I’ll go with the majority vote.
Now I’ve circled back to this cookie recipe and updated it. You know I added more lime this time around, but feel free to dial it back if you want a more subtle lime flavor. This is the best key lime cookies recipe!
Ingredients For Key Lime Cookies?
There are no surprises here! Just your typical cookie-making ingredients, plus some fresh lime juice and zest, and white chocolate. That’s all you need! Here is your ingredients list:
- Flour: just regular all-purpose flour
- Baking Soda: acts as a leavening agent to give the cookies their rise
- Salt: enhances all the flavors
- Butter: unsalted butter is preferred, and you want it softened
- Sugar: adds sweetness
- Brown Sugar: adds additional sweetness and a deeper, richer flavor
- Egg: gives the cookies structure and binds all the ingredients together
- Vanilla Extract: adds flavor
- Limes: You definitely need fresh limes for the zest and juice; either regular limes or real key limes work great
- White Chocolate Chips: or white chocolate chunks work great too
The measurements for all the ingredients can be found in the recipe card at the end of the post.
How to Make Key Lime Cookies
These white chocolate key lime cookies come together quickly and are bright and zippy. Before you know it, your kitchen will smell like buttery citrus heaven. I promise you’ll be eating these cookies straight off the counter before they even have a chance to fully cool.
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpats.
- Dry Ingredients: Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.
- Wet Ingredients: In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Then beat in the egg, key lime juice, and vanilla until smooth.
- Combine: Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Stir: Add the white chocolate and key lime zest to the dough and use a wooden spoon to stir them in.
- Scoop: Use a cookie scoop or spoon to drop spoonfuls of dough onto the prepared baking sheets.
- Bake: Bake the cookies for 8-9 minutes, and be sure not to overbake them.
- Cool: Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes and then move them to a wire cooling rack.
Keep scrolling through the post down to the recipe card to see all these instructions in full detail.
Can You Use Regular Limes Instead of Key Limes?
Key limes are smaller and are more sour and a little bitter compared to regular limes. They are commonly used in baking because of their bold flavor, but you can use regular limes in place of key limes for this recipe.
Tips for the Best Cookies
Don’t Overmix: Once the wet and dry ingredients are combined, stop mixing. Overmixing develops gluten and will make the cookies tougher instead of soft and tender.
Don’t Flatten: Resist the urge to press down the dough before baking. These cookies are meant to bake up thick, soft, and chewy.
Don’t Overbake: Pull the cookies out when the edges are just turning golden. They will continue to set as they cool on the baking sheet, giving you that perfect soft center.
Variations For Key Lime Cookies
I’m obsessed with the combination of white chocolate and citrus flavors. There’s just something magical about the brightness of the citrus with the comforting creaminess of vanilla white chocolate chips. So, of course, I’ve had to try similar flavor combinations with lemon and orange flavor! Try our orange creamsicle cookies and our glazed lemon cookies!
If you want to go on a flavor adventure with this key lime cookie recipe, add ½ teaspoon of coconut extract to this recipe and ½ cup of coconut flakes. That’s a special shout-out to all my coconut lovers out there!
Storage and Freezer Instructions
Properly stored, freshly baked cookies will keep for about 2 to 3 weeks at room temperature. Soft cookies should be stored in an airtight container to keep them tender, while crisp cookies do best in a container with a loosely fitting lid.
For longer storage, these cookies freeze very well for up to 3 months. To freeze, place the fully cooled cookies on a baking sheet and freeze for 1 to 2 hours until firm, then transfer them to heavy-duty freezer bags to store.
Lime lovers unite! I love lime in desserts! Whether it be lime cheesecake, key lime pie, or torta de limão, I am there for it! These white chocolate key lime cookies are the perfect combination of vibrant lime and creamy white chocolate! They taste incredible, and the texture is muah! Yummmmmm!
More Irresistible Cookie Recipes:
- White Chocolate Raspberry Cookies
- Biscoff Stuffed Snickerdoodle Cookies
- Bakery Style Chocolate Cookies
- Glazed Lemon Cookies
- Lemon Drop Cookies
White Chocolate Key Lime Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 ½ Cups Flour
- ¾ teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 1 Cup Butter, unsalted, softened
- ½ Cup Sugar
- ½ Cup Brown Sugar
- 1 Large Egg
- 2 Limes, juice
- ¼ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 2 Limes, zest
- 6 Ounces White Chocolate Baking Chips, vanilla, Choc-Au-Lait
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- In a bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.2 ½ Cups Flour, ¾ teaspoon Baking Soda, ½ teaspoon Salt
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until light.1 Cup Butter, ½ Cup Sugar, ½ Cup Brown Sugar
- Beat in the egg, lime juice and vanilla until smooth.1 Large Egg, 2 Limes, ¼ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- Slowly add flour mixture until combined.
- Stir in the lime zest and white chocolate or vanilla chips.2 Limes, 6 Ounces White Chocolate Baking Chips
- Drop rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Do not flatten cookies; it will make them dry.
- Bake 8-9 min. or until golden brown around edges. Do not overcook! Cookies will be plump.
- Cool for several minutes on cookie sheets before transferring to rack to cool completely
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
These cookies are sooo good! Everyone loved them! I wanted a little more lime taste so I had lime icing on top of them. Delicious!!
Hi Annelie! That is perfect! I’m always for more citrus flavor! So glad you enjoyed them!
Limes vary by a lot. How much lime juice do you use? The recipe does not specify.
Can’t wait to try this recipe..
Hey Peggy! It ends up being about 1 Tablespoon of lime juice. You’re going to love this one!!
I love this recipe, thanks alot. ,I use Ghirardelli whit bars and bake 9 min and 10 min , high alttitude ,also made it with lemon instead and was awesome ,like lemon cake
Thank you so much for the feedback Brad!
I made these today…they are very yummy! Really the flavor is great. But, they spread and were too cakey. Did not look like the picture at all. I did not add too much flour, or overmix; I experimented with oven temperature and refrigerating the dough and the texture was still off. Thank you for the recipe though, I like to try new things 😉
Oh darnit! We’ve made them a ton and they always turn out. What fat did you use, butter, margarine or shortening?
I used unsalted butter. Seems like when I stray from my tried-and-true recipes, I get cakey cookies. Happened with the cookie recipe on the back of the Imperial margarine box too when I needed sweets in a hurry. Luckily my kids are not picky like their mama 😉
shoot, I’m so sorry. I would just recommend creaming the butter and sugar longer, or use a little less lime juice as maybe I’m heavier handed with the flour. We actually love to skip lime in this recipe and use chocolate chips. It’s delicious!
can I ask you all something without appearing to be rude in any way ?
you all are saying .. you love or can’t buy “key limes” … that’s leaving me confused …
I always thought that “key lime” meant kiwi and lime … but I see the recipe doesn’t call for kiwi …
so, what exactly IS key lime ?
and someone mentioned the “bottled stuff” … bottled lime juice or something else ??
please someone let me know, these cookies look and sound amazing !!
thank you !!!
Hey Laura,
Key limes are like little baby limes in size. They taste a little bit different from a normal lime, but not enough to really tell a difference. Since they are mostly in Florida and that area they are hard to find out west, but in the juice isle, by lemon juice they often have bottled key lime juice so I use that or normal limes.
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Hugs, Cathy
I want to make these cookies and am wondering if you used actual key limes (as implied in the title), or regular limes (as implied in the ingredients list). Of course if you have ever worked with key limes, you know there is a big difference between the flavor and size of the two. Thanks!
Hi sarah, I have such a hard time getting Key Limes here in Utah. They are either sold out or not sold at all. I had to use limes a few times to perfect this recipe, after the first time using key limes. So annoying, but since the recipe turned out so yummy I just put the limes. That first batch was awesome with key limes though. I wish I could get my hands on freshies, but maybe next time I’ll see how the bottled stuff goes.
I think that Sarah was trying to find out — as I am — about the quantity of lime juice and zest to use in the recipe. Key limes will obviously yield a lot less juice and zest than regular limes — and boy are they a pain to juice! I am fortunate that not only do I live in Florida, I have a key lime tree in my back yard! Since I’m making these cookies now and don’t have time to wait for a reply, I’m going to use 6 key limes instead of 2. Thanks for the recipe — I’ll let you know how they turn out!
Update — the cookies turned out great! My boyfriend loved them. However, next time I think I’ll use a bit more key lime juice.
Thanks Rosemarie! I love when people take the time to come back with updates. We’ve found that the zest can help pull more flavor without changing the texture so maybe we will try it now with more zest!
Oh, you are so lucky! Key limes are so hard to find around here that anything using lime is called key lime just because we can’t get it. I’ll get experimenting though
I love anything lime flavored- these cookies look so good! With a tall glass of iced tea, they'd hit the spot. 🙂
Yummy these sound so good I will need to add them to the must try stack lol
Ashley
http://www.thedailysmash101.blogspot.com
These sound just yummy. I love Key Limes and most of the time, except right now we have them around the house. Also congrats on your Knorr Spokesmanship! Joni