Are they dessert or breakfast? Does it really matter? You’ve landed in blueberry paradise and you’re going to love every single bite! These soft blueberry muffin cookies are irresistible. Packed with blueberries and brightened with a hint of lemon, these cakey cookies taste like muffin tops and are so easy to make. Top with sparkling sugar and a sweet lemon glaze for a truly unforgettable treat!
As soon as I made a successful batch of lemon ricotta cookies, I knew I was in trouble. A giant new world of soft cakey cookies was right in front of me and I couldn’t soften butter quickly enough (check out that trick if you haven’t already—it might come in handy!). While dense and chewy cookies will always have my heart, I have definitely undervalued soft, cakey cookie for too long.
Adapted from my blueberry muffins, these blueberry muffin cookies tastes like a cross between blueberry muffins, blueberry scones, and butter cookies. You will INHALE them.
Tell Me About these Blueberry Muffin Cookies
- Texture: The super-soft cookie contrasts beautifully with the crunchy sugar-coated top and crumbly edges. (Same great textures you experience when you eat scones.)
- Flavor: Rich buttery centers with juicy sweet-tart blueberries, a sugary coating, and a tangy lemony glaze. What’s not to love here?
- Ease: Simple. With fresh, easily accessible ingredients, anyone can make these mouthwatering cookies.
- Time: With minimal chill time, you can have 3 dozen cookies prepped and ready to bake in about an hour.
Video Tutorial
Blueberry Muffin Cookies: What Works & What Doesn’t
Here are a few tips and helpful hints I learned while testing these blueberry muffin cookies.
- Be careful with those blueberries. Fold them in very gently. If you’re too rough with the batter, the berries can burst and tint your cookie dough green.
- Minimal dough chilling. The dough is thick—sort of like a cross between cake batter and cookie dough. When you have an especially thick cookie dough, that usually means it’s sturdy enough for minimal dough chilling. Just cover it and pop it in the refrigerator for 30-45 minutes before scooping and baking.
Choosing the Right Ingredients
Even if you have a shocking amount of self-control around baked goods, these blueberry muffin cookies are too tempting to resist. These key ingredients/additions will make sure of it:
- Coarse sugar: For a contrast of texture, the cookies can be sprinkled with coarse sugar before going into the oven. You could also sprinkle it on top as the baked cookies cool. Either way, you’re promised a sparkly crunch. I love adding coarse sugar to my strawberry biscuit cookies, too.
- Lots of blueberries: Every bite of this cookie has a juicy blueberry. They’ll burst open, leaving beautiful purple streaks down the tops, which look beautiful under the lemon glaze. (Who isn’t a sucker for a pretty cookie?)
- Lemon glaze: Smooth lemon glaze finishes the blueberry muffin cookies. This glaze is slightly different from the lemon glaze on my lemon ricotta cookies. I subbed some half-and-half in for the lemon juice so it’s a little creamier. You can skip the dairy entirely and just use all lemon juice if you prefer.
While these blueberry muffin cookies taste good without the crunchy sugar topping and lemon glaze, they definitely taste better with both.
Use a Cookie Scoop
This is a thick and sticky dough, so a cookie scoop is ideal. Scoop 1.5 Tablespoons of dough for each cookie onto the baking sheet, evenly spacing them 3 inches apart. I like this cookie scoop for measuring the dough.
If You Love Blueberries:
- Blueberry Muffins
- Lemon Blueberry Scones
- Homemade Blueberry Pie
- Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins
- Lemon Blueberry Cake
- Blueberry French Toast Casserole
Blueberry Muffin Cookies
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 32-36 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Adapted from my Blueberry Muffins, these soft and cakey blueberry muffin cookies are completely irresistible. Packed with blueberries and a hint of lemon, these cake-like cookies taste like muffin tops and are so easy to make. Top with sparkling sugar and lemon glaze for a truly unforgettable cookie!
Ingredients
- 2 and 1/2 cups (313g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (12 Tbsp; 170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 cup (60ml) milk
- 2 cups (280g) fresh or frozen blueberries
- optional for a little crunch: coarse sugar
Lemon Glaze
- 1 and 1/2 cups (180g) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) fresh lemon juice
- 1–2 Tablespoons (15-30ml) half-and-half (or heavy cream or milk)
Instructions
- Make the cookies: Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.
- With a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together on high speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl as needed. With the mixer running on low speed, add the egg, vanilla extract, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Beat on medium-high speed until combined. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl as needed. With the mixer running on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients and milk. Beat everything just until incorporated. Do not overmix. Dough will be very creamy, sticky, and thick. With a spoon or silicone spatula, carefully fold blueberries into cookie dough. Handle with care because some may break a little. Cover dough tightly with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 30-45 minutes and up to 2-3 days.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. (Always recommended for cookies.) Set aside.
- Remove cookie dough from the refrigerator. Scoop cookie dough, about 1.5 Tablespoons each, and place 3 inches apart on the baking sheets. If desired, sprinkle each with a little coarse sugar. Gives the cookies an extra crunch. Bake for 15-16 minutes or until a cookie springs back when lightly poked with your finger. (That’s how I test them!)
- Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely before glazing.
- Make the glaze: Whisk the confectioners’ sugar, lemon juice, and half-and-half together until smooth. Add more confectioners’ sugar to thicken or more lemon juice/half-and-half to thin, if desired. Spoon over cookies. If applied lightly, the glaze will set within a couple hours.
- Glazed cookies will stay fresh covered at room temperature for 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: You can chill the cookie dough in the refrigerator for up to 3 days (see step 2), but you can also freeze it for up to 3 months. Allow to thaw overnight in the refrigerator before baking. Unglazed and baked cookies freeze well for up to 2-3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before glazing and serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Glass Mixing Bowl | Silicone Spatula | Baking Sheet | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | Medium Cookie Scoop | Cooling Rack | Coarse Sprinkling Sugar
- Blueberries: If using frozen blueberries, do not thaw. Frozen blueberries have the tendency to bleed quite a bit in the batter/dough. I prefer to use fresh.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
These were so good!! They are fluffy like muffins but crispy at the edges like cookies! I could eat 5 at a go if I didn’t stop myself. I did leave out the coarse sugar & lemon glaze as I’m giving these to my 22 month old too. Also ended up baking them for ~25mins in total. Yielded 31 cookies for me!
Hi! These look delicious- I’m wondering what difference it would make to use salted butter?
Thank you!
Hi Beth, If using salted butter you can try cutting the added salt in half to 1/8 tsp.
Thank you so much for your reply! Will it affect the flavor of the cookies at all? Using salted butter? Thank you again!
Hi Beth, The flavor should still be the same! We usually use and recommend unsalted butter so that we can control the exact amount of salt in our baked good. When you use salted butter, you have no idea how much salt you’re using because it varies between each brand you see at the store. If you are interested in more details you may enjoy this post: Salted Butter vs Unsalted Butter in Baking.
I am just awaiting the dough that is in the fridge currently. I didn’t have lemon and wish I had read the reviews before using Orange extract. The juice I used was cranberry. This should be interesting. I’ll let you know how they turn out!
Hi can i use dried blueberries instead?
Hi Donna, You can definitely use dried blueberries. You can use the mixer to beat in 1 and 1/2 cups. If you think it needs more, add another 1/2 cup.
Hi Sally. Is there any way I could use anything besides the lemon for the glaze? Like, something to make it taste like bananas?
Hi Megan, The glaze is very forgiving and you can definitely change the flavor. We haven’t tried banana, but you can leave out the lemon juice and/or substitute any flavor extract or juice you wish.
Hi Sally! If you don’t have brown sugar, is there anything else that would work well as a substitute? Thanks!
Hi Melanie! You could try using coconut sugar to replace the brown sugar or just use more regular white granulated sugar.
Great concept, followed exactly and they were a giant flop. Scraped the “cookies” into a bowl and served with ice cream. It was not my day for baking… I will stick with blueberry muffins.
These cookies are so weird- in the most amazing, wonderful way!!! I took a bite of the cookie, expecting a buttery crumbly texture, but was pleasantly surprised with a cakey texture that resembles that of a muffin top! Will definitely be making these again :). Thank you so much Sally!
Just fantastic!
Hi Sara, I’m glad you enjoyed these cookies– they become quite soft while storing since they’re so cakey. If you find they’re too soft and even soggy, exposing them to air will help– only keep them slightly covered.
I made this today using frozen cranberries instead of blueberries, orange instead of lemon, and almond extract instead of vanilla because I love cranberry-orange cookies. Same quantity. I love the cookies as is, no glaze. Next time I have blueberries, I’ll bake the blueberry-lemon cookies. Thank you sooo much Sally for all the wonderful recipes.
My friend made these for me two years ago and I was obsessed with them so I found the recipe and I am still making them to this day!!!!!!! Every time I make them I have to force myself not to eat the whole batch! They are so addicting!!! I wish I could give more than 5 stars. Now I’m gonna go eat some more haha!
I have made cookies in the past with berries – found that fresh berries will pop when trying to fold them in. Your recipe states this is a thick and sticky texture – what is your recommendation in folding in the berries without bursting???
Thank you!!!
Hi Monika, a very light hand and very slow folding. Fresh (and cold) blueberries that are on the firmer side are easiest to fold in.
I personally don’t like anything blueberry, but I love these
I didn’t have lemon at my house, so instead I used some almond extract and put some almonds on top before baking. There were so delicious. Thanks for sharing such great recipe.
These are so soft and delicious! Luckily I was able to share some with my neighbor or else I would have eaten the whole batch by myself.
Hi am I able to substitute the butter with oil?
I don’t recommend it!
Hi Sally,
I definitely want to make these, but I was wondering if I can reduce the sugar amount, 150g seems to be way too much since my family doesn’t really like super sweet things. And do you have to use milk or can I use alternative like almond or soy? Thanks.
Hi Veronica, you can certainly test the recipe with less sugar. The texture (as well as the taste, obviously) will change. Feel free to use nondairy milk if you’d like.
Hi Sally,
I just made this recipe a few days ago and they taste amazing. I tried to test out the recipe in small batches but I don’t think I added enough flour (I kinda divide the recipe into 3 so I ended up adding 70g of all purpose + 2 tbsp), so it ended up spreading quite a bit, even if I chilled the dough both in the fridge or freezer. Perhaps I should add more flour next time. And now that I made this recipe. I just thought of making a banana bread cookie would be a great idea. Can you please make a recipe on that in the future???
My family loves these Cookies and we are on our third batch in two months.
Tasted like a blueberry muffin but with a lemon cookie! THE BEST EVER!
I made these tonight. They were amazing. These cookies will be in my cookie rotation from now on. The glaze made them even better.
Thanks so much for this cookie recipe!
quite possibly the best cookie i’ve ever had in my life 12/10 would definitely recommend, drooling
The fresh blueberries exploding in your mouth pair perfectly with these soft, fluffy cookies! Great texture, and plenty of lemon!
The citronella flavor and soft texture of these cookies cannot be beat! The blueberries are difficult to mix in without turning the dough a yucky blue color. I skipped chilling the dough and went right to shaping the cookies, then chilled them. This helped with the bleeding. I also decided to use organic Irish butter. So worth it. Can’t wait to make these again!
These blueberry cookies are delicious. The blueberries are extra large from Costco. after the dough was chilled overnight, it would not form a ball I’m the cookie scope. I added the 1/4 cup milk and balls were formed. Bake for 16 minutes, the cookies were moist. Since only I would eat them afraid they would go mouldy do put them in fridge. How long they would be good for and if I can warm them up before serving them to my granddaughter when she visits?
I’m glad you enjoyed them, Louisa! Glazed cookies will stay fresh covered at room temperature for 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. For longer storage please see the make ahead directions in the recipe notes!
I followed this recipe to a tee with 2 exceptions. I don’t have coarse sugar, and the tester I made needed a little sweetness on top so I sprinkled regular sugar. Tasted great.
Also; I’m a lover of nuts in all of my baking. So I decided to add some chopped pecans in the batter.
Listen to me closely………do yourself and favor, and add chopped pecans.
It’s ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS in this recipe.
I read other comments and had no problems with blueberry bleeding or anything.
Even with the glaze, the sweetness of this recipe is very subtle.
My one and only complaint, which has nothing to do with the recipe, is that my blueberries turned out to be a little more tart than I care for. But certainly not bad enough to make me not eat these delicious cookies
So so yummy! Just glazed a single cookie because I was so impatient! Delicious!
Tried out this recipe and it was great! Unfortunately, I didn’t have lemons at the time so I only used milk and added some yuzu in the cookie. 🙂 they tasted fantastic tho and really soft. The dough came out a little too sticky and was hard to work with, do you have any tips for that?
Blueberry muffins are one of my favorite things, and these tick all the boxes of an awesome after dinner treat! Another great one Sally!
made it yesterday with frozen blueberries and as you mentioned, a little touchier to work with (a few bursts!) and my cookies may’ve been a little more purple than yellow but still tasty! Definitely recommend the glaze with it. I liked how it wasn’t overly sweet and had that wonderful muffin/cookie texture! unfortunately it didn’t win over my friend’s 4 year old, but we can’t win them all 🙂
These cookies go fast! I think the blueberry I used were slightly larger than the usual so as I was scooping out the cookies, the blueberries were not always intact. That said, the flavors were good and the cookies were very popular. Thanks for sharing!