If you’re looking for a great summertime cookie, these white chocolate key lime cookies are perfect for you. These cookies take the flavor of a key lime pie and turn it into a tasty cookie that’s amazingly soft and chewy.
Key lime pie is amazing, but not everyone is comfortable with making key lime pie from scratch. Sometimes you’re in the mood for a great key lime flavor but are looking for something other than pie as well. That’s where these white chocolate key lime cookies come into play.
I love the flavor of key limes and stand behind my recipes for key lime pound cake and key lime bars. These cookies, however, are also a great option for getting that wonderful key lime flavor in a form other than a pie. After all, who doesn’t love a good cookie?
I’ll be the first to admit, I’m not a huge fan of white chocolate, but when it works, it works. In these key lime pie cookies, I find white chocolate to be the best choice for similar flavors to the pie as opposed to semi-sweet or other types of chocolate chips. Feel free to use what you enjoy though of course.
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🥘 Ingredients for Key Lime Pie Cookies
As usual, I start with the base of my soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies and go from there. Most of the ingredients should be typical pantry staples, other than maybe the key limes and white chocolate chips. I also add a bit more flour to soak up some of the extra liquid in these cookies.
Flour – All-purpose flour works fine here as in most cookie recipes.
Leavener – Use baking soda for the main rising agent.
Butter – Unsalted butter works best here. If you use salted butter, omit the additional salt. In many recipes for soft and chewy cookies I melted the butter, but here I creamed it with the two sugars.
Sugar – Use both white and dark brown sugar. The higher ratio of dark brown sugar to white sugar is part of what keeps these cookies soft and chewy. Regular brown sugar is also fine if that’s what you typically keep on hand instead.
Eggs – I use both a whole large egg and an egg yolk. Again, this helps to keep the cookies soft and chewy. Use the eggs at room temperature to mix more easily.
Key Limes – Use both the juice and zest of multiple key limes. Key limes tend to be a little more sour and slightly bitter compared to regular limes, giving a unique flavor to recipes. If you can’t find key limes or they’re out of season, you can use regular limes with only a slightly different flavor profile.
Vanilla – Just a bit of vanilla extract helps to balance the rest of the flavors. You could optionally use a bit of coconut or rum extract as well for a slightly different flavor.
White Chocolate – Not everyone is a fan of white chocolate, but I find white chocolate chips work better here than semi-sweet, bittersweet, dark, or milk chocolate chips. They give a subtle sweetness and flavor while keeping the key lime flavor the star. Feel free to use any chocolate you prefer though.
🔪 How to Make White Chocolate Key Lime Cookies
Start by zesting enough key limes to get roughly 2 tablespoons of zest and set aside. Cut key limes in half and juice enough until you have a ¼ cup of juice and set that aside as well.
In a mixing bowl, add the flour, baking soda, salt, and key lime zest. Whisk until fully combined and set the dry ingredients aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, or a large mixing bowl if using a hand mixer, add the softened butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Mix on medium speed until the butter and sugar are creamed, about 3-4 minutes. Add the key lime juice and vanilla extract and give it a quick mix, now add the egg and egg yolk, one at a time, mixing just enough until you no longer see streaks of egg.
Begin adding the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, about ⅓ of the flour mixture at a time. Mix at low speed and add more of the dry ingredients as it combines. Mix until just combined and avoid overmixing. Now add the white chocolate chips and stir with a spatula to fold them in. Refrigerate the cookie dough for about 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 325°F / 160°C and line a half-sheet baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone liner. Take the cookie dough out of the fridge and let it soften slightly while your oven preheats.
Using a 1.5 tablespoon cookie scoop, or whatever you use to make cookies, scoop the dough and add rounded balls to the baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches between them.
Bake the key lime cookies for 10-12 minutes and remove them from the oven. They should look slightly undercooked with just barely a bit of browning on the outside. Leave them on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes so they can finish baking and setting, then transfer to a cooling rack.
Continue this process until all the cookie dough is used, keeping the dough refrigerated while a batch is baking. While the cookies are cooling on a rack, add fresh key lime zest over the top of the cookies. This adds lovely color and some added flavor to the cookies. Serve warm or allow to fully cool before storing.
📖 Key Lime Cookie Variations
I love this version of white chocolate key lime cookies, but with a few tweaks to this recipe, you can switch things up, especially if you’re not a fan of white chocolate.
Key Lime Crinkle Cookies – This makes a different type of cookie, but the ingredients are very similar. Simply follow my recipe for Meyer Lemon Crinkle Cookies and swap the Meyer lemon zest and juice with key lime.
Macadamia Nuts – One of my favorite additions to these key lime cookies are macadamia nuts. If using both the nuts and white chocolate, scale to about ¾ cup of each. If only using nuts, use 1 heaping cup. Give the nuts a quick toast in a dry skillet on the stove and do a rough chop once cooled. Add in at the end with or without the white chocolate chips.
Key Lime Coconut Cookies – I love the texture and flavor of this version. Use a heaping cup of sweetened coconut flakes, added towards the end as usual. I recommend giving the coconut flakes a rough chop with a knife before using though, for better texture. Swap the vanilla extract with coconut extract also. If using with chocolate chips, scale back to ¾ cup of the chocolate.
Graham Crackers – For a fun spin that gives the cookies a bit of flavor like using a graham cracker crust, give this a try. Crush a few sheets of graham crackers and mix them into the cookie dough when you fold in the chocolate chips. Try and crush, chop pieces of graham cracker without turning into fine powder.
Lime Cookies – A frequently asked question about making key lime anything is if you can swap them for regular limes. The short answer is yes. The flavor will be slightly different since key limes tend to have a tart and floral flavor whereas regular Persian limes are more acidic with a tart but sour flavor to them. If key limes are out of season, however, feel free to substitute with normal limes, or bottled key lime juice and lime zest.
🍽 Recommended Equipment
Cookies don’t really need anything fancy, but here’s a few tools I highly recommend having.
Microplane – These types of microplane zesters are great for zesting fruit as well as things like garlic and ginger. You have a lot more control than trying to zest with larger tools like a box grater.
Danish Dough Whisk – I typically use a regular whisk when mixing dry ingredients and the wet ingredients, but once I start adding the dry to the wet, whether it’s in cookies or muffins, I like to swap to a Danish dough whisk. This style of whisk is much easier to clean, while also making it more difficult to overmix a dough or batter and is great for folding in ingredients.
Cookie Scoop – While quality cookie scoops aren’t necessary for making cookies, they really do help with keeping consistency in sizes. They also work perfectly for other applications such as making meatballs or any time you need to scoop something soft and stay consistent.
❄️ How to Store Key Lime Cookies
Once the cookies have cooled completely, you can store them in an airtight container or plastic storage bag. They should stay nice and soft for upwards of two weeks.
If you make a large batch or have a bunch leftover, you can also freeze them. Place them in a single layer on a baking sheet or plate and freeze them for 1-2 hours. Once frozen, transfer to an airtight freezer container and they should keep for at least 2-3 months.
📋 Recipe
White Chocolate Key Lime Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cup dark brown sugar, packed, or light brown
- ½ cup white sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 tablespoons key lime zest
- ¼ cup key lime juice
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cups white chocolate chips
Directions
- Start by zesting enough key limes to get roughly 2 tablespoons of zest and set aside. Cut key limes in half and juice enough until you have a ¼ cup of juice and set that aside as well.
- In a mixing bowl, add 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, ¾ teaspoon baking soda, ¾ teaspoon salt, and the 2 tablespoons of key lime zest. Whisk until fully combined and set the dry ingredients aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, or a large mixing bowl if using a hand mixer, add ¾ cup softened butter, ¾ cup dark brown sugar, and ½ cup white sugar. Mix on medium speed until the butter and sugar are creamed, about 3-4 minutes. Add the ¼ cup key lime juice and ½ teaspoon vanilla extract and give it a quick mix, now add the egg and egg yolk, one at a time, mixing just enough until you no longer see streaks of egg.
- Begin adding the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, about ⅓ of the flour mixture at a time. Mix at low speed and add more of the dry ingredients as it combines. Mix until just combined and avoid overmixing. Now add 1 ¼ cups of white chocolate chips and stir with a spatula to fold them in. Refrigerate the cookie dough for about 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 325°F / 160°C and line a half-sheet baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone liner. Take the cookie dough out of the fridge and let it soften slightly while your oven preheats.
- Using a 1.5 tablespoon cookie scoop, or whatever you use to make cookies, scoop the dough and add rounded balls to the baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches between them.
- Bake the key lime cookies for 10-12 minutes and remove them from the oven. They should look slightly undercooked with just barely a bit of browning on the outside. Leave them on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes so they can finish baking and setting, then transfer to a cooling rack.
- Continue this process until all the cookie dough is used, keeping the dough refrigerated while a batch is baking. While the cookies are cooling on a rack, add fresh key lime zest over the top of the cookies. This adds lovely color and some added flavor to the cookies. Serve warm or allow to fully cool before storing.
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