Lemon Oatmeal Cookies are soft, chewy, and made with lemon pudding mix and white chocolate chips! Easy oatmeal cookie recipe with a ton of lemon flavor!
Oatmeal cookies are a favorite of mine, but I like trying different variations as well. I have been loving lemon recipes lately and decided to try to add some lemon flavor to my favorite oatmeal cookie recipe. I love cookies with pudding in them, so adding lemon pudding to the recipe seemed like the easiest way to get that lemon flavor in there. The results are even better than I had hoped!
HOW TO MAKE THE BEST OATMEAL COOKIES:
After trying out multiple oatmeal cookie recipes over many years, I have picked up several important tips for making the absolute BEST Oatmeal Cookies!
- Make sure that you have enough flour in the dough. If the dough is too sticky, you may need to add a little bit of flour.
- Spend a little extra time when you mix the butter and sugars. Creaming them together for 2-3 minutes will improve the consistency of your cookies.
- Preheat the oven. This will help your cookies turn out right every time!
- Use a cookie scoop! If you want all your cookies to be perfectly shaped and have them all be the same size, a cookie scoop is the way to go.
- Use parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Doing this will make it really easy to remove the cookies from your cookie sheet so that you don’t have to scrape them off the pan – they will just slide right off in perfect shape!
- Don’t overbake the cookies – when I take mine out of the oven, they still look slightly underbaked but they will continue to bake on the cookie sheet for a couple more minutes so that’s ok!
WHAT KIND OF OATS ARE BEST IN OATMEAL COOKIES?
You can use quick oats or old-fashioned oats in your cookies- it really comes down to personal preference. I really love using old-fashioned oats in this recipe, but it’s totally up to you and what type of oats you have in your pantry! If you use all quick oats, the cookies will end up being a little bit more dense and a little bit puffier. I like the texture of old-fashioned/rolled oats because it makes the cookies a little bit chewier (and also like I am eating real oatmeal which makes it easier for me to justify eating a few of these for breakfast!). You can even use a combination of both types if you’d like!
Ingredients in Lemon Oatmeal Cookies
Butter– I always use salted butter, but unsalted works fine too! Make sure it is softened to room temperature before making the cookies.
Butter-flavored shortening – You can just swap this out with more butter if you prefer, but shortening just gives cookies a soft texture that is hard to duplicate with just butter. You can also use regular shortening but I prefer to use the butter-flavored kind in cookies.
Brown sugar and granulated sugar – I use light brown sugar, but dark brown works also. Make sure your brown sugar is fresh (not dry and hard) for best results.
Eggs – I always use large eggs. Don’t forget the eggs!
Vanilla extract – The higher the quality of vanilla, the better!
Lemon pudding mix – You just need a small box (3.4 oz), and make sure to use instant pudding!
Flour – I always just use all-purpose flour in cookies, but I’m guessing an oat flour would work well in this recipe as well!
Baking soda & salt – Make sure your baking soda isn’t old or expired!
Oats – I usually use old-fashioned oats in this recipe because I like my oatmeal cookies a little bit chewier, but you can use quick oats if you’d like. Or even a combination of the two!
White chocolate chips – You can leave these out if you want, but they do add some sweetness and texture to the cookies and I think the white chocolate pairs well with the lemon flavor.
How to make Lemon Oatmeal Cookies
Preheat oven to 350°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter, shortening, brown sugar, white sugar, eggs, and vanilla until smooth.
Add in pudding mix and mix again until well combined.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt and stir into the butter mixture.
Stir in the oats and white chocolate chips just until mixed.
Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheets. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until light and golden. Don’t overbake!
HOW DO YOU SOFTEN BUTTER TO ROOM TEMPERATURE?
The best way to soften butter is to set it out for a few hours before you make your cookies. Since most of us (or maybe just me!) aren’t that prepared or don’t think that far in advance, there are a few tricks to softening butter perfectly in just a matter of minutes.
My favorite way to soften butter is in the microwave. It’s definitely fast, but you do have to be very careful not to melt it. Just put the whole stick of butter in the microwave (as long as it isn’t wrapped in foil!) and microwave for about 6-7 seconds. If the butter is still really cold, try another 5-7 seconds and check it again. You may need a few intervals, and if the butter is starting to feel soft, you can shorten the final interval to just a few seconds to make sure it doesn’t start melting.
I actually prefer to use the defrost setting on my microwave – I don’t know exactly what that mode does differently, and it takes a little bit longer (closer to 30 seconds), but it seems to be easier to get the butter to soften without melting.
WHY DO MY OATMEAL COOKIES BURN ON THE BOTTOM BUT AREN’T DONE IN THE MIDDLE?
If your cookies are always burning on the bottom, it is probably a cookie sheet issue! If you are using really dark cookie sheets, the bottoms of your baked goods will tend to burn before they are actually cooked all the way through. If you use a lot of cooking spray, the same result can happen. I prefer to use lighter colored non-stick pans so that I don’t have to use cooking spray at all. As mentioned above, I have been converted to silicone baking mats over the last couple of years and I love how easy it is for cookies to come off the tray – no sticking ever!
OTHER OATMEAL COOKIE RECIPES THAT WE LOVE!
- Fudgy Oatmeal Cookie Bars
- Homemade Oatmeal Cream Pies
- White Chocolate Cherry Oatmeal Cookies
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
- Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
- Microwave Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Toffee Oatmeal Cookies
- Blackberry Oatmeal Cookies
- Best Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
- Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Best Monster Cookies
Lemon Oatmeal Cookies are soft, chewy, and made with lemon pudding mix and white chocolate chips! Easy oatmeal cookie recipe with a ton of lemon flavor!
Taryn says
These were moist and flavorful. I will definitely make them again!
Alliso says
Love the flavor of these! So different and so delicious!
Kristi says
I am looking forward to trying these, but I have a question about the extract. At the beginning of your blog, you talk about loving the lemon pudding and lemon extract with the oatmeal cookie. Your recipe says vanilla extract. Is it supposed to say lemon extract? Vanilla is yummy, so is the lemon extract just missing from the ingredients list, i.e. use both? Thanks!
Nellie says
So sorry for the confusion! I actually do just use vanilla extract in these, but you can add lemon extract if you’d like a more powerful lemon flavor. Hope you enjoy them as much as we do!