Yield: 8 lavender white chocolate chip cookies // Total Time: 50 min. // Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links.
Lavender White Chocolate Chip Cookies
Hello hello! I’m here with another floral lavender spin, this time with white chocolate chip cookies. These lavender cookies are soft and chewy with crisp edges, are loaded with melty white chocolate, and have lavender notes both from lavender extract in the dough, and coating the cookies in homemade lavender sugar. Now these don’t need a whole hour of chilling or anything crazy, but you do need to set the brown butter in the freezer for 5 minutes to chill a little bit. In the meantime though, you’ll chop the white chocolate and make the lavender sugar, so there’s no time wasted!
Small batch lavender cookies
These cookies are small batch – yielding just 8 medium sized cookies. They’re perfect for when you want some cookies, but don’t need enough for a party! However, the recipe can easily be doubled or tripled if needed. I do even more strongly recommend using grams if you are going to scale up the recipe for the best results.
Recipe tips
Weigh your ingredients
- Weighing your ingredients is important for getting the recipe perfect and getting consistent results. Not weighing your ingredients can lead to adding too much or too little of an ingredient which can give you some undesirable results. This kitchen scale is super cheap and worked well for me when I was starting out! If you don’t have access to a scale, here is the best way to measure flour: fluff up the flour with a fork, then use a spoon to scoop it into your measuring cup. Use a knife to level off the top of the cup, then use as directed.
Weigh the brown butter
- Going off of the above, being able to weigh the brown butter is a great way to prevent errors in the recipe. It’s possible to take the brown butter too far and lose too much moisture, which will make the cookies dry and crumbly. You should have at least 90g of butter after browning. If you have less, add water to the butter to bring it back up to 90g.
Mix the dough carefully
- When adding in the flour, only fold the mixture just until no flour streaks remain. Overmixing the dough leads to more gluten formation, which can make the key lime cookies tough and chewy.
Under bake for perfect cookies
- Cookies will continue to bake on the hot cookie sheet after being taken out of the oven. When the edges are golden brown and the middles of the cookies are just a little underdone, they are ready to be taken out of the oven! Let the cookies sit on the hot baking sheet for at least 5 minutes after baking before transferring them to a wire rack to cool.
Cookie scooting
- Wanna know the secret to perfectly round cookies? It’s cookie scooting! Right when the cookies come out of the oven, take a bowl, cup, or biscuit cutter that is just slightly larger than your cookies and place it over one of the cookies. Gently swirl the bowl around the cookie to make the cookie perfectly round (and slightly thicker). And that’s all there is to it!
Ingredients and substitutions
All purpose flour: for structure and chewiness.
Baking soda & baking powder: helps the cookies rise and the edges crisp up.
Salt: to help balance and bring out the sweetness of the cookies
Unsalted butter: for tenderness and flavor. You can use salted butter in place of the unsalted, just be sure to omit the extra salt from the cookies. We’ll also be browning the butter for some extra delicious toasty flavor. If you’re looking to make this dairy-free, Miyoko’s Creamery vegan butter has the ability to brown just like regular butter and works like a charm.
Granulated sugar & light brown sugar: a combination of both gives us cookies with crispy edges and soft and chewy centers.
Lavender extract: for some nice floral notes in the cookies.
Egg: for binding and for moisture.
White chocolate: I used Valrhona feves which I love, but they are definitely on the pricier side and more of a treat-yourself item. If you’re not using feves, I recommend using a white chocolate baking bar. You can also of course use chocolate chips here, just note that the cookies will end up a little thicker.
Dried culinary lavender: for coating the cookies.
How to make lavender cookies
Prep work
Brown the butter and weigh it to make sure you have at least 90g. Set it aside in the freezer to chill for 5 minutes. Chop up your white chocolate, and blend the sugar and culinary lavender in a food processor. Pour the lavender sugar into a small bowl.
Whisk together the wet ingredients
Whisk both sugars into the brown butter, then whisk in the egg and lavender extract.
Fold in the dry ingredients
Fold in the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt until only a few flour streaks remain in the cookie dough. Then, add in your white chocolate. Fold the mixture together just until no more flour streaks remain.
Bake the cookies
Scoop out heaping 3 tbsp. scoops of the cookie dough and roll them in the lavender sugar. Top with additional white chocolate (if desired – but it makes them look super nice!), and bake.
Scoot, serve, and enjoy
Once the cookies come out of the oven, I recommend “scooting” them. This just means take a bowl, cup, or biscuit cutter that is slightly larger than the cookie, place it on top of the cookie, and swirl the bowl around to make the cookie perfectly circular. It’s not needed at all but it will help you get that perfectly round cookie look! Also, leave the cookies to cool on the hot baking sheet for 5 minutes to help them set up. Enjoy!
Lavender white chocolate chip cookies q&a
Do I need to use lavender extract?
I highly recommend not skipping on the lavender extract as the two types of lavender in the cookies are what give them their wonderful flavor. However, you could substitute the lavender extract for vanilla but still coat them in lavender sugar for a lighter lavender flavor.
Can I double this recipe?
Definitely! You can double or triple the recipe as needed.
Can I make these cookies ahead of time?
You can make the cookie dough the night before, tightly cover it and place it in the fridge overnight to bake off the next day. When you want to bake the cookies, let the bowl sit out at room temperature for 30 minutes or until the dough is soft enough to scoop.
How to store these cookies
Store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. They will keep well for 3 days, but will taste the best on the day that they are baked.
Why do you measure in grams?
My recipes are all written in grams because it is the most accurate way to bake. When you use a kitchen scale, you ensure that your baked goods turn out as close to the written recipe as possible. Plus, the cleanup is way easier when using a scale! I will provide standard cup measurements but please note that I have not tested the recipe using cup measurements and therefore can not guarantee your recipe will come out how mine did. Here is my favorite kitchen scale, and here’s an article about why I use a kitchen scale, and why you should too!
A note on oven temperature
Ovens vary and fluctuate in temperature. For example, I always have to set my oven to 330°F if I want it to bake at 350°F. If you love to bake like I do, I highly recommend getting an oven thermometer. They are super helpful for letting you know when your oven might be lying to you! I use this one.
Tools and ingredients
You can find all my favorite tools and ingredients that I use on my Amazon Storefront page, here!
Did you make these lavender white chocolate chip cookies?
If you made these lavender cookies I would love to see them and know your thoughts! Please leave a comment and review down below, and tag me on Instagram @freshbeanbakery. If you have any questions about the recipe I will gladly do my best to answer them in the comments below!
Lavender White Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
Lavender White Chocolate Chip Cookies
- 113 g unsalted butter (½ c.)
- 50 g granulated sugar (¼ c.)
- 100 g light brown sugar (½ c.)
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp. lavender extract
- 150 g all purpose flour (1 ¼ c.)
- ½ tsp. baking soda
- ½ tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. salt
- 140 g white chocolate (¾ c. + 1 tbsp.)
Lavender Sugar
- 75 g granulated sugar (¼ c. + 2 tbsp.)
- 1 tbsp. dried culinary lavender
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- In a small saucepan set over medium heat, brown the butter. Stir the butter occasionally until it turns amber in color and develops little brown specks.
- Transfer the brown butter to a small heat-safe bowl. You should be left with at least 90g of brown butter (but not more than 95g). If you have a little less than 90g, just add in some water until you reach it.
- Place the brown butter in the freezer for 5 minutes to cool down.
- In the meantime, prep your white chocolate and lavender sugar.
- Chop up the white chocolate and set aside. Then, blend the 75g of granulated sugar with the dried culinary lavender in a food processer to break up the lavender into smaller pieces. Pour the lavender sugar into a bowl and set aside.
- Once the brown butter has cooled, mix in both sugars.
- Whisk in the egg and lavender extract until well combined.
- Add in the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Use a rubber spatula to fold the mixture together just until a few flour streaks remain.
- Add in the white chocolate and fold just until no flour streaks remain.
- Scoop out heaping 3 tbsp. scoops of dough, and roll each cookie ball in the lavender sugar. Place the cookies at least 2" apart on the baking sheet to allow room for spreading.
- Top each cookie with additional white chocolate if desired, and bake for 12-14 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies are golden brown.
- Immediately after taking the cookies out of the oven, you can take a bowl that is slightly larger than the cookies and swirl it around over the cookies to make them a little more uniform and circular.
- Serve and enjoy!
emily says
this looks like the perfect spring recipe!i was wondering if there was anything i could sub for the lavender extract? ive been having some trouble getting my hands on some but i do have a big bag of dried culinary grade lavender so i was wondering if i could somehow use that in the cookie?? im definitely looking forward to making these soon!!!
Erin says
Hi, thank you so much for your interest in the recipe! You can just sub in vanilla extract in the dough and make these with only the lavender sugar, they will just be a tad less lavender-y. I wouldn’t recommend putting the culinary lavender in the dough. I look forward to hearing your thoughts if you do try them!!
aisha says
Do you think it would be possible to infuse the brown butter with lavender as you’re browning it? I also want to make this recipe with only lavender buds, but I’d also like the cookie dough to have a bit of lavender flavor.
June says
I could not find any lavender extract at my local store and put a tablespoon of dried lavender in with the butter, then strained it before adding it to the dough, it was amazing!!
Erin says
That sounds delicious! I’m so happy it worked and that you liked the recipe! 🙂