Recipe Swap - Lemon-Basil Blueberry Muffin Top Cookies

Want to see what other Fruit recipes were made during the swap? Here is the link to the Fruit Recipe Swap Roundup

Now that spring is here and we're starting to see more fruit in the supermarket I thought fruit would be a great theme for the recipe swap. I submitted a savory recipe (my favorite Thai Pineapple Rice) but many of the participants chose sweet recipes, like this one for Lemon-Basil Blueberry Muffin Top Cookies from my friend Jessica over at The Jey of Cooking.


Jey couldn't stop raving about these cookies when she sent me the link for the swap and when I read her blog post I got even more excited about making them. I loved the idea of the basil mixed with the lemon and blueberry. And muffin tops are my favorite part of the muffin so I knew these would be a hit. I had some basil leftover from my Weeknight Spaghetti and Meatballs, so I decided to make these immediately.


I let Baby Girl have half a cookie as she watched me take these photos and she absolutely loved them. She rarely has cookies (this kid does NOT handle sugar well), but I was impressed that she enjoyed all the complex flavors. These are certainly not your traditional cookies. I also brought about half the batch to church on Sunday since we had signed up to bring food for fellowship after the service. They were a big hit and someone even asked me for the recipe. Yay!


I'll definitely be making these again over the summer when my basil plant gets out of control. Jey's original recipe listed 3 large basil leaves but that alone only yielded 1 tablespoon when chopped, so I used the rest of the plant (about 1/4 cup total) and that was perfect.

Make these soon and you won't be sorry!

Lemon-Basil Blueberry Muffin Top Cookies
The Jey of Cooking

1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
Zest of 2 lemons, 1 1/2 tablespoons reserved
1/4 cup fresh basil, finely chopped, 1 tablespoon reserved
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup buttermilk*
1 cup blueberries
Confectioner’s sugar (powdered sugar)
Juice from about 1/2 lemon

Preheat oven to 350. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Add sugar, lemon zest and basil to a small food processor and pulse to combine.

Beat the butter, in a stand mixer or a regular bowl using a hand mixer, until creamy. Add the sugar mixture and beat again until fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla, then turn the mixer down to low. Slowly add in the flour mixture and buttermilk, alternating in batches beginning with 1/3 of the flour, then 1/2 of the buttermilk, 1/3 of the flour, the other half of the buttermilk, then the rest of the flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Fold in blueberries.

Using a cookie scoop or a leveled tablespoon, drop dough onto the baking sheet, leaving about 1 1/2 inches between cookies.

Bake each sheet for 12 minutes. Cool for 2 minutes, then transfer to a cookie rack.

Whisk together confectioner’s sugar (about 1/2 cup), lemon juice and reserved lemon zest and basil until you reach your desired consistency and flavor. Drizzle on top of the cookies. Allow to cool completely and the glaze to harden before serving.

* To make you own buttermilk, put 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice into a glass measuring cup. Add enough milk to equal 1 cup. Stir and allow to sit for about 5 minutes, until the milk begins to curdle. Stir before using in a recipe. For this recipe I did 1 tablespoon of white vinegar and enough milk to make 1/3 of a cup.