4.70 from 86 votes

Lemon Truffles (With Golden Oreos)

*This post may contain affiliate links. See ourย affiliate policy here.

Sweet, creamy lemon truffles made with fresh lemon and lemon zest are wrapped in white chocolate for the most delicious no bake lemon dessert. These easy lemon truffles made with cream cheese and Golden Oreos are the perfect sweet treats for spring parties, summer BBQ’s, Easter, a baby shower or as gifts!

Stack of lemon truffles up close with the top truffle missing a bite


 

Why We Love Lemon Truffles

  • Sweet Creamy Truffle Treat Packed With Fresh Lemon Flavor– No imitation lemon here, the creamy center of these truffles are full of bright sweet lemon flavor. The perfect dessert for lemon lovers!
  • No Bake Recipe– This fun treat doesn’t require any baking, this lemony treat feels fancy when you’re done!
  • Great For Spring And Summer Parties– This is a delicious dessert recipe I reach of to use for spring parties, Easter, a baby shower, summer BBQs and end of the school year gifts!

Ingredients For Lemon Truffles

Ingredients for lemon truffles with oreos

Find the full printable recipe with specific measurements and directions below in the recipe card.

  • Golden Oreos or other crunchy vanilla cream cookies
  • cream cheese softened to room temperature
  • fresh lemon zest plus more for optional garnish, can be from the same lemons used for juice, just zest the lemons before juicing them
  • lemon juice – or juice from 1 1/2 lemons large lemons, fresh lemon juice will taste best
  • white chocolate chips 3 1/4 cups
  • coconut oil optional – see notes in the full recipe at the bottom

If you love these treats, try the Strawberry Lemonade Truffles or the Strawberry Shortcake Truffles made the same way! Or go for the classic Chocolate Oreo Ball Truffles, delicious! Make a platter of truffles with a mix of flavors for your dessert tray.

How To Make Lemon Oreo Truffles

  1. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. Place cookies in food processor and mix until cookies turn into fine crumbs. See notes in the recipe card at the bottom of the page of how to make this recipe by hand if you don’t have a food processor.
  3. Zest then juice the lemons.
Mixing lemon juice and zest with Golden Oreo crumbs in food processor
  1. Add lemon juice, lemon zest and cream cheese to the cookie crumbs. This step is be done by hand in a bowl with a silicone spatula.

If you mix the entire truffle mixture in the food processor, the cream cheese mixture can become too liquidy. It is easy to over-mix the dough, so it is best to mix everything together by hand.

Cream cheese and lemon zest added to cookie crumbs
  1. Roll the lemon truffle dough balls, about one tablespoon of dough per truffle. I have a few cookie scoops, but I like to use this cookie scoop set. A cookie scoop makes all of your truffles equal in size. For this recipe you’ll need the smaller cookie scoop which is a #60.
  2. Place each truffle on the parchment paper lined baking sheet so they are not touching. Freeze the truffles for at least 15 minutes.
Cookie scoop making lemon truffle balls
  1. Add the white chocolate and coconut oil (optional) to a heatproof bowl. Place the bowl in the microwave and heat for a minute at half power, then stir. Continue heating the white chocolate in thirty-second increments until it forms a smooth white chocolate sauce.
  2. Remove truffles from the freezer. Place truffle balls into the creamy white chocolate one at a time to coat, using a fork so excess chocolate can drip off. Place each white chocolate-coated ball on parchment paper so they are not touching each other.
Lemon truffle being dipped in a bowl of white chocolate using a fork
  1. Drizzle the top of each truffle with a little more white chocolate then top with lemon zest immediately. Place the pan in the freezer for 15 minutes to help the chocolate to fully harden, then enjoy!
Lemon truffles from above on parchment paper coated in white chocolate topped with lemon zest

If you love lemon, you’ll also love the soft lemon sugar cookies packed full of bright fresh lemon flavor.

What Can I Use In Place Of Golden Oreo Cookies?

You can use any hard vanilla or lemon cookie in this recipe. Shortbread, vanilla sandwich cookies, lemon sandwich cookies or butter cookies can all be substituted for the golden oreos.

The Golden Oreos make about 2 1/2 cups of crumbs when you process them. Depending on the size of the cookies you swap into the recipe, you may need to add a few extra cookies to the food processor to make sure you have enough cookie crumbs.

What Can I Use In Place Of White Chocolate?

White chocolate comes in a couple of different varieties at the grocery store. Try a couple of these options

Candy melts– These come in white with a vanilla flavor, but you can also find them in yellow. I’ve also seen lemon-flavored candy melts.

Almond Bark– Almond bark is a type of white melting chocolate you often find at the grocery stores near the holidays but can be seen year-round. You can use almond bark in place of white chocolate in this recipe. Almond bark tastes best when you use it to give a sweet a chocolate coating, like in this dessert.

Dark Chocolate– Dark chocolate and lemon go together so deliciously well! For a super chocolatey taste, skip the milk chocolate and go for the dark chocolate. You can use milk chocolate also, but dark chocolate really shines with lemon.

Lemon truffles from the side coated in white chocolate and topped with lemon zest

Can I Add Lemon Juice To The Chocolate?

You can’t add lemon juice directly to the chocolate and the liquid will cause the chocolate to seize. This means the chocolate will become hard and grainy.

Lemon juice can be added to ganache though which is chocolate melted into warm cream, which you may have seen in other lemon and chocolate dessert recipes.

Can I Substitute Lemon Extract For Lemon Juice?

You can use lemon extract as a substitute for lemon juice, but I find that it is tougher to get a good sweet lemon taste. Lemon extract will taste slightly more artificial than fresh lemon does.

For the three tablespoons of lemon juice, substitute a full tablespoon of lemon extract.

The lemon zest gets trickier because it provides a lot of flavor. I recommend starting with an extract teaspoon of lemon extract in place of the zest, then taste the mixture. Add more lemon extract as needed.

Lemon extract and lemon oil are not the same product, and lemon oil should not be substituted.

Do Truffles Need To Be Refrigerated?

Yes, these simple lemon truffles do need to be refrigerated because of the cream cheese in the center. Lemon truffles will easily last a week in the refrigerator. Store truffles in an airtight container with layers of freezer paper, wax paper or parchment between the truffles.

Can Lemon Truffles Be Frozen?

Most of my truffles don’t make it to the freezer but yes you can freeze these nobake truffles. Freeze between layers of freezer paper in a freezer-safe zip-top bag. I like to freeze desserts on a cookie sheet first so they don’t stick together, and then place them in a bag.

Lemon truffles can be stored in the freezer for up to a month for the best freshness.

To eat the truffles, let them defrost on the counter or overnight in the refrigerator before serving and they are ready for any special occasion.

Other Dessert Recipes You’ll Love

Zoomed in square shot of a lemon truffle with a bite on top of other lemon truffles
Recipe

Lemon Truffles (With Golden Oreos!)


Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Prep Time 30 minutes
Chill Time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Servings 36 pieces
Quick and easy lemon truffles are made with fresh lemon, golden Oreos and cream cheese then covered in sweet white chocolate for the ultimate lemon no bake treat!

Ingredients  

  • 36 Golden Oreos or other crunchy vanilla cream cookies, 14.3 ounce package
  • 8 ounces cream cheese softened
  • 1 tablespoon lemon zest plus more for optional garnish
  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice juice from 1 1/2 lemons large lemons
  • 18 ounces white chocolate chips 3 1/4 cups
  • 1 tablespoon coconut oil optional, see notes

Instructions

  • Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
  • Place cookies in food processor and mix until cookies turn into fine crumbs. See notes if you don't have a food processor.
  • Zest then juice the lemons. Add lemon juice, lemon zest and cream cheese to the cookie crumbs. This step is be done by hand in a bowl with a silicone spatula. If you mix truffle mixture in the food processor, the cream cheese mixture can become too liquidy.
  • Roll the lemon truffle doughballs, about one tablespoon per truffle. I like to use this cookie scoop set, for this recipe you'll need the small cookie scoop. Place each truffle on the parchment paper lined baking sheet so they are not touching. Freeze the truffles for at least 15 minutes.
  • Add the white chocolate and coconut oil (optional) to a heatproof bowl. Place the bowl in the microwave and heat for a minute at half power, then stir. Continue heating the white chocolate in thrity second increments until it forms a smooth white chocolate sauce.
  • Remove truffles from freezer. Place truffle balls into white chocolate one at a time to coat, using a fork so excess chocolate can drip off. Place each white chocolate coated ball on parchment paper so they are not touching each other.
  • Drizzle the top of each truffle with a little more white chocolate then top with lemon zest immediatly. Place the pan in the freezer for 15 minutes to help the chocolate to fully harden, then enjoy!

Video

Notes

Making Cookie Crumbs Without a Food Processor
If you don’t have a food processor, you can place the cookies in a gallon size strong zip-top bag. Use a rolling pin or even a full canned good to crush the cookies into crumbs inside the bag.
After the cookies have become crumbs, you can mix in the rest of the ingredients with the cookie crumbs with an electric mixer. If you don’t have an electric mixer you can mix them together by hand but it may take a little longer and the cream cheese needs to be well softened.
Using Oil In The Chocolate– Adding a little bit of oil to the chocolate will help create a smooth white chocolate coating. I prefer to use a tablespoon of coconut oil but you can use a tablespoon of any of these oils.
Coconut Oil
Vegetable Shortening
Vegetable oil
Lemon Extract Substitute
You can use lemon extract as a substitute for lemon juice, but I find that it is tougher to get a good sweet lemon taste. Lemon extract and lemon oil are not the same product, and lemon oil should not be substituted.
For the three tablespoons of lemon juice, substitute a full tablespoon of lemon extract.
The lemon zest gets trickier because it provides a lot of flavor. I recommend starting with an extract teaspoon of lemon extract in place of the zest, then taste the mixture. Add more lemon extract as needed.
Lemon Oreos Substitute– I have had readers reach out about this recipe and my lemon oreo truffles recipe saying they used lemon flavored Oreos and skipped the fresh lemon juice in the recipe. I have not tried this method and can’t attest to the amount of lemon flavor this makes, but have had multiple readers tell me it’s delicious this way. If you make this recipe with Lemon Oreos, let us know how it went in the comments!

Nutrition

Calories: 160kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 10mg | Sodium: 75mg | Potassium: 62mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 13g | Vitamin A: 89IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 38mg | Iron: 1mg
Keyword dessert, lemon, no bake

Did You Make This?

I would love to see it! Share your thoughts with me in the comments below!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




38 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    These truffles were not only beautiful but delicious. I made them for my daughterโ€™s baby shower and they were a ridiculous hit. My daughter and I had to share the last one!

  2. 5 stars
    just made these for a baby shower (over 80) and it was the longest 4 hours even with multiple people helping. I severely underestimated cook time and adjustments needed. it was fairly easy and they turned out awesome but we decided to melt the chocolate on the stove continuously. flavor is great! we could almost sell these. thank you!

  3. Vanessa Arndt says:

    5 stars
    I made these last Christmas and they were so delicious! I am making them again nowI love anything lemon!

  4. Tammie Yeager says:

    5 stars
    I love making truffles, so when I saw this recipe, I had to make these. I love everything lemon. These were so easy to make and fun. Thank you for posting and for your kind details. It makes us in the kitchen much happier. By the way, they were a real hit!!!

  5. 5 stars
    I made these for Easter and they were gone in minutes. Since then I’ve made them for several other celebrations. They’re always a massive hit. My husband actually asked me to make these for Father’s Day instead of cheesecake (his usual request).

    I’ve learned to double the recipe every time. I’m constantly fielding requests for the recipe and no one can believe how easy they are. I usually use lemon sandwich cookies. I’ve even put them on sticks as “cake” pops for a graduation party. Thanks for a quick, easy dessert that everyone loves!

    1. Thank you for your lovely note Nicole, I am so glad your family and friends love the lemon truffles so much! Your note is such a big compliment, as is your husband requesting them. Thanks so much!

  6. 5 stars
    Truly great lemon flavor and taste. Everyone loved them!!

Similar Posts