Matcha Sandwich Cookies are soft, chewy cookies made with matcha and filled with a silky cheesecake centre that melts in your mouth. These cheesecake cookies combine earthy matcha flavor with a light, tangy filling for the perfect matcha treat. Ideal for matcha lovers, easy to make at home, and great for gifting!
Recipe Snapshot
✅ Recipe Name: Matcha Sandwich Cookies with Cheesecake Filling
⏲️ Ready In: 20 mins
👥 Serves: 12 sandwich cookies
🌏 Cuisine: Japanese American Fusion
🍽 Difficulty: Easy
🧀 Ingredient Highlights: matcha powder, cream cheese, white chocolate
⭐ Why You’ll Love It: Soft sugar-cookie texture, smooth cheesecake filling, easy to make, Japanese cafe style
This recipe is part of The Sweetest Season, an annual virtual cookie swap co-hosted by Erin of The Speckled Palate and Susannah of Feast + West. Every year, food bloggers get together to share new holiday cookie recipes to make and give.
This year we are raising money for Cookies 4 Kids' Cancer, which is a recognized 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to funding research for new, innovative and less-toxic treatments for childhood cancer.
Since 2008, Cookies for Kids’ Cancer has granted nearly $18 million to pediatric cancer research in the form of 100+ research grants to leading pediatric cancer centers across the country. From these grants have stemmed 35+ treatments available to kids battling cancer today.
Help us raise money for this important cause! Donate through our fundraising page.
Another exciting thing is that Cookies for Kids’ Cancer is in a matching window with their friends at OXO, meaning OXO will be matching every dollar raised through the end of 2024, up to $100,000. Whatever money we raise will automatically double on our fundraising page!
Table of contents
If you’re a matcha fan, these Matcha Sandwich Cookies with Cheesecake Frosting will be your new obsession. They’re soft, chewy, and beautifully decorated for that classic café-style flavour. Each cookie is sandwiched around a creamy cheesecake filling inspired by my popular white chocolate cream cheese frosting. It tastes smooth, lightly sweet, and perfect with the deep matcha notes.
These matcha cheesecake cookies taste like something from a Japanese café, but are incredibly simple to make. You just mix the cookie dough, scoop with a cookie scoop, flatten slightly, bake, then sandwich the filling. No fancy steps or chilling needed.
Craving more matcha recipes? Try my Matcha Sugar Cookies, fudgy Matcha Brownies, chewy and soft Matcha Butter Mochi, or this refreshing Vanilla Matcha Latte. If you're in a sandwich-cookie mood, you’ll love my Strawberry Cheesecake Mochi and Matcha Strawberry Cookies too.
Hanelore's Note
If you’ve been on my blog before, you know I drink ungodly amounts of matcha and love all things matcha. This recipe is a twist on my classic matcha sugar cookies, but sandwiched with my all-time favorite White Chocolate Cheesecake Frosting. I love enjoying these with my Blueberry Matcha Latte because the flavours pair perfectly!
Why You'll Love This Recipe
Ingredient Round-up
For the Matcha Cookies
- Butter: Use softened butter at room temperature for smooth creaming.
- Sugar: Regular granulated sugar works best. Brown sugar can take away from the vibrant matcha color.
- Matcha powder: Choose a vibrant, high-quality culinary matcha for the best colour and flavor. For extra green color, you can add some gel food coloring.
- Flour: All-purpose flour works best. Do not use self-rising flour.
- Baking soda: Makes the cookies soft and chewy. I don’t recommend swapping for baking powder, as the texture will be different.
For the Cheesecake Filling
- White chocolate: I recommend using high quality white chocolate chips for the best flavor.
- Cream cheese & butter: Use both cold for a thick, pipeable consistency.
Unsure about an ingredient?
Get an instant answer to any questions about ingredient substitutions or recipe variations!
How to make Matcha Sandwich Cookies
- Make the dough: Beat softened butter and sugar until smooth, then mix in the egg, milk and salt until pale and creamy.
- Mix dry ingredients: Whisk flour, baking soda and sifted matcha to remove any lumps.
- Combine wet and dry: Add the dry mixture into the wet ingredients and mix just until a soft cookie dough forms. Don’t overmix.
- Scoop and bake: Use a cookie scoop to portion even dough balls. Arrange on a lined cookie sheet, gently flatten each one, then bake at 350°F (180°C) for 8–10 minutes. Cool fully.
- Make the cheesecake filling: Melt white chocolate, beat cold butter until pale, then mix in the melted chocolate, cold cream cheese and vanilla extract until smooth.
- Assemble: Pair cookies by size, pipe a generous swirl of cheesecake filling on the flat side of one cookie, then top with the second to create soft matcha sandwich cookies.
Expert Tips & Tricks
- Do not overmix the dough: Mix only until the flour disappears. Overmixing can make matcha cookies tough and reduce their vibrant green colour.
- Use good-quality matcha: Bright, fresh matcha gives the best matcha flavor and prevents dull or brownish cookies.
- Lower oven temperature: Matcha can oxidise and brown quickly. If your oven runs hot, lower the temperature and bake for slightly longer.
- Use a cookie scoop: Ensures evenly sized cookies, which makes sandwiching them much easier.
- Flatten slightly before baking: Helps the cookies bake evenly and creates a better surface for filling.
Substitutes & Variations
- Serve unfrosted: Enjoy as simple matcha cookies for a lighter treat.
- Frost on top only: Skip the sandwich step and pipe the cheesecake filling over each cookie for a bakery-style look.
- White chocolate add-ins: Fold white chocolate chips into the dough for extra sweetness and texture.
- Stronger matcha: Add an extra ½ teaspoon of matcha for a deeper, more intense rich flavor.
- Hojicha: swap matcha for hojicha powder for a more roasted and deeper, earthy flavor.
Frequently Asked Questions
Matcha can brown if baked at too high a temperature or if your matcha is old. If your oven runs hot, lower the heat slightly and use fresh, vibrant matcha.
Yes, unfrosted cookies keep at room temperature for 3–4 days. Filled cookies should be stored in the fridge.
Freeze the cookies unfrosted for up to 2 months. Add filling after thawing.
Absolutely. Buttercream, ganache, or even a thin layer of jam works well.
The flavour is balanced, earthy but sweet. Matcha cookies only taste bitter if you use old or low quality matcha.
You Might Also Like These Recipes:
If you’ve tried this recipe out, please don’t forget to rate and comment on this post. I love hearing from you, so feel free to reach out to me on social media as well and tag me in your posts!
Recipe
Soft Matcha Sandwich Cookies with Cheesecake Filling
Ingredients
Matcha Cookies
- ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 medium egg room temperature
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon culinary matcha powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
Cheesecake Filling
- ⅓ cup white chocolate chopped
- 3 ½ teaspoons butter cold
- ⅓ cup cream cheese cold
- ½ teaspoon vanilla bean paste
Instructions
Make the Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, using a hand mixer, beat the softened butter with a hand mixer until smooth and creamy.
- Add the sugar, egg, milk, and salt. Mix on medium speed until the mixture looks pale and fully combined.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, matcha powder and baking soda. Whisk well to evenly combine.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet mixture. Mix on low speed just until a soft, slightly sticky dough forms. Stop mixing as soon as no dry flour remains.
- Scoop the cookie dough using a small cookie scoop or tablespoon (about 24 portions). Roll lightly between your palms to smooth them out.
- Place dough balls onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing them 2 inches apart.
- For flatter sandwich cookies, gently press each ball down to about ½ inch thickness.
- Bake for 8–10 minutes, or until the edges look set. The centres should remain soft, as they firm up when they cool.
- Cool for 5–10 minutes on the tray, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Make the Cheesecake Filling
- Melt the white chocolate in the microwave for 30 seconds. Stir, then microwave again in 15-second intervals. Keep repeating until fully melted. Let cool to room temperature.
- Beat the cold butter in a medium bowl until pale and fluffy.
- Add the cooled melted chocolate, cold cream cheese, and vanilla. Mix until just combined and smooth. Add to a piping bag and use immediately for best piping consistency.
Assemble the Sandwich Cookies
- Pair cookies by size and flip half of them upside-down.
- Pipe or spread a generous layer of cheesecake filling onto the flat side of one cookie.
- Top with the second cookie and gently press to create an even sandwich cookie.
Notes
- I recommend using a kitchen scale in grams for more accuracy. The cups used for the conversion are standard US customary cups (1 cup flour = 120g). There are many different types of cups across the globe, which is why I strongly recommend using grams instead.
- Use full fat cream cheese, such as Philadelphia original. For US readers, use cream cheese block, not the spread.
- If your butter is really yellow, add a small drop of purple food colouring to cancel out the yellowness.
Nutrition
Cookies for Kids’ Cancer
About Cookies for Kids’ Cancer:
Cookies for Kids’ Cancer is a recognized 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to funding research for new, innovative and less-toxic treatments for childhood cancer. Since 2008, Cookies for Kids’ Cancer has granted nearly $18 million to pediatric cancer research in the form of 100+ research grants to leading pediatric cancer centers across the country. From these grants have stemmed 35+ treatments available to kids battling cancer today.
How it all started:
When 2-year-old Liam Witt was diagnosed with childhood cancer in 2007, his parents Larry and Gretchen were shocked to learn of the lack of effective treatments for pediatric cancers due to lack of funding. They pledged to support the funding of research for safer, more effective treatments for children battling cancer. With the help of 250 volunteers, his mom Gretchen baked and sold 96,000 cookies, raising more than $400,000 for research. Word spread, and people nationwide began asking, "How can I help?" From that giant cookie bake, Cookies for Kids’ Cancer was born.
Fast Facts:
- Cancer is the #1 cause of death by disease of children in the U.S.
- More than 40,000 U.S. children are actively battling cancer right now.
- The average age of a child diagnosed with pediatric cancer is 6.
- The combined 12 major groups of pediatric cancers receive 4% of the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) federal budget.
- ⅔ pediatric cancer patients will develop long-term side effects, many life-threatening—a result of the treatments that "cured" them.
- Cookies for Kids’ Cancer is committed to funding research for new, improved and less toxic treatment options for kids.
- There are 300,000+ new cases of cancer affecting children worldwide annually. That’s more than 800 new kids affected every day.
Matching
Cookies for Kids’ Cancer is in a matching window with their friends at OXO, who will be matching every dollar raised through the end of 2024, up to $100,000. Whatever money we raise will automatically double on our fundraising page!
About The Author
Hanelore is the creator of SugarYums and winner of Netflix show Crazy Delicious. She shares delicious Korean street food, East Asian desserts, and playful fusion recipes that bring global flavours to everyday kitchens. Inspired by the food markets of Seoul and beyond, Han combines tradition with creativity to make cooking feel bold, cozy, and fun!
Leave a Reply