Cherry Cheesecake Sandwich Cookies

Cherry cheesecake sandwich cookies, made with buttery, whole wheat shortbread cookies sprinkled with graham cracker crumbs, sandwiched with cream cheese buttercream and sweet cherry preserves. You can even serve these cheesecake cookies open faced, topped with dollops of cream cheese, whipped cream, jam or pie filling, like mini pies.

You might also love these high altitude recipes for cream cheese swirl brownies, vanilla bean cream cheese pound cake, and almond cream cheese scones.

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Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Customizable Recipe. Use any shape of cookie cutter you like, or press the dough with cookie stamps for an embossed design. Assemble the cheesecake cookies into sandwiches, or serve them open faced. Fill with buttercream, or just top the cookies with lightly sweetened whipped cream cheese. In today’s recipe, I’ll show you a few different ways you can present these pretty and delicious cookies!

All the Flavors of Cheesecake. I took my classic vanilla bean shortbread cookie recipe and added some whole wheat flour to the dough. This gives it a more hearty, nutty and wholesome flavor, reminiscent of graham crackers. When paired with cream cheese and cherry preserves, these yummy cookies taste just like cheesecake.

Make Ahead. Shortbread cookies freeze very well, so if you’re pressed for time, bake the cookies in advance, then freeze them until needed. Then all you have to do is add the fillings or toppings before serving.

High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude. Of note, since there’s no leavening in the shortbread cookie dough, this recipe will work at any altitude without adjustments.

See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.

Ingredients

Whole Wheat Shortbread Cookies

• Flour. Provides structure and strength to the cookie dough. I used 2 parts all purpose flour and 1 part whole wheat flour, although you could adjust the ratio to equal parts of each. I don’t usually recommend using 100% whole wheat flour in a recipe, as that can make the dough more crumbly and harder to work with. (My homemade whole wheat graham crackers are one of my few recipes I have made with 100% whole wheat flour.)
• Powdered Sugar. Sweetens the cookies, while the fine texture of the powdered sugar makes a softer cookie than granulated sugar.
• Salt. Coarse Kosher salt balances the sweetness.
• Spices. Ground cinnamon and cardamom add warmth and depth to complement the whole wheat flour.
• Unsalted Butter. Adds flavor, moisture, richness and fat. As the water in the butter evaporates, the steam creates tiny flaky layers for a very tender cookie.
• Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
• Milk. Without any eggs in the dough, I add a splash of milk, which moistens the dough and binds it together without adding any leavening, like an egg would do.
• Crumbled Graham Crackers. Before baking the cookies, I brushed them with a little water and sprinkled them with crumbled graham crackers.

Filling

• Cream Cheese. Use block style, full fat cream cheese (or even mascarpone cheese).
• Butter. When making cream cheese frosting, I always make it with half butter and half cream cheese, which makes it more stable for piping into these cheesecake cookies.
• Powdered Sugar. Sweetens and thickens the frosting.
• Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
• Cherry Preserves. You can, of course, use any flavor of jam or fruit preserves that you like.

Instructions

Make the Cookie Dough

• In your food processor, pulse the flours, powdered sugar, salt, cardamom and cinnamon until combined.
• With the processor running, drop in the pieces of butter, one at at time, pulsing a few times until the butter is evenly distributed, and the dough is moistened and crumbly.

• Add the vanilla and milk, then process until the dough starts to stick together.
• Dump the dough out onto a clean counter and use your hands to finish bringing the dough together, kneading in any stray bits of flour. The dough should be soft, smooth and supple.

• Shape the dough into a flat disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Prepare two baking sheets by lining them with sheets of parchment paper.

Roll and Cut the Cookie Dough

• On a lightly floured surface, place the disk of dough, and dust the top of the dough with flour, too. Roll out to an even thickness, just under 1/4 inch thick.
• Use any size/shape cookie cutters to cut as many cookies as you can, placing the cut cookies 1-2 inches apart on the parchment lined baking sheets. Using a 2 – 2 1/2 inch cookie cutter, you’ll get about 28-30 cookies from this recipe. Gather up the scraps of dough, roll them out again, and continue cutting as many cookies as you can.

• To make the embossed cookies shown in today’s post, roll a heaping tablespoon of dough into a smooth ball, and coat in flour. Press firmly with a floured cookie stamp, until the dough spreads past the edges of the stamp. Use a round cookie cutter or biscuit cutter to trim the edges.

• Place the baking sheets with the cut cookies in the refrigerator and chill for 1 hour. Chilling the cut cookies helps to ensure they don’t spread and hold their shape perfectly while baking.

Bake the Cookies

• Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
• Very lightly brush the tops of the chilled cookies with water, then sprinkle with the crushed graham crackers.

• Bake the chilled cookies on the center oven rack for about 11 1/2 – 12 minutes. The tops should be a very pale golden with no dark browning, and you should see tiny flaky layers around the edges. If you (very carefully) turn a cookie over with a spatula, the bottom should have light golden browning, with no appearance of raw or wet dough. Note that if your cookies are larger, or your pan is more crowded with the cookies placed close together, it could take from 15-17 minutes to bake the cookies. This is NOT a cookie that you want to under-bake, since a doughy, under-baked shortbread cookie does not have a pleasant texture. So be sure your cookies are fully baked.
• Cool the cookies for 5 minutes on the pan, then very gently transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely. Shortbread cookies are delicate when warm, so handle with care. The cookies will initially be slightly crisp around the edges, but they soften as they’re stored and will remain wonderfully soft and buttery.
• Let your cookies cool completely before filling them. You can bake the cookies in advance, store in an airtight container, and freeze for 3-6 months until you’re ready to frost them.

Fill the Cookies

• With an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter for 1 minute until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla, and beat for several minutes, until smooth and fluffy.
• Fit a piping bag with tip 1M, and fill with the frosting. Turn half the cookies over, so the bottom is facing up. Pipe a generous ring of buttercream onto the cookie, then spoon a heaping teaspoon of jam in the middle. Top with a second cookie to make a sandwich.

• Store the cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks, or in the freezer for up to 3-6 months.

Recipe Variations

As an alternative to cheesecake sandwich cookies, skip the cream cheese buttercream, and make some lightly sweetened whipped cream cheese instead. Then serve the cookies topped with dollops of whipped cream cheese, fruit preserves or pie filling, and crumbled graham crackers. For this option, keep the cookies, whipped cream cheese and jam stored separately, then assemble just before serving.

For the whipped cream cheese, use a stand mixer or hand held mixer to beat the following ingredients together, until thick and fluffy.

• 4 oz full fat block cream cheese or mascarpone cheese (softened for several hours)
• 1 cup cold heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!

Frequently Asked Questions

Are the cookies soft or crunchy?

Whole wheat shortbread cookies are not soft like a soft sugar cookie, but they’re not really crunchy either. They have a firm, buttery, crumbly, melt-in-your-mouth texture that’s just delicious.

What cookie cutter did you use?

I used a 2 1/2 inch round fluted or scalloped cookie cutter.

Where do you get your cookie stamps for embossed cookies?

I love Nordic Ware cast cookie stamps. They’re great quality, and make beautiful impressions for embossed cookies. I’ve linked to many of the stamps that I own and use in my Amazon Shop.

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