Here’s a delicious recipe inspired by the incredibly popular frosted Swig sugar cookies, from Utah’s Swig & Sweets chain. They’re a bit like shortbread, but with crispy uneven edges and softer middles. Give ’em a try!
Meet the Swig cookie
These are some of the easiest, most delicious sugar cookies ever — crumbly and chewy, soft and buttery, rich and decadent. They have the perfect balance of sweet and tang, thanks to the secret ingredient: sour cream.
These are popular with crowds, so you’d best make a few batches! They’re also regular prize-winners at cookie exchanges, and disappear quickly in family kitchens.
These cookies are usually served cold (Swig pulls them straight out of the freezer when they’re ordered), with room-temperature frosting added to the tops just before serving.
Swig cookies have rough edges
Unlike many other sugar cookies that are perfectly round and smooth, a Swig cookie has uneven edges created by pressing down on the middle of the cookie with a glass (or something similar). This creates a divot to hold all of that smooth, delicious frosting.
Those rough edges get a little bit crispy after cooking, though the rest of the cookie stays nice and soft.
These shortbread-like cookies pair gorgeously with this basic creamy frosting recipe, but you can add different extracts to the dough and make up your own luscious icing flavors. Try cookie-icing combos such as chocolate and caramel; almond and coconut; lemon and peppermint; and peanut butter and Nutella.
Frosted beauties
Copycat Swig sugar cookies
Yield 3 dozen cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 cup butter at room temperature
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1-1/4 cups sugar
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons water
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 5-1/2 cups unbleached flour
Frosting
- 1/2 cup butter at room temperature
- 3/4 cup sour cream
- 4-1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla (or extract of your choice)
- Food coloring
Instructions
Cookies
- Cream butter, vegetable oil, water, eggs and sugars.
- Combine all dry ingredients.
- Slowly add dry ingredients to creamed ingredients.
- Mix on slow setting until combined well. Dough will be crumbly but should not be sticky. Do not overmix.
- Using cookie scoop to keep size uniform, roll ball of cookie dough onto parchment-lined baking sheet. Allow plenty of space between each cookie.
- It's time to smash some cookies! Place about 1/4 cup sugar in bowl. Dip a small circular object (such as a glass) into sugar, and then firmly press it onto cookie ball to form lip around dough's edge.
- Bake at 350F for about 8 minutes. (They may need more time if you're baking multiple sheets at once.) They should be just lightly browned on bottom; do not overcook.
The cookies will be soft when they come out of the oven, so let them cool a few minutes on the sheet before moving to a cooling rack. Store unfrosted cookies in the fridge.
Frosting
- Cream together butter, sour cream and salt. Very slowly add powdered sugar a little at a time.
- Mix in powdered sugar until frosting is almost too thick to spread, then add dash of milk. Alternate adding powdered sugar and milk until frosting reaches desired consistency. (Add extra powdered sugar and milk if needed.)
- Add several drops of food coloring, and mix on high until fully incorporated.
- Frost cookies right before serving.
You can store the frosting and cookies separately in the fridge. If you make these ahead of time, let the icing warm to room temperature before spreading it on the cookies.
Courses Desserts
And now you have some delicious Swig-style sugar cookies!
