Copycat Swig Sugar Cookies are buttery, soft and somewhere in between a sugar cookie and shortbread, with a little bit of delicious frosting on top! This sugar cookie recipe doesn’t require any chilling and you don’t have to roll them out either! The best copycat Swig cookie recipe that I’ve ever tried!
What are Swig Sugar Cookies?
Swig Sugar Cookies are easier to make than traditional sugar cookies because you don’t have to roll out the dough! Have you tried the sugar cookies from Swig? (Swig is a popular cookie and soda shop with locations all over Utah.) There are a lot of other cookie stores open these days as well, and many of the sugar cookies at these places are similar. Big, soft and perfectly sweet – best sugar cookies ever!
I have tried several copycat recipes now and ended up combining elements from several of them to create an amazing cookie – and these cookies are AMAZING! They look just like Swig cookies and everyone that tries them has declared that they are the best sugar cookies I’ve ever made. Definitely consider that a success!
Tips for making the best sugar cookies
- Do not melt the butter! The butter needs to be softened (at room temperature), but using melted butter will ruin the cookies.
- Spend a little extra time when you mix the butter/shortening and sugars. Creaming them together for 2-3 minutes will improve the consistency of your cookies.
- Make sure that you don’t press the cookies too thin! You want them to be about 1/4 of an inch thick. If the cookies are too thin, they will get crispy and not be the deliciously thick and soft cookies that you are hoping for!
- Preheat the oven. This will help your cookies turn out right every time!
- Make sure not to over bake your cookies. They may not even look totally done on the tops, but if the bottoms start to brown, I take mine out and they are perfect!
- Use parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Doing this will make it really easy to remove the cookies from your cookie sheet so that you don’t have to scrape them off the pan – they will just slide right off in perfect shape!
- Make sure you’re making the best cookie possible, check out the perfect sugar cookies recipe here!
Ingredients in Swig Sugar Cookies
- 1 cup butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup Butter Flavored Crisco (I also used coconut oil once and it worked amazingly – it does add a slight coconut flavor though)
- 1 1/4 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 2 Tbsp milk
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar
- 1 tsp salt
- 5 1/2 cups flour
How to make Swig Sugar Cookies
- In a large mixing bowl (or stand mixer), cream together butter, Crisco, sugar, powdered sugar and milk.
- Add eggs and mix until well combined.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until smooth and well combined.
- Roll the dough into *1-inch balls and place on a greased cookie sheet. Spray the bottom of a glass or measuring cup with cooking spray and then dip into a plate coated with a thin layer of sugar. Press each ball down slightly to get the rough edge that Swig cookies are known for. You don’t want to smash them too thin because these cookies are best when they are thick and soft.
- Bake for 8-9 minutes at 350°. Cool completely on wire racks and then frost.
*If you make 1-inch balls, you should get closer to 48 cookies from one batch. Sometimes I use a larger cookie scoop and make 24-28 cookies. If you make them larger, the cook time will be closer to 9 minutes, the smaller cookies will be done closer to 8.
Ingredients in sugar cookie frosting
The frosting on these cookies perfectly complements the flavor of the cookie so don’t be tempted to try a different kind of frosting! I know it seems a little strange to put sour cream in the frosting, but I promise you will love it. Trust me!
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 2 Tbsp sour cream
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla
- food coloring (if desired)
- 1-2 Tbsp of milk, to consistency
How to make Swig Sugar Cookie frosting
To make the frosting, just mix the butter, sour cream, powdered sugar and vanilla together with an electric mixer until well combined. Add food coloring if desired and then add the milk, just a little bit at a time to get the consistency that you want.
COPYCAT SWIG SUGAR COOKIES
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter softened
- 3/4 cup Butter Flavored Crisco I also used coconut oil once and it worked amazingly - it does add a slight coconut flavor though
- 1 1/4 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 2 Tbsp milk
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar
- 1 tsp salt
- 5 1/2 cups flour
Frosting
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 2 Tbsp sour cream
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla
- food coloring if desired
- 1-2 Tbsp of milk to consistency
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl (or stand mixer), cream together butter, Crisco, sugar, powdered sugar and milk.
- Add eggs and mix until well combined. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt.
- Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until smooth and well combined.
- Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and place on a greased cookie sheet.
- Spray the bottom of a glass or measuring cup with cooking spray and then dip into a plate coated with a thin layer of sugar. Press each ball down slightly to get the rough edge that Swig cookies are known for. You don't want to smash them too thin because these cookies are best when they are thick and soft.
- Bake for 8-9 minutes at 350. Cool on wire racks and then frost.
- To make the frosting, mix all of the ingredients except for the milk until well combined. Add milk to desired consistency and then frost the cooled cookies.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Can you freeze sugar cookies?
I have made these cookies many times and have had the best luck with baking the cookies and then freezing them without the frosting. Just place the completely cooled cookies in an airtight container or ziplock freezer bag and they can be frozen for up to a couple of months. A few hours before serving, pull them out of the freezer and lay them out to thaw. Make the frosting and then frost the thawed cookies.
You can also freeze the dough once it has been formed into balls. Lay the balls out onto a baking sheet and freeze them individually for about an hour and then place all of the frozen balls into a ziplock freezer bag. When you are ready to bake them, lay the balls out on a baking sheet and let them thaw so that you can press them down. Bake like normal, cool and then frost.
How do you soften butter to room temperature?
The best way to soften butter is to set it out for a few hours before you make your cookies. Since most of us (or maybe just me!) aren’t that prepared or don’t think that far in advance, there are a few tricks to softening butter perfectly in just a matter of minutes.
My favorite way to soften butter is in the microwave. It’s definitely fast, but you do have to be very careful not to melt it. Just put the whole stick of butter in the microwave (as long as it isn’t wrapped in foil!) and microwave for about 6-7 seconds. If the butter is still really cold, try another 5-7 seconds and check it again. You may need a few intervals, and if the butter is starting to feel soft, you can shorten the final interval to just a few seconds to make sure it doesn’t start melting.
I actually prefer to use the defrost setting on my microwave – I don’t know exactly what that mode does differently, and it takes a little bit longer (closer to 30 seconds), but it seems to be easier to get the butter to soften without melting.
Love cookies? So do we! Here are some of our other favorite cookie recipes:
- Banana Cream Cookies
- The BEST Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies EVER
- Blueberry Cream Cookies
- Raspberry Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Cookies & Cream Cookies
- Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Potato Chip Cookies
- Mint Chocolate Pudding Cookies
- Raspberry Meltaway Cookies
- Mrs. Fields White Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Snickerdoodle Apple Pie Cookie Cups
- The Best Snickerdoodle Cookies
- Lemon Cake Mix Cookies
Copycat Swig Sugar Cookies don’t require any chilling or rolling out and this is the best copycat Swig cookie recipe that I’ve ever tried! This sugar cookie recipe yields soft and buttery cookies that are topped with the most delicious frosting!
Monica says
Thanks for sharing. Only change I did was to bake for 12-15 mins.
Lauren says
I had to too. Perhaps mine were thicker. Waiting for them to cool right now.
Brenna says
5 1/2 cups of flour?!?
Jessica says
Yep! It makes 4 dozen good sized cookies!
Michelle says
Can you substitute butter for the crisco?
Jessica says
You can, but it will slightly affect the texture of the cookie, just fyi!
Earika says
How long do these stay fresh? I work long hours and wanted to bake them on Sunday and take them to work on thursday. Will they still be fresh?
Nellie says
I know they stay pretty fresh for about 2-3 days, so four days might be pushing it. These cookies do freeze wonderfully though so you could make them on Sunday, let them cool and then freeze them in an airtight container until Wednesday and then just add the frosting once they are thawed. Your co-workers are lucky!
Earika says
THANK YOU!!!
Mrs Major Hoff says
The pink icing gets me every time! They are so delicate but they pack such a punch with just the simplest ingredients. Such a classic winner.
Amanda Finks says
Love the texture of these cookies! Yum!
Jessica says
Aren’t they great?! Glad you like them!
Gloria says
Nellie, have you tried freezing the cookie dough after they’ve been rolled into 1” sized balls? (It’s just two of us at home and although I could cut the recipe in half, if I’m going through the motions, I might as well make a full batch.) Thanks so much.
Jessica says
YES! You can freeze the cookie dough or you can even freeze the completely made cookies- frosting and all! I just place pieces of wax paper in between layers in a large ziplock bag. 🙂
Renee L Gunn says
I make these for my friends I work with. They love them. I make the dough the night before and refrigerate it until morning when I cook and frost them. That way they are really fresh. Never have had any left. One gentleman came back from lunch and said he had been waiting for a swig sugar cookie.
Sad to say they were all gone. But I do work with mostly men but the ladies seem to enjoy them too.
My family loves them except for one daughter. Best recipe ever in my opinion.
Nellie says
Renee- So glad you enjoyed the recipe! These cookies really are delicious, aren’t they?!
Monika says
my dough didn’t have the same consistency? should I add more flour?
Nellie says
If your dough is too sticky, then yes, you may need to add a bit of flour. What consistency did your dough have?
Lori Kaumans says
Have you ever tried rolling these and using a cookie cutter? I want to make heart-shaped cookies for Valentine’s Day.
Nellie says
I haven’t tried rolling these out, but the dough is a pretty good consistency for that, so I’m guessing it would work! Let me know how it goes!
Emily says
I made a few alterations, using refined coconut oil. It was slightly melted though, so my cookie dough needed just a few minutes in the fridge before I shaped it.
I also added a small bit of almond extract (like 1/4 tsp), and it sent these over the edge–more of a FIIZ cookie (which in my opinion is WAY better than Swig, haha!
Thank you for this simple, easy to follow recipe! With blue frosting, this will be a hit for the baby shower I’m feeding!
Megan says
Thanks! They came out great! Any idea of the nutrition info? Thanks!
Jessica says
I’ll add it in!
Melissa says
Since you use sour cream in the frosting, I’m wondering if they need to be refrigerated after frosting.
Nellie says
Nope, they don’t! There is enough sugar in the frosting to make the sour cream shelf-stable. You definitely can refrigerate though if you want to.
Kim says
Its so good my family makes it all the time
Jessica says
We love them too, Kim! Thank you!