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Make Swig’s famous sugar cookies from home with this copycat recipe! These Copycat Swig Cookies are THICK and delicious, topped with a creamy frosting.
Swig cookies are the ultimate side-kick to your drink of choice. If it’s not Diet Coke, you can always try Pineapple Pink Lemonade Soda or a Cherry Limeade! 😉
Just Like Swig!
Have you had Swig Cookies before? If you don’t live in Arizona or Utah, you may not even know what Swig is. It’s a soda shop, but they also sell the BEST cookies! My mom says the sugar cookies are her favorite.
We made our own version at home today, and they turned out just like the real thing! The cookies are super thick, and they’re even better with the pink frosting on top. We used a hint of almond extract in it, and the flavor was perfect.
When we make these close to Valentine’s Day, we like to add some festive sprinkles on top of the pink frosting. They’re the perfect treat to gift to friends and neighbors!
How to Make swig sugar cookies
DOUGH. Begin by creaming together butter, oil, sugars, water and eggs in your mixer. Mix for a few minutes until well combined. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients and slowly add to butter mixture. Mix all ingredients until they are well combined. Dough should not be sticky.
ROLL. Roll dough into 1.5 inch balls and place on a greased cookie sheet.
PRESS. To give the cookies their cracked edges, place ¼ cup sugar and a pinch of salt in a separate bowl. Place the bottom of a glass into this mixture and then press it onto your ball of dough. Press cookies until they are a bit wider than the glass bottom diameter.
*Note: The diameter of the bottom of the glass I used was 2.5 inches. I pressed the cookies until they were about 3 inches in diameter.
BAKE. Bake at 350°F for 8 minutes. The cookies end up being about 3.5 inches in diameter after being baked. Let them cool and place them in the fridge.
FROSTING. For the frosting, mix butter, sour cream, powdered sugar, salt, 1 drop food coloring and almond extract. Mix well and add the desired amount of milk you want to get the thickness you want. (I only added a few tablespoons.) Spread frosting on cookies right before serving.
Make ’em Authentic!
At Swig, these cookies are actually kept in the freezer until ready to serve. Then they take one out and frost it for the customer. If you have never had it this way you definitely need to give it a try!
You can spread the frosting with a butter knife or a flat spatula (which is what they do at Swig). Swig cookies are known by their classic plain frosting, but you could pipe something fancy if you want to get creative!
Variations and Storing
You can change up the flavor of these cookies by trying the following:
- Lemon version: Add 1 tbsp of lemon zest to the dough. After frosting the cookies add a bit of lemon zest to the top.
- Chocolate version: Add in ¾ cup of cocoa powder to the dough.
- Coconut Cookie: Use 1.5 tsp of coconut extract instead of almond and add a splash of it to the frosting as well.
You don’t have to STORE Swig cookies in the fridge or freezer, but you can if you like them served cold. They can also be stored at room temperature. Just be sure they are in a ziplock bag or airtight container. They should last for 3 weeks.
These swig cookies are great for FREEZING! Especially because Swig themselves serve them straight from the freezer. Just make the cookies and let them cool. Then place them (unfrosted) on a cookie sheet and freeze for 1 hour. Once frozen, place them in a freezer safe airtight container or ziplock bag and freeze for up to 3 months. When ready to serve pull them out of the freezer and frost them.
Leftover frosting can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Let it come to room temperature before using.
For more delicious sugar cookie recipes, try:
- Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies
- 3 Ingredient Sugar Cookies
- No Roll Sugar Cookies
- Lemon Sugar Cookies
- Valentine Sugar Cookies
Copycat Swig Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
Cookie
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
- ¾ cup vegetable oil
- 1¼ cup sugar
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons sour cream
- 2 eggs
- 5½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup sugar
Frosting
- 6 tablespoons butter, room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 4 tablespoons milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1-2 drops pink food coloring
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and lightly grease a cookie sheet. Set aside.
- In the stand of a mixer, cream together butter, oil, sugars, sour cream, and eggs. Mix until well combined and fluffy.
- In another bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Slowly add to your creamed mixture and mix until combined.
- Roll dough into 1½ inch balls and place on a greased cookie sheet.
- Place ¼ cup sugar in a separate bowl. Lightly grease the bottom of a glass with cooking spray. Dip the bottom of the glass into the sugar and then press down onto each dough ball to make it about 3 inches in diameter to give the cookies their cracked edges.
- Bake for 8-9 minutes and let sit on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a cookie rack.
Frosting
- While the cookies are cooling, cream the butter, powdered sugar, 1 drop of food coloring, and vanilla extract. Mix well and add the desired amount of milk to get it the desired thickness. I add 3-4 tablespoons.
- Spread frosting on cookies right before serving.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe adapted from Vintage Revivals.
We’ve been making this recipe at our house for years- turns out perfect every time and it’s always a hit with friends! Not sure why the frosting recipe now says “Vanilla Extract”, it’s always been Almond Extract in the past and the instructions still refer to Almond, we probably won’t try vanilla, since the almond gives that perfect flavor! These cookies are absolutely deliciocius!!
These look so good! Can’t wait to make them
I made these cookies for a bridal shower!
They were THE HIT!!
The texture was perfect and the sweetness of the frosting bright the flavors all together.
I’m sure it’s gonna be my go to cookie from now on.
Good flavor. The icing was delicious, but definitely needed more powdered sugar to make it less liquid (no milk added). The cookie recipe is a little bit wild. Oil and water? I had to add extra flour because using a scale and standard weight conversions made the dough too sticky. I do think the dough would benefit from chilling before baking—less spread. I probably will hang onto the icing, but find a better cookie recipe for future use.
Perfect – sweetness is balanced between the cookie and the icing. Dough is easy to work with and cook times were perfect. Thank you!
I just found this site and I’ve fell in love with it thanks for putting such great recipes out and crafting love it all I look forward to enjoying more I signed up and I’m following you on Instagram as well as pinning to Pinterest thanks for all the crafts to do
yummy
Soft and tender , light and fluffy, the remind me of some cookies I named almost angels. I sandwiched them with lemon curd and dredged them with powdered sugar.