The Best Swig Sugar Cookies {Copycat Recipe}
These are the best little frosted sugar cookies on the planet! A knockoff from the popular soda shop, these Swig sugar cookies are amazing (and so easy – no rolling or cutting out!).
I am sharing my go-to, favorite copycat recipe for the ever-popular Swig sugar cookies! This recipe is the best and has hundreds of five-star reviews to prove it.
What is a Swig Sugar Cookie?
Swig sugar cookies originated years ago at a little soda/cookie shop in Utah. The signature pressed cookie shape with rough, crinkly edges gained popularity and spawned a lot of knockoff cookie shops AND cookie recipes.
If you’ve been around since the beginning of MKC time (bless you), you might recognize this old Sugar Gems recipe.
Posted long before these popular soda/cookie shops started popping up everywhere, it’s proof that pressed (no rolling or cutting!) and frosted sugar cookies have been a favorite for many of us long before they became trendy and went viral online.
How to Make Perfect Swig-Style Sugar Cookies
- take care not to over flour the dough
- press the cookies between 1/4- and 1/2-inch (not too thin!)
- under bake the cookies just slightly
I’ve given both a cup measure and a weight measure for the flour in this recipe. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, make sure to fluff the flour in the container before scooping in your cup and leveling off.
Sugar Cookie Dough
The cookie dough is soft but thick. This helps the cookies develop those signature crinkly, ruffled edges.
To shape the cookies:
- Roll the dough into balls. I use my large #20 cookie scoop {aff. link}.
- Grab a flat-bottomed glass, spray with cooking spray, and dip into a bowl of granulated sugar.
- Press each ball of dough into a thick circle (dipping the bottom of the glass again in sugar between cookies).
The cookies will spread and flatten a bit more while baking, but they will retain their ruffly edges for that signature soda shop look.
Perfect Sugar Cookie Frosting
A delicious sugar cookie is only as good as the frosting on top!
And the frosting recipe for these Swig sugar cookies is exceptional. Soft, creamy and delicious.
Tint with food coloring, if desired, and then frost the cooled cookies leaving a thin border around the edges.
Add any variety of sprinkles! 😍
How to Freeze Frosted Sugar Cookies
These sugar cookies freeze exceptionally well. Yes, even frosted!
Here’s how I do it:
- Frost cooled sugar cookies (and add sprinkles, if using)
- Freeze or refrigerate in a single layer on a sheet pan until frosting is firm.
- Place sugar cookies in freezer storage bags or other containers, separating layers with parchment or wax paper. Ideally, don’t exceed more than two to three layers per container.
- Take the frozen sugar cookies out of the bags/containers and place in a single layer on serving trays or sheet pans to thaw (takes about an hour at room temperature).
I have made and frozen hundreds of frosted sugar cookies over the years, and I can attest it works brilliantly well. No one can even tell the cookies were made ahead of time.
Rave Reviews
Here are just a few of the hundreds of five-star reviews:
Amy: I’m from PA and have never heard of the Swig cookies before. This is a great recipe! Made it twice came out great both times. Thanks for another great recipe!
Jennifer: Truly the best frosted sugar cookie recipe and maybe best cookie recipe of all out there. This one is a showstopper!
Koye: Super easy. Sent to my sister’s workplace. Gone quickly and several people asked for recipe. Love that they are not too sweet.
Kara: I have tried several copycat swig and these come in first every.single.time!
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Swig Sugar Cookies {Copycat Recipe}
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 1 cup (227 g) salted butter, softened
- ¾ cup (164 g) neutral-flavored oil, canola, vegetable, grapeseed, etc
- 1 ¼ cups (265 g) granulated sugar
- ¾ cup (86 g) powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar or baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons sour cream
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (see note)
- 5 ½ cups (781 g) all-purpose flour (I use unbleached)
- Granulated sugar for pressing the cookies
Frosting:
- ¾ cup (170 g) salted butter, softened
- 2 tablespoons sour cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 6 cups (684 g) powdered sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons cream or milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (or 325 degrees F for convection bake) and line several half sheet pans with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a bowl using a handheld electric mixer), add the butter, oil, granulated sugar and powdered sugar. Sprinkle the baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt across the top of the sugars (don't add the baking soda and cream of tartar in one lump or it might clump while mixing). Mix until well-combined and super creamy, 1-2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add the sour cream, eggs and vanilla and mix until well-combined, 1-2 minutes, again scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add the flour and mix until no dry streaks remain and the mixture is evenly combined; don't overmix.
- Scoop the dough into about 3-tablespoon sized portions (I use a #20 cookie scoop) and roll into balls. Place several inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Add about 1/2 cup granulated sugar to a shallow dish or bowl. Lightly spray the bottom of a flat-bottomed glass with cooking spray and dip the bottom of the glass into the sugar. Press each cookie into an even thickness dipping the bottom of the glass into the sugar between each press (no need to spray it again with cooking spray after the first time). The edges of the cookie will ruffle out a bit. It's really up to you how thick or thin to press the cookies. I like them between 1/4- and 1/2-inch thick.
- Bake the cookies for 7-9 minutes until the edges are set (it's ok if the center of the cookies looks slightly under baked).
- Let the cookies cool for a few minutes on the baking sheets before removing to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- For the frosting, in a medium bowl (can use a handheld or stand mixer) combine the butter, sour cream and vanilla. Mix until thick and smooth and creamy, 1-2 minutes. Add the powdered sugar and cream (or milk) and mix until well-combined and creamy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add additional cream, if needed, to adjust the consistency of the frosting so it is thick but still soft and spreadable.
- Frost the cooled cookies and decorate with sprinkles, if desired.
Notes
Recipe Source: adapted from my old Sugar Gems recipe and this popular recipe at Vintage Revivals; frosting recipe adapted from A Bountiful Kitchen’s recipe
I will make these again this Easter!
Truly the best frosted sugar cookie recipe and maybe best cookie recipe of all out there. This one is a showstopper!
Has anyone tried making the dough a few days ahead and storing it in the fridge before baking?
Yes! They bake up perfectly! I make the dough, smash them, then freeze. When I pull them out to bake, i don’t let them thaw, just bake a minute or two longer and it bakes exactly the same! Amazingly delicious!
Seriously, 6 cups of sugar? I finally quit trying to mix it in at about 4 cups and it was plenty for 32 cookies and was certainly sweet enough.
The cookies themselves aren’t overly sweet so the frosting balances that out. Also, the cookies are small enough that you don’t need a large amount of frosting
I always cut the sugar back in recipes but when making these I go whole-hog on the sugar!
I just made these for the first time. They turned out perfectly and will now be in my cookie rotation. Love that they are a new kind of sugar cookie. Love them!!!
These cookies are so good! I live in Utah and am very familiar with the Swig cookie – these really do taste like them!! But I think they are better because they are homemade and there’s more love in them. So so tasty!!
Wow- just made these this morning and they are delishhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!! I will give this recipe the in my cookie file on my ipad. Gonna try to make Valentine hearts with the dough next. Thanks for another great recipe.
meant to say “thumbs up”. oops. Julie
Oh my, my mistake. I just reread the ingredient list and realized there is baking powder, not a double measure of baking soda if you don’t have cream of tartar. Sorry! I should have read it again before asking a dumb question!
LaFern
HI Mel,
These sound easy and delicious but I have one question, does this recipe have cream of tartar AND baking soda OR not the cream tartar and double the amount of baking soda? I was a little confused when reading the ingredient list.
Thanks!
LaFern
Delicious cookies, very rich and sweet. The recipe worked really well, I did have to substitute the sour cream for plain Greek yogurt, as that was all I had on hand and couldn’t wait to make them.
These are so *expletive* good!
These were yummy. I’ve never had a real Swig cookie but have seen recipes floating around for years and finally wanted to try them. I used all butter, melting the portion that was replacing the oil. The texture is great, soft, but firm and slightly crumbly on the edges. I must have made my cookies giant (or ate a lot of dough ) and only made a half batch of the frosting as I only had 17 GIANT cookies. I will probably make again but make them smaller. Thank you for the recipe!
Hi Mel,
I haven’t tried your recipe yet, but just made the copycat recipe for the Crumbl sugar cookie, which is similar. I didn’t care for the taste of the cookie. I used canola oil, but the cookie tasted like oil (it was not rancid) and didn’t have much flavor at all. So I’m wondering if it is possible to use all butter in this cookie recipe…? I am an avid baker, and prefer the taste of butter over just about anything! Do you think it would change the texture of the cookie very much?
Hi Cathy – you can definitely try to use all butter. If so, I’d melt part of the butter so the consistency of the cookies is similar to the recipe (they might be dry or the dough too stiff if you use all softened butter)
I actually thought about melting the butter if I attempted to do this! I have done that in other recipes with success! Thanks for your input! I enjoy your blog and recipes! 🙂
Can you leave out the sour cream? I just don’t have any right now.
You can try – the texture and flavor might be a bit different (and you might want to decrease the flour slightly).
Could you elaborate on the Flour amount?
You’ve listed 5.5 cups or 781 grams. According to several sources a cup of flour weighs roughly 120 grams. That said, 5.5 cups would be 660 grams, or if you’re using your gram weight listed it would be 6.5 cups.
Also Granulated Sugar is is roughly 200g per cup, so the amount you have listed at 265 would be closer to 1.3 cups
If you’re looking for good sources for proper weights of ingredients, I’d recommend
King Arthur Ingredient Weight Chart
Aqua-Calc Food Volume to Weight
Hi Bryan, different sources use different weights for ingredients as recipes are tested. I use 142 grams per cup of flour when testing all of my recipes. And 212 grams per cup of sugar. My recommendation is to use the weights listed in a recipe if they are included because it means the recipe has been tested with those weight (and volume) measurements. I find that the weight measures King Arthur Flour uses are too low to achieve when measuring by volume (using measuring cups without a scale) so I use a slightly higher flour and sugar weight so that those measuring by volume have better success, too.
These sugar cookies are so good!! Such an easy recipe to make and were a big hit in my house (especially for the 2 year old who loves sprinkles). I didn’t have cream of tartar so I googled for a substitute and used lemon juice. I also ran out of powdered sugar so my icing ended up only having 3 cups which turned out fine as it wasn’t super sweet. Even with my modifications they turned out great! Will definitely be making them for the holidays.
Any tips for making these with GF flours?
I haven’t made them gluten free, but I believe others have by using a cup for cup gluten free flour in place of the all-purpose flour.
Super easy. Sent to my sister’s workplace. Gone quickly and several people asked for recipe. Love that they are not too sweet.
I’m wondering if freezing the cookies with frosting and sprinkles works. I would only need to freeze them for3 days before serving them but worried about the sprinkles melting and bleeding into the frosting.
Yes, they freeze great frosted and sprinkled.
I am making these cookies for a bridal shower this weekend…but am possibly needing to make them at least 4 days in advance. Will the be okay to sit in the freezer/refrigerator until then?
These cookies freeze great (even frosted).
I am getting so much spreading with these. Any suggestions?
It sounds like you might need to add a bit more flour (do they keep the crinkly edge shape or flatten?). Try another 1/4 to 1/2 cup flour and see if that helps.
I’m going to try this recipe tomorrow!! I was just curious on how long/many day I can leave these out or if they need to be refrigerated?
Hi Alicia, if I’m not serving them within a few hours, I refrigerate them (they keep well in the fridge, covered, for a couple of days – they also freeze great, even frosted)
These freeze AMAZINGLY well. And they taste even better than fresh when they’re almost all the way thawed out.
I have tried several copycat swig and these come in first every.single.time!
I must have cooked them too long as they were a bit dry. Wondering if being in Virginia could make a difference too.
Question of the day. How much did your son sell these for at the sale?
I don’t remember, it’s been a long time and the middle school handled the sales (and prices). Sorry!
My go to cookie EVERY TIME!! One of the BEST cookie recipes I’ve EVER tried over the MANY years. I must admit though, I’ve never had a Swig cookie before, but who cares, this cookie recipe IS THE BEST!!!!!
Never had the original swig cookies but it doesn’t even matter because this recipe is to die for! Can’t imagine that the original can be any better than this! My husband who is usually an only chocolate dessert kinda guy prefers these to his usually all time favorite chocolate chip cookie! And that says a lot! Thank you for never disappointing Mel!
I have made these a number of times and these really are so much better than Swig sugar cookies.
I’ve actually wanted to lie and let people think that I am the mastermind behind these treats.
These cookies are amazing. The recipe is perfect as-is. Great to give as gifts.
Wow o wow o wow. These are so very good. I cooled, frosted and then froze the trays of cookies, which then allowed me to stack them in Zip Lock Twist n Loc containers once frozen. Who am I kidding…these containers allow me to take one out at a time and eat it frozen. Has anyone tried adding a bit of almond flavoring to these? May try that next time. Once again, a real winner–thank you for sharing Mel.
Are you freezing these with the icing on ?
I freeze them frosted – works great!
These sound amazing, and I love your other swig cookie recipes (the lemon ones are my FAVORITE COOKIE IN THE WORLD.) I totally appreciate the pressed style, but my kiddos want to cut out shapes for holiday cookies. COULD I roll this dough out and use cookie cutters, do you think they bake firm enough to frost like a traditional cut-out cookies?
Hi Kelle, I haven’t tried it, but I do believe others in the comments have used these for a rolled and cut cookie.
These are absolutely divine! I followed the recipe exactly and used a kitchen scale for the flour. I also weighed each cookie to make sure they were uniform in size and they were roughly 1.5 oz each. It made 36 cookies. I took them out of the oven right at 10 minutes and they were perfectly done – edges were set but not golden. The frosting also turned out wonderful. Next time I make them I am going to have to freeze them because I literally could not help myself from scarfing them down! Thank you for sharing the recipe!!
Mel, you’ve done it again. I can always rely on your recipes to achieve exactly what I was looking for! I had Crumbl for the first time last week, and I became obsessed with making a copy cat of their sugar cookies. This hit the nail on the head. Better than Swig’s in my opinion! Mmmm and thank you as always!!
In order to make the frosting set a little harder for transport perhaps adding a tablespoon (or two ) of meringue powder? Thoughts?
I haven’t tried that, Leslie – so I’m not sure how it would affect taste and consistency – worth a try thought!
I don’t know what Swig’s is, but I saw this recipe and figured I’d try it. These are great! Soft, texture was great, easy and generous amount of frosting. Yum!
Perhaps it was my technique, but I did not get a good texture with these cookies. Your pictures make them look dense and fudgy, mine were light and airy. Maybe there’s little room for error. I made half a recipe, maybe that was a factor, though I’m pretty good at dividing recipes.
Baking is precise. If you divided the recipe without using baking percentages…you caused the less than desireable product.. That DOES NOT warrant a two star rating. 600 other people must be wrong…
I just dont understand people…
So I love this recipe, with a few variations.
I press the glass bottom in to the dough in the bowl to get it moist (no need to use cooking spray) then so in a mixture of 1/2 c sugar and 1/2tsp salt before pressing on the dough ball, just put the glass in the sugar mixture before you smash each dough ball. Just enough sugar on the top when it bakes that we enjoy without frosting.
I have used coconut oil, gives just a hint of coconut to the cookie, great with lime frosting.
She didn’t mention if you could use coconut oil but that’s all I had on hand. I loved it as well.
“Wow!!! These are even better than Swig’s”, said by all of my family members who had one! I’ve tried so many different recipes for sugar cookies and these will be my forever go to! I’ll just add different frosting colors and sprinkles for each holiday!! Thanks Mel!!
Thanks so much, Brenda!
Made these cookies last night. My son says it is just as good as the original from Swig. Followed the recipe exactly. So yummy.
These are really good and fairly easy to make but they are a very sweet cookie. My kids loved them but I can only eat one.
Is there a secret to getting your edges to ruffle? I’ve made your recipe like 3 times and have not got pretty edges like yours. I weigh my flour and chill the dough. Any other pointers?
How thick are the cookies once you press them? Also, the size of glass can make a difference. I like to use one that is small enough that the edges of the cookies press out beyond the glass edge (by just a tiny bit).
This is what made mine look perfect !! I had to big of a glass the first few times. Thanks for the best recipes Mel.
Merry Christmas
I’ve made these a few times now and LOVE them! I mean, frosted sugar cookies within an hour? So tasty! I find that the full amount of cream of tartar is too strong for me and I only use half, so 1/4 tsp. Thanks Mel for a total winner! And my SIL told me that Swig must have changed their recipe and the cookies are not as good now so this is extra awesome to have this nugget!
These are most excellent. Will go in my “Recipe Keepers” file. I live at high altitude (>5000 ft) and made no alterations. I was short on powdered sugar due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, but 3 c of powdered sugar was perfect. Thanks for a great recipe.
Oh my gosh, heroin. Seriously. I even froze them thinking I could stay away. And then discovered they are super good also as they are thawing. Can’t. Have. Them. In. My. House.
Do I need to make a high altitude adjustment for 4500-5000 ft?
I’d try to make them per the recipe first to see if adjustments are needed. I don’t live at high altitude so I’m not sure.
Peg I live at 6600 feet and did not adjust at all. They were amazing.
Hi!
I would love to bake these for valentines as a heart-shaped cookie.
Is it possible to roll the dough out and punch hearts out or will the dough be too soft to be rolled?
TIA
I haven’t tried rolling and cutting – I’d probably suggest using a recipe written to be a cut out cookie – not sure these will hold the heart shape very well.
I made these today and the ones baked on my older pan browned on the bottom. This made the flavor of the oil overwhelming and I had to toss them. The batch on the new pan stayed light and they tasted just like Swig! Do not let them brown or they are inedible!
Made these again with the leftover dough from the first batch – used the convection mode on the oven – perfection!
They do taste good, they’re incredibly sweet, but the bake time given was just nuts for me. After 12 minutes I had raw dough – they fell thru the cooling rack. Ended up putting them back in & baking another 8 min. Could be my baking sheets – they’re double bottomed to prevent burning.
For what it’s worth, I had a double-bottomed baking sheet and finally got rid of it — so infuriating! Everything always baked totally wrong on it!
Mine was the opposite! After 10 minutes mine were golden brown! I had to reduce my time to only 8-8.5 min and they were perfect.
Do you recommend refrigerating the cookies after their frosted or would the be ok in a tin on the counter?
They are fine left out for a few hours but any longer and yes, I refrigerate them.
Hi, could I freeze half the made dough to use at a later time?
Yep!