Are you looking for the perfect cookie to bake for Santa on December 24th? Word has it that Santa loves homemade Swig cookies! The Christmas Swig is the classic Almost Swig Sugar Cookie, with peppermint candy bits in the dough topped with ABK’s  famous creamy pink frosting and decorated with white sparkling sugar sprinkles.

Christmas Swig Cookies

Swig cookies have become a household name in Utah. They were originally sold in Southern Utah and made in a small gas station/bakery called Dutchman’s. The bakery is still in operation, but Swig, the famous Utah drink stop, no longer carries the original cookie from Dutchman’s.

Christmas Swig Cookies

ABK’s original recipe for the Almost Swig Cookie is a blank slate for lots of different flavor combinations. I’ve posted several different recipes using the Swig base: Triple Chocolate Mint Swigs, Coconut Cream Swigs (my favorite), Lemon Lime Sprig Cookies, and the Chocolate Swagg Cookie . I also posted an update on the original Almost Swig recipe awhile back, which includes some of the alterations I made to the original recipe.

Christmas Swig Cookies

Naturally, a Christmas Swig Cookie needed to be added to the ABK lineup! I tried simply adding mint to the frosting and also to the topping of the cookie, but it wasn’t enough to make it distinctly different from the rest of the pack of Swig cookies, so I added mint chips to the dough. I like the Andes Peppermint Baking Chips better than simply adding chopped candy canes. The Andes chips are creamy chips (white chocolate) with peppermint flavoring added.

Buying the In-Demand Chips! (updated December 2017)

Andes Peppermint Baking Chips are somewhat difficult to find in grocery stores at Christmastime! They are usually stocked at Halloween and then not restocked for the rest of the holiday season, according to my sources. I’ve had luck shopping at a local store, Dick’s Grocery, in Bountiful, UT, have also found the baking chips at Smith’s, Target, Walmart, Macey’s, and most recently, my friend bought a bag at World Market in Farmington, UT. Out of the State of Utah, I’ve heard reports of the Andes chips purchased at Meijer, a grocery/department store in Kentucky and Ohio. A reader from Washington State reported finding them at Safeway grocery store. If you’ve purchased in another location or store, please leave a comment below!

Remember, you may also chop candy canes and add to the dough, a decent substitute if you’re in a pinch and can’t find the peppermint baking chips. The peppermint chips are usually sold for less than $3 per bag, so the Amazon option is quite a bit more expensive (over $6 per bag). Ghiradelli also makes a Peppermint Chunk, which doesn’t have a lot of red color in the chunk itself, but the flavor is similar to the Andes chip. I prefer the Andes baking chip to the Ghiradelli. A couple of other readers suggested using Andes Peppermint Candies (sold just like the green wrapped mints, but they are white with peppermint) I’ve seen these at Target, one box will be enough, chopped.  Also,  Hershey’s White Chocolate Kisses, chopped. Next year, I’m going to remind all to purchase these in October!

Christmas Swig Cookies

Christmas Swig Cookies

4.77 from 30 votes
Author: Si Foster
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
Servings: 20 -24 cookies

Ingredients 

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup canola oil
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 4 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup crushed candy cane or Andes Peppermint Crunch Baking Chips (if you are doubling the recipe, one 10-ounce bag is sufficient)
  • Sugar for top of cookies

for frosting:

  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 2 tablespoons sour cream
  • 4 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • Dash of salt
  • 1-2 drops red food coloring
  • 2-3 tablespoons milk, if needed
  • Sprinkles

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees convection or 350 degrees regular bake. Place rack in the center of the oven.
  • Take butter out of refrigerator and microwave for about 15 seconds.
  • In a large bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer, place butter, oil, and cold sour cream. Mix for about 1 minute.
  • Add sugar and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth.
  • Add all dry ingredients at once, including chopped candy canes or Andes Peppermint Crunch Baking Chips.
  • Mix just until flour disappears and the mixture comes together in a ball of dough, about 1 minute on very low speed.
  • Spray a cookie scoop with a little cooking spray. Scoop the dough onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. I use a 2-inch scoop. A 2-inch scoop will produce a cookie similar in size to the Swig cookie. It is best to use a scoop and overfill it a bit to get the desired jagged edge.
  • If you don't have a cookie scoop, use an ice cream scoop or roll the dough into a ball about the size of a golf ball.
  • Place about 1/4 cup sugar into a small bowl.
  • Spray the bottom of a flat glass with cooking spray.
  • Flatten one cookie a bit, then dip the glass in sugar.
  • Place the bottom of the glass against the cookie. Press the cookies so they are flattened a bit (until the cookie dough just reaches the outside of the edge of the glass), twisting the glass as you press to produce a jagged edge.
  • I bake 8 cookies per tray. Continue until all cookies are flattened.
  • Bake for 10-12 minutes on convection or 12-15 minutes regular bake or until edges are lightly golden and cookies are slightly firm to the touch.
  • Remove from the oven and let cool.
  • Loosen the cookies from the cookie sheet after they have cooled a bit or they will stick to the pan, even though it has been lightly greased.
  • Place the cookies in the fridge and chill.

Prepare the frosting:

  • In a large bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together butter, sour cream, powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt. When all ingredients are incorporated, add the drop of food coloring and a little milk if the frosting needs to be thinned.
  • Frost after the cookies are completely chilled.
  • Makes about 18 large cookies.

Notes

If you cannot find the Andes peppermint baking chips, use crushed candy canes, about 1/2 cup at most.
If you want the cookies to taste more like the original Swig cookies, make this adjustment to the dough: Omit the vanilla extract and reduce the sugar to a total of 3/4-1 cup. I prefer the cookies to be sweeter, so I like 1 1/2 cups of sugar in the dough. 1 1/2 cups of sugar may sound like a lot, but consider that traditional chocolate chip cookies have a ratio or 1 1/2-2 cups of sugar to 2 1/4 cups of flour. The ratio here is 1 1/2 cups of sugar to 4 1/2 cups of flour.
The St. George Swig cookie is frosted with quite a thin layer of frosting. I prefer my frosting to be a bit thicker. If you want to frost the cookie with a thinner frosting, add 3-4 tablespoons of milk to the frosting.
When finished baking, these cookies measure 3 3/4 to 4 inches across.
This recipe looks a little long and maybe even complicated, but it’s not. Once you get the hang of the technique for scooping and pressing, it takes less than a half hour to make and bake the entire batch.
These cookies stay quite well in the fridge for up to a month if kept in an airtight container. I frost the cooled cookies before storing them in the fridge. Once the frosting is set on the cookies, set them on sheets of parchment or wax paper, then stack them and refrigerate. Storing the cookies this way takes less space in the fridge.
These cookies also freeze well, frosted or unfrosted.
If you are making these cookies for a gathering where there will be other desserts, use a smaller cookie scoop and bake for less time.
See the post for information on purchasing the peppermint baking chips!

Did you make this recipe?

Be sure to leave a comment and give this recipe a rating, letting me know how you liked it. I’d love to see a photo, tag @abountifulkitchen on Instagram!