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–+ servings

Christmas Swig Cookies

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 or avocado 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!