There’s no need to drive to a soda shop and spend a fortune on frosted shortbread sugar cookies when you can make them right at home. Everyone who’s tried this recipe tells me they are better than the ones you can buy!
NO HASSLE SUGAR COOKIES!
Like most people on the planet, I love sugar cookies. The thing I don’t like about sugar cookies is rolling out the dough, cutting the shapes, gathering the scraps, re-rolling, re-cutting. . . you know the drill. It’s a pretty time consuming process.
Sometimes I want fun sugar cookie shapes, but sometimes we’re just in the mood for sugar cookies. One of my facebook friends mentioned a few months ago that she just rolls her sugar cookie dough into balls, then presses them flat on the cookie sheet. Genius! I gave it a try, and I haven’t made sugar cookies with cookie cutters since then. This is so much easier!
For this sugar cookie recipe, I combined my favorite sugar cookie recipe with a recipe I found online that I made, but didn’t love because the cookies weren’t very flavorful. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. The secret to the awesome flavor of these sugar cookies (and my other favorite recipe), is the almond extract. Most people don’t recognize what it is, they just comment on how yummy the cookies taste!
These sugar cookies are kind of like a cross between a sugar cookie and shortbread. Kinda crispy, kinda chewy, nice and buttery. If you’re looking for puffy, cakey, soft sugar cookies, these are not them.
I’ve made these for a couple of church activities, and delivered them to a few friends. Everyone has raved about them. I’ve had several recipe requests, and several friends who know about my website have been asking when I’m going to get around to posting the recipe already. So here it is. Enjoy! 🙂
MORE MUST TRY FROM SCRATCH COOKIES:
- Strawberry White Chocolate Cookies
- Butter Cookies (with lemon frosting)
- Chocolate Chip Cookies (with melted butter)
- Cherry Shortbread Cookies
- Brown Sugar Shortbread
- Butterfinger Cookies
- Zucchini Cookies
- Macaroon Blossoms
Better Than Swig Sugar Cookies Recipe
Copycat Swig Cookies
This homemade version is even tastier than the sugar cookies you can get at your favorite soda shop!
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 1 cup butter
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 Tbsp milk
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 2 eggs
- 5 1/2 cups flour
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- About 1/4 cup of sugar for pressing cookies
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 4 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup soft butter
- 3-4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- dash of salt
- 1 Tbsp milk (if needed)
Instructions
- Cream butter, oil, and sugar in a large bowl till smooth and creamy. Beat in milk, vanilla, almond extract, and eggs.
- Combine flour, salt, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Stir into wet ingredients till thoroughly combined.
- Roll dough into 1 1/4" balls, place on lightly greased or silpat lined baking pans.
- Dip a glass in sugar and flatten cookies till between 1/4" and 1/" thick.
- Bake at 350° for about 10 minutes. After a couple minutes, remove to cooling racks and cool completely before frosting.
- For frosting: Beat cream cheese and butter till smooth. Beat in powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt. Add milk as needed to make a spreadable consistency.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
60Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 227Total Fat: 8gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 18mgSodium: 83mgCarbohydrates: 39gFiber: 0gSugar: 29gProtein: 2g
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I made these cookies on 1-3-15 and they were amazing!!!!!!!!!!!! They were super easy and I liked the fact that they didn’t need to be refrigerated before baking and that I didn’t have to roll them out like traditional sugar cookies. These tasted way better that roll-out sugar cookies, in my opinion! Thanks for the recipe……it’s nice when people share!
So glad you liked the cookies as much as I do Joy!
Can you use margarine or does it have to be butter?
Butter is necessary for a shortbread consistency and flavor. You can use margarine, and the cookies will still taste good, but they won’t be the same.
Pink is my favorite too! And even my four boys don’t mind pink when it comes on top of something as yummy as one of these cookies. š
These have my mouth watering… I may need to bake a batch of these up next week! Plus, my daughter loves pink, so I am sure it’ll be a huge hit with her!
These cookies are amazing Kara – and so pretty too!
Thanks Trish!
I’ve never thought of just rolling balls and flattening them. They look like little flowers–why not?! This recipe sounds great. You had me when you said they are kind of like a cross between a sugar cookie and shortbread. Thanks for sharing!
I never thought about it before, but they do look kind of like flowers. Bonus!