Basic 'Swig' Sugar Cookie

I can't remember when I first heard about Swig - but it was definitely after the fact. As in everyone else knew about them and loved them. I heard about them when I started hearing about Dirty Coke's last year and then I heard about the cookies. 

By the time that I heard about them last year there were Swig locations outside of St. George so Don and I went and and got Dirty Coke's and the pink swig sugar cookies. They were good, huge, but good. Just in case you were confused by that last statement - this is goofy, but I like smaller cookies. I'd rather eat 2 smaller cookies than one large cookie, but that's just me, ha! :) Apparently the current version of cookies are different from when they originally started serving them in St. George. The one that everyone initially fell in love with. Not to say that people don't still love their cookies - they're just a different recipe now. All the pictures I had seen of them previously had cracked edges etc and when I went to Swig they were clean edges and I had read in a couple of places that they didn't taste like they did before. 

And that made me curious to try the 'original.' Or at least try a cookie recipe based off of the original. I looked up recipes for 'swig' cookies - and I found a TON. Like I said, late to the bandwagon.  I'm going to say this right off. I've never been the biggest fan of sugar cookies. Something about the texture? But I like 'swig' style sugar cookies. They're kind of like a cross between a sugar cookie and shortbread? But I'd say they're less finicky to make than shortbread cookies. I like them. 

I've seen quite a few adaptations that have made lemon or lime ones, even chocolate versions. For the basic recipe you can add a little extract, which I'll be honest I don't always add, but I like the reminder to maybe put it in. I also separated out the wet and dry ingredients. I accidentally added the powdered sugar with the dry ingredients once and it did not turn out as well as when you mix it with the wet - the dough was super crumbly.

I'm not listing a frosting recipe just yet and that's simply because I haven't found one that I'm in love with. I need to experiment with a few others before I commit to one. But FYI, the 'original' recipe calls for a sour cream frosting. 

INGREDIENTS:
Wet:

• 1 cup butter - room temp, soft
• 1¼ cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• ¾ vegetable oil
• 2 Tbsp water - on recipes with flavored variations I've seen this replaced with lemon or lime juice and then adding the zest of one lemon or lime
• ¾ cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla or almond extract (optional)

Dry:

• 5½ cups of flour
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp cream of tartar
• 1 tsp salt - sometimes I half this or leave it out because I use salted butter

PREPARATION:

1. Cream butter and sugar together. Mix in eggs, oil and water. Add powdered sugar and  mix until smooth. 
2. Mix all dry ingredients in another bowl and add a cup or so of dry ingredients at a time into the wet ingredients. 
3. Preheat the oven to 350° F.
4. Form into balls and flatten with the bottom of a glass that has been dipped in sugar (and a teensy bit of salt if you like - that's from Vintage Revivals, I don't always do it because of the whole salted butter thing)
5. Bake for 7 - 12 min. This will vary depending on how chewy you want the inside of the cookie. The longer the bake time the dryer the cookie. 

NOTE: Makes approx 2 dozen medium cookies or 3 dozen small cookies

Drop Biscuits

This recipe is straight up from JOY of Cooking which is pretty much the encyclopedia of cooking. Seriously. When we first got this we played a game where we had to think of an ingredient or some crazy food we had heard of and then check to see if there was a recipe for it. And there was one every single time. It's a beast. There are no pictures but there is so much information that it's really helpful to have. We like these biscuits because we don't always have Bisquick and these are almost just as quick and we always have all the ingredients on hand. And every now and then we get cravings for biscuits and gravy and these are perfect for that. Also there is note that these can be bland on their own due to the fact they are made with oil instead of butter or shortening. 

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

PREPARATION:

1. Preheat the oven to 450° F
2. Sift the first 3 ingredients into a bowl. 
3. Add wet all at once and stir with a fork until the dough readily leaves the sides of the bowl. 
4. Drop dough in desired size onto ungreased baking sheet.
5. Bake for 10 -12 minutes.

NOTE:  The original recipe states this makes 24, one and 1/2 inch biscuits. We like bigger biscuits so this makes 6 for us. You can double the recipe for a full dozen which works out well because we like cooking it in muffin tins. It just makes for consistent sizing and you get a nice outer crust.