Name: Chocolate Orange Swig Sugar Cookies
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 8 min
Total time: 8 min
Yield: 36
Ingredients: 1 cup unsalted butter; 3/4 cup vegetable oil; 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar; 3/4 cup powdered sugar; 3 tablespoons orange zest; 4 tablespoons orange juice; 1 teaspoon orange extract; 2 large eggs; 5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour; 1 teaspoon salt; 1/2 teaspoon baking soda; 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar; 1/4 cup unsalted butter; 6 tablespoons sour cream; 1/2 teaspoon orange extract; 3 cups powdered sugar; 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I use Dutch process); 2-3 tablespoons milk

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These chocolate orange swig sugar cookies are so easy to make. Everyone will love these soft orange sugar cookies with chocolate orange frosting!

Chocolate and orange is one of my favourite Christmas-time flavours. Or anytime really. It’s just a great combo.

And these swig sugar cookies with that chocolate orange flavour combo are absolutely fantastic. They’re easy to make, and everyone loved them at my house.

We make some version of Swig sugar cookie every Christmas. They’re my preferred sugar cookie, as I’m just not a fan of the traditional roll out, cookie cutter, decorated sugar cookie. They take too long and royal icing just doesn’t taste that great in my opinion.

I know I’m in the minority there, but Swig cookies are my preference when it comes to sugar cookies! They’re easy to make, you can make so many different flavours, and they stay super soft.

I’ve been making these chocolate orange swig sugar cookies for a few years now, and they’re one of my favourites. You should definitely add them to your holiday baking list this year. They’re delicious!

How much juice is in an orange?

You can typically get about 1/4 cup of orange juice from one medium to large sized orange. This of course will depend of the orange, but one good sized orange should give you enough juice for this recipe.

This recipe calls for 4 tablespoons of orange juice, so plan on 1-2 oranges, with one orange likely being enough.

How much zest do you get from one orange?

This obviously depends on the size of the orange, but one medium to large orange will give you 1-2 tablespoons of orange zest. I like this microplane grater for zesting my oranges.

For this chocolate orange swig sugar cookie recipe you will need 2 tablespoons of orange zest, so plan on about 1-2 oranges for this amount.

Are cream of tartar and baking soda the same thing?

Cream of tartar and baking soda are not the same thing, which is why I use both in this swig sugar cookie recipe.

They react with each other to produce carbon dioxide bubbles, which is what produces the leavening in these cookies, so don’t leave one out.

How to make Chocolate Orange Swig Sugar Cookies:

You will need a 2 1/2 inch wide glass to press the cookies down which is what gives them their rough edge – I find a 250mL (8oz) mason jar works perfectly for this.
These cookies are quite large, but you can halve the recipe with no problems, I do that all the time.
I store these cookies in the fridge as there is sour cream in the frosting. We like them best cold anyways, and they are still super soft straight out of the fridge. They also freeze very well.
The orange extract in the cookies and the frosting is not strictly necessary. I’ve made them without it as well, but I do prefer the extra orange flavour that it gives, so use it if you have it!

Here are some more sugar cookie recipes for you:

Yield: 36 large cookies