Copycat Swig Cookies

Have you been to Swig? It's this restaurant that sells fancy mixed sodas and THE best cookies. These tasted EXACTLY like Swig's sugar cookies! Recipe and photo from Lil' Luna.

Ingredients:

Cookie
1 cup butter room temperature
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp water
2 eggs
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp salt
5 1/2 cups flour

Frosting
6 tbsp butter room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3-4 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp almond extract
food coloring

Instructions:

Begin by creaming together butter, oil, sugars, water and eggs in your mixer. Mix for a few minutes until well combined.

In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients and slowly add to butter mixture.

Mix all ingredients until they are well combined. Dough should not be sticky.

Roll dough into 1.5 inch balls and place on a greased cookie sheet.

To give the cookies their cracked edges, place ¼ cup sugar and a pinch of salt in a separate bowl. Place the bottom of a glass into this mixture and then press it onto your ball of dough. The diameter of the bottom of the glass I used was 2.5 inches.

Press cookies until they are a bit wider than the glass bottom diameter (my cookies were about 3 inches in diameter) and cook at 350 for 8 minutes. Cookies end up being about 3.5 inches in diameter after being baked.

Let cool and place in fridge.

For the frosting mix butter, sour cream, powdered sugar, salt, 1 drop food coloring and almond extract. Mix well and add the desired amount of milk you want to get it the thickness you want. I only added a few tablespoons.

Spread frosting on cookies right before serving.

ENJOY!

Fish Taco Sauce

I took a screenshot of this recipe and have been using it all year, but don't remember the source--sorry I can't give credit for this AMAZING sauce! As an easy dinner, I warm up tortillas and put some of the coleslaw mix inside with the fish filets from ALDI, cover with this sauce, then top with avocado. It's easy and delicious! 

Makes 1 cup.

1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 Tbsp chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
2 Tbsp lime juice (or lemon)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup sour cream

Whisk all ingredients together until smooth. Store in refrigerator.

Texas Sheet Cake Cupcakes

 These beauties are from Six Sisters' Stuff and are delicious!!

1 cup butter

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups white sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup buttermilk*

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

*If you don't have buttermilk, no worries! Mix 1/2 cup milk with 2 tsp vinegar or lemon juice. Let sit for a minute before adding to other ingredients.

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place 24 cupcake liners into muffin pans. In a small saucepan, bring the butter, water, and cocoa powder to a boil. Turn off and set aside. Combine flour, sugar, and baking soda. Add eggs, buttermilk, vanilla, and cocoa mixture. Stir until well blended. Pour batter into cupcake liners (about 2/3 full). Bake for 18-20 minutes or until done. They will be moist- make sure that you don't overcook them! Cool completely.

Fudge frosting:

6 tablespoons milk

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup butter

4 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a small saucepan, combine milk, cocoa powder, and butter. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Add vanilla and powdered sugar. Stir until it starts to thicken slightly (about 3-4 minutes). Drop a tablespoon full onto center of each cupcake. The frosting will thicken quickly, so do not make the frosting until ready to put on cupcakes.

Texas Sheet Cake with Rocky Road Fudge Frosting

Oh my goodness these are to die for!! I mean, hello, with a name like that you've gotta try them! This recipe comes from Yammie's Noshery and is definitely a keeper!

For the cake:

2 cups white sugar

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 sticks (1 cup) butter

4 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 cup water

1/2 cup buttermilk (or 1/2 cup milk mixed with 1/2 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice, mixed together and left to set for 5 minutes)

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Mix together the sugar, flour, soda, and cinnamon. Meanwhile, melt the butter, cocoa, and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Pour over the flour mixture and mix well. Beat together the buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla and add to the rest, mixing well. Pour into a well buttered 18"x24" pan. Bake for about 12 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean (it might take a little longer). Cool completely before frosting.

For the fudge frosting:

1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) butter

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

5 cups powdered sugar

3 cups mini marshmallows

1 cup lightly toasted walnuts (optional)

Combine the butter, cocoa, milk, and instant coffee in a small saucepan. bring to a boil. Add vanilla. Beat in powdered sugar. It should be thin and smooth. Working quickly, mix in the marshmallows and nuts and pour over cake. It it's too thick it will be hard to spread. Add more milk if you need to.

Perfect Chocolate Cake & Chocolate Frosting

This is THE best combination I've ever had for chocolate cake and chocolate frosting. It's the HERSHEY recipe for cake and a random chocolate buttercream frosting recipe I found...Soooo moist and delicious! I made this as a 9x13 cake, but you could also do it as cupcakes or a layered cake.

HERSHEY'S "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake

• 2 cups sugar
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2  eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.
2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.
3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost.
   

Easy Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
6 tablespoons butter, softened

2 2/3 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1/3 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

*Place butter in a bowl and beat until creamy. Add sugar and cocoa, mixing well. Stir in milk in portions, stirring each time. Add vanilla.
*Spread on cooled cake or other items needing frosting.

Carrot-Spice Cake with Caramel Frosting

This cake is to DIE for! Soooo good with a very unique, rich flavor. It's definitely the best carrot cake I've ever had. The frosting is amazing and would taste great on any cake or even sugar cookies. I was just making this for our family and some friends, nothing fancy, so I baked the cake in a 9x13 baking dish. As you will see, the recipe is actually intended to make two 9" round cakes, stacked on top of each other, with frosting in-between. If you want to just make a simple 9x13, HALF the recipe for the frosting, otherwise you'll have a ton leftover.

1 pkg. (18-1/4 oz.) spice cake mix
1 pkg. (3.4 oz.) instant vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs
3/4 c. water
1/2 c. sour cream
1/4 c. canola oil
1 c. shredded carrots
1 can (8 oz.) unsweetened crushed pineapple, drained
1/2 c. flaked coconut
1/2 c. chopped pecans
1/4 c. raisins

FROSTING:
1 c. butter, softened
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
6 c. confectioners' sugar
1/2 c. caramel ice cream topping
1 to 2 Tbsp. 2% milk

*In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, water, sour cream and oil; beat on low speed for 30 seconds. Beat on medium for 2 minutes. Fold in the carrots, pineapple, coconut, pecans and raisins just until blended. Pour into two greased and floured 9-in. baking pans.

*Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

*For frosting, in a large bowl, beat butter and cream cheese until fluffy. Add the confectioners' sugar, ice cream topping and enough milk to achieve desired consistency. Spread frosting between layers and over the top and sides of cake. Store in the refrigerator.