These pastry-like sour cream twist cookies have yeast in them but no rising. You just have to chill the dough a while, roll in lots of sugar, and twist to get one of the best Swedish Christmas traditions! We make these every year. I love to dip them in hot chocolate! Originally published Dec 15, 2016.
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Right after I had the baby, my wonderful amazing mother came and stayed with us for a while to help us cope with the fact that our children officially outnumber us.
Mom knows that I make Butterscotch Oatmeal for the kids nearly every morning, so she made some too, except that she actually followed the recipe. (I usually only add half the sugar because I don’t want my kids to turn into junkies like me.)
Well, Charlotte noticed. “Grandma, this oatmeal is REALLY GOOD. What did you put in this??” I explained to her that Grandma added “too much” sugar. I said, “Do you know why sugar is bad for you?” And she said, “I don’t care.”
Me neither Charlotte, me neither. But I won’t be admitting that to you for as long as I can swing it. Here’s hoping we don’t die young. And cheers to all your future dental bills.
You’ll love these sour cream twists cookies
Whether you call them Swedish sour cream twists or German sour cream twists, you’ll love these flaky layered cookies. You’ll love them even more with a mug of hot chocolate. This is the other recipe from Eric’s great-grandma Prudy that I promised you guys this year. It’s a huge personal favorite of mine. It might be my favorite Prudy recipe, although Butter Pecans are another top contender. Or maybe it’s the cardamoms. Or maybe I don’t have to choose and I can love them all!
Ingredients for Sour Cream Twists
Sour cream twists are like a cross between a pastry and a cookie. There is yeast in the dough, but you don’t need to let them do a traditional rise. You just chill the dough for a while and let the yeast work some yeasty magic.
Here’s a quick shopping list to help you gather your ingredients. See the recipe card below for the full ingredients and instructions!
- butter
- flour
- active dry yeast
- sour cream
- eggs
- kosher salt
- vanilla
- white sugar
How to make Swedish (or German) sour cream twists
One of the first times my mother-in-law Kris made this recipe for Swedish sour cream twists, years after Prudy had passed away, she couldn’t decide if the “sour cream” called for in the recipe was sour cream that we buy in a tub, or regular heavy cream that had gone sour. She decided to use the tub kind and it worked out great, but sometimes I want to try it with sour heavy cream. I wonder how much it would change the result.
The other different thing about this recipe is that there is no sugar mixed in the dough; instead you roll and fold the dough in sugar several times, which makes tiny delicate layers.
Sprinkle the sugar directly onto the dough and fold it in.
These layers are what make the cookies so light and flakey.
Roll the dough into a rectangle, sprinkle with sugar, and fold it into thirds like a business envelope (add sugar between layers).
Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough and a cookie cutter to cut into strips.
Don´t forget to sprinkle the strips with MORE sugar!
Then once you’ve shaped the twists, you roll them in sugar before baking. When you bake them the sugar gets crispy around the edges and crystalizes a little bit, giving them just the right amount of crunch on the edges while still having a tender, yeasty center.
The bottoms are crispy perfection!
They are sweet but not overwhelming. They are seriously the best thing that will ever be dipped in your hot chocolate! These would be great to leave out for Santa, or even to snack on for breakfast while opening stockings!
What to serve with sour cream twist cookies
Hot chocolate! Seriously, these twists were made for hot chocolate. If it’s just me and I don’t want to make a huge batch of cocoa, I´ll make this single-serving hot chocolate recipe and take a few minutes for myself. I also love them alongside a steaming mug of warm Spiced Wassail!
How to store sour cream twist cookies
To keep your sour cream twist cookies fresh and tasty, make sure they’re completely cool before storing—nobody wants soggy cookies from condensation. Pop them into an airtight container to lock in that fresh-baked goodness. If you’re stacking them, slip a piece of parchment or wax paper between each layer to prevent sticking. Find a cool, dry spot away from direct sunlight or humidity for the container.
If you want to save some for later, freezing is a great option. Lay the cookies out in a single layer on a baking sheet and freeze until solid. Then, transfer them to a freezer-safe airtight container or a zip-top freezer bag, and they’ll stay perfect for up to three months. When you’re ready to indulge, just thaw them at room temperature for a few hours or overnight.
Other Christmas cookie recipes to try
Here are some of my favorite Christmas cookie recipes. You can find all my cookie recipes on Pinterest.
- Pariserwafiers (Swedish Cream Wafer Cookies) >> another pastry-like cookie that is heavenly BLISS, I tell you
- Grandma Prudy’s Spritz Cookie Recipe >> another family favorite from Grandma Prudy
- Thumbprint Almond Raspberry Cookies >> a classic for a reason!
- My All-Time-Favorite Shortbread Cookies >> shortbread is a classic anytime of year, but especially holidays
- Peppermint Candy Cane Cookies >> sugar cookies topped with candy canes = Christmas magic
- Dipped Chocolate Peppermint Cookies >> similar to the peppermint candy cane cookies, but in CHOCOLATE
- Unbelievably Soft and Chewy Gingerbread Man Cookies >> there´s just something so fun about making and eating gingerbread men cookies
- Biscotti For People Who Thought They Hated Biscotti >> you know it’s good when you have to keep a stock in the freezer all season long
- Perfect Linzer Cookies >> cute shapes like sugar cookies, but with WAY more sophistication
- Easy Christmas Butter Cookies from Drive Me Hungry
- Cake Mix Christmas Cookies from Six Sisters Stuff
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Swedish Sour Cream Twists (Layered Yeast Cookies)
Ingredients
- 1 cup salted butter, softened (2 sticks)
- 3 & 1/2 cups flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 tablespoon yeast
- 1 cup full-fat sour cream
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 & 1/4 cups white sugar, for rolling out dough, plus more
- 1/2 cup white sugar, for rolling twists in
Instructions
- In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat the butter until light and fluffy. Add the flour and beat well.
- In another medium bowl, stir the yeast into the sour cream.
- Beat in the eggs, salt, and vanilla.
- Beat the sour cream mixture into the flour mixture until combined. The dough will be very sticky.
- Cover the bowl and let chill in the fridge for 2 hours or overnight. It’s easier to manage the dough when it’s cold, and it gives the yeast a chance to develop.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line a few baking sheets with silpats or parchment paper.
- Sprinkle a generous handful of the 1 and 1/4 cups sugar onto a work surface. I used a pastry cloth, or a silpat would work well too. If you roll out on the countertop you will need quite a bit of sugar since the dough is so sticky.
- Scrape the dough on top of the sugar, sprinkle some more on top, and use your hands to pat it down. Roll it into a rectangle with a rolling pin. See photos.
- Sprinkle the rolled dough with more sugar. Don’t be stingy! Use a lot so that it doesn’t stick, you may need more than the 1 and 1/4 cup called for.
- Fold the dough in half, sprinkle the top with sugar, and roll out into another rectangle. Repeat this sugaring, folding, and rolling, process 3-4 times, until the sugar is gone.
- The final time you roll the dough in a rectangle, sprinkle with sugar, then fold the dough in thirds like a business envelope (add sugar in between layers).
- Roll into a long strip, about 4-5 inches by 22-24 inches. See photos.
- Use a pizza cutter to slice the dough into strips about 1/2 inch wide. (Each strip should be about 1/2 inch by 4-5 inches).
- Use your fingers to twist each strip, then roll generously in 1/2 cup sugar. Place on the prepared baking sheets spaced about 2 inches apart.
- Repeat with the remaining strips of dough.
- Bake at 350 for about 17-20 minutes or until lightly browned on the edges. If you think you will like them extra crispy for coffee-dipping, leave them in a couple minutes longer.
- The recipe makes 36-40 twists, depending on how you long you made the twists.
- Serve with hot chocolate! It’s so good!!
These look delicious and I’m planning to make a big double batch to include in Christmas cookie boxes! I usually freeze a lot of my cookies in advance, normally unbaked but pre-portioned and ready for the oven. Do you think it would work to flash freeze these unbaked (I’m thinking after they’ve been twisted and rolled in the sugar) and then bake directly from frozen? Or do you think better to just bake all the way through and freeze after they’re done? Thank you!
Hi CHristina! I haven’t personally tried this but my first choice would be what you said first, flash freeze unbaked and bake directly from frozen. Please let me know if you try it and how it goes, I would love to know!
I did as I planned and glad froze the twists before baking and it worked out great! They are delicious and I’ve already had friends asking what they are and raving about them. The only difficult thing for me (not sure if this is expected or a function of freezing) is that when I bake them, a certain amount of sugar oozed out onto my silpat. Not a big deal but it led me to remove them almost immediately from the hot pan bc once they started to cool all that sugar surrounding the twist turned rock solid. So I basically had to remove them while the sugar was still some flexible and then immediate scrape off the silpat with a metal spatula (no matter how fast I worked by then it had become hard candy). Not a dealbreaker for me but definitely took extra time and patience while baking. And without the silpats I probably would have been very frustrated. But this recipe is delicious! Thank you for sharing!
I’ve never, ever, EVER written a review on a recipe. Im not even certain how I landed on this recipe or why I wanted to make them.
My electric mixer had technical difficulties forcing me to conscript my boyfriend for mixing duties, the dough was so dry I had to add approximately 1/4 water to create dough, and my laptop was also having issues with the page, forcing me to view the pictures on it but read the recipe from my phone.
All of this compounded to make me very skeptical and very cranky. “Tiny delicate layers, my ***! … Light and flakey…. No way!” I scoffed.
But, I WAS WRONG! slicing the dough into individual twists really did reveal a glorious multitude of layers, and twisting fanned them into absolutely beautiful, perfect spirals.
I’m currently still waiting for them to finish baking, misreading “1/2in strips” as “1in strips” made for some very chunky twists (and makes me wonder what else i misread in the recipe!) but the Ive pulled a couple of the less hefty twists and they are DIVINE! Even though most of my twists look more like small loafs of bread than cookies, the flavor and texture is amazing.
I’ll definitely be adding this to the holiday cookie rotation, and next time I’ll make sure I’m a little more focused when reading the recipe!!! I’m excited to make them again, properly. If they’re this good with all my mistakes I can only imagine how they’ll be next time!
Thank you!
Sloan!! I love this so much!! We literally just made these last night. My daughter Charlotte (who is 13 now) made them start to finish, I was so impressed! We made some of ours a little too big too 😂 I’m going to have your voice in my head every time I make these now. “Tiny delicate layers my ***!” ahahaha!!! So happy you enjoyed this recipe, thanks so much for dropping in to comment! You made my day, these old Swedish cookie recipes are near and dear to my heart.
Hmmm!! I have made this recipe with exactly the same except with only 1/2 cup sour cream. I found them on Lynne’s Cook and Be Merry’s site years ago. (I see you linked it as a suggestion.) Should I switch things up and risk getting thrown out of my house? Lol. Your twists look a bit different but very delicious.
OOH battle of the Twists Stephanie!! I think the only solution is to make both of them 😂 I don’t think anyone will complain!
Hello! Thank you for sharing this recipe! I was wondering if I could substitute yogurt for the sour cream. I live in rural India and cannot find sour cream here. Thanks for any help!
Hi Stephanie! I think you could! Make sure it’s high fat yogurt. Good luck, tell me how it goes! I’m about to make these tomorrow :)
Nice flavourful cookie. The recipe was easy to follow. The taste reminded me of the ear bunny cookie.
My mom made these every year and my sons and i loved to get them when we would visit minnesota most summers.
I’ve made these for over thirty DaleMarie years, but to the sugar I add cinnamon and finely chopped walnuts or pecans. Our family can’t get enough of them.
Can you make these cookies with rice flour or almond flour? trying to get some good recipes that are gluten free. If so, do you know how exactly to substitute… cup for cup?? any additional ingredients required??
Thanks
Hi Dianna, I’m sorry I have not tried these gluten free. I am pretty inexperienced with gf baking! Let me know if you try it and how it goes.
I absolutely love, love, love your recipes ❤❤❤ You are my go to whenever I’m looking for something!! Thank you so very much!! Blessings to you and your family in the New Year
Totally off topic, I know, but I wonder if you might have a recipe for apple streudel that uses sour cream in the pastry. I had a recipe many years ago but have lost it. You have such talent, I thought you might have one.
You are so sweet Gayle! I don’t have one! Let me know if you ever find it!
My mother has been making these for 50 years. We actually mix the vanilla, 2 tsp. In with the sugar and mix well. They are absolutely delicious!!
Oh interesting Patti! So you mix vanilla extract right into the sugar you use for rolling? I love it! What a great idea! I want to try it now, thanks so much for sharing!