Root Beer Brownies

Okay, look, I'll be frank. These brownies turned out a million times better than those pumpkin muffins did. Not that they can really be compared... I think this is just me doing self affirmations or something, that I actually CAN bake things and have on hand all ingredients and not forget to put any of them in.

So anyways, these are delicious! The brownies themselves do not have a really root beery flavor, but the root beer added into the batter makes them dense and kind of fudge-like. Oh it's so good! The FROSTING! Oh the frosting is divine!!! Putting in root beer extract is optional, but I HIGHLY recommend it. Although it might be hard to come by this time of year... But you should definitely use it if you can!
There's something else you should add, but I'll mention that in the pictures. YUM YUM YUUUUUM!!!!!!!!!!!



Recipe: Root Beer Float Brownies

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 6 oz chopped semi sweet chocolate
• 3 oz white chocolate
• 4 Tbsp. butter
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 8 oz. root beer
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 tsp salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375°
2. Line a 9×9 baking dish with aluminum foil and spray lightly with cooking spray.
3. Sift flour, cocoa powder and salt in a bowl and set aside.
4. Over a double boiler (or in microwave) melt the butter, semi-sweet and white chocolates together.
5. Remove from heat when just melted and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
6. Using your mixer mix the eggs, sugars and vanilla together.
7. Slowly add in the cooled chocolate mixture.
8. Now add half the flour and half the root beer. Mix on low, scraping the sides.
9. Repeat with the remaining flour and root beer until just combined. Batter will be on the thin side.
10. Pour batter into your prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes, until center is just set.
11. Let cool completely before cutting or frosting.

Recipe: Root Beer Frosting

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup room temp butter
• 1/3 cup root beer, no foam
• 5 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp. root beer extract (optional)

Instructions

1. Beat butter on medium speed until smooth.
2. Slowly add in your powdered sugar and mix in.
3. Now add your root beer and extract, if desired.
4. Beat on medium until smooth and all ingredients are incorporated.

There really wasn't a need for me to take a lot of pictures. The instructions are pretty standard. Don't these look good?  :) If I hadn't had to share these, there's a very good chance I would've just licked all of the frosting off of them.

BONUS TOPPING!!! You should definitely, absolutely get some of this stuff to add on top of the frosting! 

And also, I would eat these brownies with ice cream. And when you have ice cream and topping leftover, but all of the brownies are gone, then you should just eat the topping on the ice cream. As it was intended to be in the first place...

Oh! Also! Side note. I found that the frosting made too much. I think if you did half, it would be enough for a 9x9 pan. Or you could just make the full batch and keep the leftover frosting in the fridge to use at your leisure...

Recipe Source: Cookies and Cups

Root Beer Cookies

My most favorite thing to bake is cookies. Sometimes, I get bored with baking the same cookies, so I go through the "small" collection of cookbooks I have devoted to cookies and find something new. Sometimes the chosen recipe gets a big black line marked through it, meaning don't ever come back to my kitchen again. Other times, it gets a star next to it, meaning it is so dang awesome it will end up in the lineup of cookies that I get bored of making so frequently because they're just delicious. These happen to fall in the latter category. Like I would share a bad cookie recipe with you anyways?? The only way I could describe the taste of this to you, is to say it tastes kind of like if you took a root beer float and turned it into a cookie. Don't take my word for it though, you should definitely make these and find out for yourself!

 

 

Root Beer Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

3/4 tsp root beer concentrate or extract

4 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1-1/2 cups chopped pecans (Yeah, do I have to tell you at this point in my blog that I did NOT include those?)

Frosting:

3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

3/4 cup butter, softened

3 TB water

1 1/4 tsp root beer concentrate or extract

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and brown sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addtion. Beat in buttermilk, and root beer concentrate or extract. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture. Stir in pecans, but only if you want these to be disgusting... in my humble opinion...

2. Drop by tablespoonfuls 1 1/2 inches apart onto ungreased (or just parchment covered) baking sheets. Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.

3. In a mixing bowl, combine frosting ingredients; beat until smooth. Frost cooled cookies.

Yields about 6 dozen

 

I have never done anything with root beer extract before, so this was new to me! This is what I got because it's all HEB had and it was the last one. SUCKAS!

 

 

If your dough looks like this, all oatmealy and whatnot, after adding the extract and buttermilk, don't freak out...

...because it will end up looking like this! This dough is very airy and reminded me of sponge cake batter a bit. Also it's delicious, so.... you might not get as many cookies as the recipe says if you eat, say, 3 cookies worth of dough... I don't know. I hear that happens sometimes. In other places besides my kitchen.

This is what they should look like when they're done baking.

And here they are frosted. The frosting makes the PERFECT amount if you use about 1 TB on each one. This makes a lot of cookies, so unless you're going to pass them onto friends or help feed an army, I would do a half recipe if you're just making them for fun :)

Resource: Taste of Home: The Ultimate Cookie Collection

Cake Cake Cake

School is DONE! I can't even begin to describe the joy I feel when I think about going home after work and having the option of doing nothing. Chances are, I can't just sit there and do nothing. It turns out my mom was right all along and having things to do is good :). I will actually probably end up baking during the week as well as on weekends. I should start taking all these treats to neighbors and visiting teaching people...

I have baked a LOT in the past few days. Saturday I tried my hand at a homemade loaf of whole wheat bread. It turned out alright. I was impatient and didn't let it bake long enough. I know how to make it better next time now :). Sunday, I made a root beer float cake for my mother-in-law for mother's day, which is the recipe I'm sharing this week. Monday, Mike and I had dinner with some friends, kind of at the last minute, and Mike, my biggest culinary fan, volunteered me for dessert (the little pill) so I whipped up a batch of the cake batter cookies I mentioned earlier in my blog. They are great when you just throw a bunch of random stuff in them! Then last night, I went over to an old friend's apartment for dinner, dessert, and "Glee"! I made sopapilla cheesecake, which I will be making for ANOTHER girl's night this Friday, and it will probably be my next recipe post.

Good heavens. I sit around doing nothing but work and school and as soon as one ends, I have a social life again! Somewhere in the midst of all of that, Mike and I managed to go on a date to see "Iron Man 2." Very good.

ANYWAYS! This is not a "This is my life" blog, this is a "This is my food" blog! Whenever I'm in line at the grocery store, I avoid the tabloids and check out the headlines on all the recipe books on the top shelf of the magazine rack. A couple weeks ago I bought one! 80 recipes that start with a cake mix! I cannot even wait to try some of these. One of them involves Oreos, and I love anything that involves Oreos. But I digress... I decided to make a root beer float cake. Many years ago, as an attempt to be healthier, I swore off carbonation. I don't recall losing much weight from it, but it's a habit that has stuck and I'm greatful for it, because carbonated drinks are just a waste of space in your body. Drink water or milk instead! Anyways, root beer was always my favorite, so this was a good excuse to have some in one form or another.

So easy. Basically mix some root beer in with a cake mix...

...and BAKE!

The frosting is deLECtable!

Here's a little tower I made with some of the pieces!

This is a really good cake. The recipe calls for white cake mix, but I used a vanilla because that's what I had in my pantry. It had a subtle root beer taste, and I think it would have been more predominant if I had used white instead. But still, everyone said they liked it :) My favorite part was licking the icing bowl...

Root Beer Float Cake

1 package white cake mix

1 3/4 cups cold root beer, divided

1/4 cup canola oil

2 eggs

1 envelope whipped topping mix (Dream Whip) - just FYI, I couldn't find Dream Whip until the day AFTER I made the cake. If you can't find it, you can substitute 2 cups of Cool Whip instead.

1. In a large bowl, combine the dry cake mix, 1 1/4 cups root beer, oil, and eggs. Beat on low speed for 2 minutes or stir by hand for 3 minutes.

2. Pour into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack.

3. In a small bowl, combine the whipped topping mix and remaining root beer. Beat until soft peaks form. Frost cake. Store in the refrigerator.