Frosted Root Beer Cookies

Fun, sweet & unique Frosted Root Beer Cookies.

I woke up in the mood to bake.  Actually, I’ve been wanting to bake for days but ongoing kitchen renovations have kept my kitchen playtime at a bare minimum.  My kitchen is always a bit on the chaotic side – I work best that way – but the renovations have taken it over the edge for the past few weeks.

So I make some room and plan to bake.  Then comes the “bakers block”.  You want to bake but don’t know what you want to bake.  Cake, no.  Anything chocolate, no.  Anything peanut butter, no.  There went my list of the usual suspects.  Sigh.

Looking thru my pantry I saw a soon to be lost & forever forgotten bottle of root beer extract.  Inspiration struck.

It’s been awhile.  Many years ago an old neighbor of mine used to make root beer everything.  Not only did she make her own root beer, she made root beer cake, brownies, boozy treats, cupcakes, fudge and of course, root beer cookies.  It was her thing – people loved it and paid nicely for her root beer sweets.

Although my root beer loving neighbor wouldn’t share her own prized recipe – which of course contained her own homemade root beer syrup – she shared a recipe from her earlier baking days with me.

These cookies were the perfect bake to cure my “baker’s block”.  An out of the ordinary, cure all.

You’ll get a lot of cookies from this recipe.  I drop them by heaping teaspoonfuls and get over seven dozen.  You can easily cut this recipe in half if you’re not in the market for 80+ root beer cookies.

These are soft, cakey cookies with a little crisp on the outside.  They have a very subtle root beer flavor – it’s definitely there, but not in your face.  If you feel you’d like more root beer flavor I would suggest doing it in the frosting.  Perhaps omit the vanilla extract and add an additional teaspoon, or more to taste, of root beer extract.

I top these off with just a thin layer of frosting – anymore is just too much for me.  If you want a thick layer of frosting you’ll need to double the frosting.

These would be so cute topped with fine brown or white sprinkles – I was fresh out.  Always a day late & a dollar short 😉

Thanks so much for stopping by! Happy Baking ♥

-Amanda-

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Frosted Root Beer Cookies

Fun, sweet & unique Frosted Root Beer Cookies. Soft & cakey with just the right amount of root beer flavor.

Cook Time1 hr

Total Time1 hr

Course: cookies

Servings: 6 - 7 dozen

Author: Amanda

Ingredients

• For Cookies
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar packed
• 1 cup salted butter softened
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons root beer concentrate/extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• For Frosting
• 2 cup powder sugar
• 2 tablespoon salted butter softened
• 2 tablespoon heavy cream or half & half
• 1 teaspoon root beer concentrate / extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

• For Cookies
• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• In a large bowl or stand mixer, combine both sugars, butter, milk, eggs, root beer & vanilla extracts.
• Beat until well combined.
• Add flour, baking soda and salt. Beat at low speed until combined and soft dough forms.
• Drop cookie dough by heaping teaspoons on a nonstick cookie sheet about 2" apart.
• Bake 8 - 10 minutes or until edges of cookie start to lightly brown.
• Let rest on cookie sheet for a minute then transfer to wire rack & cool completely.
• For Frosting
• In a medium bowl, combine powdered sugar, butter, cream (or half & half) and root beer & vanilla extracts.
• Beat until smooth and mixed, stopping once or twice to scrape sides of bowl.
• Taste. If you would like more root beer flavor, add additional root beer concentrate and mix.
• Spread a thin layer of frosting over cookies.
• Store covered and enjoy 🙂