Rootbeer Float Cookies

Here it is!  My first Pinterest review.  What better way to start than with something that sounds like it's too good to be true?!?!

Here's the original post if you'd like to check it out:

Six Sisters' Stuff: Rootbeer Float Cookies 

 The recipe is a pretty straight forward cookie and icing combination.

Cookie Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk*

1 tsp. root beer extract or concentrate

4 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

 Frosting Ingredients:

4 cups powdered sugar (or icing sugar)

3/4 cup butter, softened

3 Tbsp. milk

1 tsp. root beer extract or concentrate

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375º.

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and brown sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in buttermilk and root beer extract. 

Combine dry ingredients; gradually add to creamed mixture. 

Drop by tablespoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 375º for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool. 

In a mixing bowl, combine all frosting ingredients. Beat until smooth. 

Frost cooled cookies.

Cost for the ingredients we did not have on hand:

Rootbeer concentrate: $3.28

Baking Soda: $0.58

Butter: $1.68

Total: $5.54

*I do not buy buttermilk.  I make it by adding 1 Tablespoon of white vinegar to 1 cup of milk. Stir and let stand for 10 minutes (in the fridge).

Total prep, mixing and baking time: 1 hour 20 minutes

I feel that this recipe is very simple.  Mix butter and sugar first - typical of cookies.  Add wet ingredients, then dry.  Mix until well blended.  I used a large soup spoon for dropping the cookies on to the cookie tray, so they were bigger than suggested.  The icing was a great confectioner's sugar blend!  I used to be pretty bad at making frosting this way, but this exact recipe would work with any flavoring.  The top of the icing gets firm but stays soft underneath, which is perfect!

A few things I would like to note are that I made these cookies pretty big and still ended up with 44 cookies.  You could easily cut the recipe in half to end up with only a couple dozen.  My baking time was a little longer than suggested.  I baked two full cookie sheets, one on each rack in the oven.  The bottom rack finished in 12 minutes, the top finished just over 13 minutes.  Also, the amount of icing is the perfect amount for this many cookies.  If you are too generous in the beginning when icing your cookies, you may run out!  Finally, my cookies turned out light in color, not brown like the original picture leads you to believe. 

Here are photos documenting the process:

 Taste and evaluation:

I have solicited the input of my husband on how this baking expedition turned out (he says he doesn't like all sorts of sweet stuff, but he sure does like to help make it disappear!).   We tried them with and without the icing, because sometimes things are pretty good both ways.

Without icing:

My Husband: I can taste the rootbeer, but the texture is somewhat alarming because it is incredibly similar to a pancake.  The cookie does not have the desired cookie crunch that I feel it should.

Me:  Rootbeer flavor is definitely present in the cookie itself. They are a soft, chewy texture and moist. Without icing I feel they would be best paired with a glass of milk or maybe a scoop of ice cream!

With Icing:

My Husband: I do not feel that the icing compliments the cookie very well. Depending on how the cookie is eaten (icing to the tongue or vice versa) one always overpowers the other. I also feel that the icing required for this type of cookie should be a much creamier type of icing, more similar to a cake frosting. The Confectioner sugar icing can feel somewhat gritty at times, and overpowered the amount of rootbeer extract that was used.

Me: I think the cookies are surprisingly light, which may cause you to eat many more than you would if they were very sugary or heavy!  The icing is quite sweet, so be careful how much you put on top!  Too much would completely overpower the subtle cookie.  These would be a good addition to a themed party (a 50’s sock hop, perhaps) or for something different than your average chocolate chip cookie.

Overall:

This recipe is easy to follow and most of the ingredients are common kitchen staples so it would be low cost to prepare.  The cookies turn out to be a generous size with plenty to hand out.  Since there is milk in the recipe I stored them in the refrigerator, and I have got to say that they are absolutely delightful cold!  I would recommend the Six Sisters' Stuff Rootbeer Float cookies.