I have no idea what made me think of root beer IN brownies, but the other day I Googled to find out if such a thing existed. Well, at first I was thinking more of cookies-and found that there are tons of recipes out there for cookies, blondies, brownies, cake, etc.—but most of them use root beer concentrate/extract and I was looking for something that uses actual root beer. After my search, these Root Beer Float Brownie Sundaes were created.
The more I Googled, I found just what I was looking for and it didn’t take too much looking once I decided it was brownies I wanted root beer in. Never fear, I found just the right brownies on one of my oldest-loved blogs (and by old, I mean about 4 years ago when I started reading food blogs.) The brownie recipe, which includes 8 ounces of root beer, is from Nicole’s blog, Baking Bites. Nicole has great, tried-and-true recipes on her blog and I know she spends lots of time perfecting recipes before she posts them.
To get that floaty-creamy like flavor as well as root beer taste IN a chocolate brownie, Nicole uses white chocolate along with the semi-sweet chocolate and some root beer. I only ever-so-slightly adapted the recipe. I didn’t have any white chocolate, but did have some white chocolate chips and used those. But never fear, these were not vanilla chips, which I don’t love and rarely buy, they are actual white chocolate chips with cocoa butter as the main ingredient. I say that because I know chips are different in their ingredients to keep them in chip-shape when baked. These melted down just fine with the other chocolate and made a great brownie.
The brownies are ever so cake-like, but it’s a good, dense, fudgy cake. And they are good. As Nicole instructs on her blog (post linked above and below), the brownies really are better the next day—just a little bit fudgier and with a little more root beer flavor prominent.
Without further chatter—here’s what I did for these.
Root Beer Float Brownie Sundaes, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!
1 recipe for 9x9 pan Root Beer Brownies from Baking Bites (includes 8 oz. root beer)
Vanilla Ice Cream (I happened to have some homemade vanilla that was great!)
12 ounces (1 can) root beer soda (I used Mug brand)
Make the brownies according to the recipe. Let cool completely. Chill for a few hours and/or overnight. Cut in to squares.
Simmer one can of root beer in a small saucepan until it reduces substantially. You can make more if needed. One can reduced down to about 1/4 cup of syrup in 10-15 minutes. We made 5 sundaes and drizzled spoonfuls of the syrup over each. It didn’t take too much—it’s concentrated!
Serve the sundaes with a brownie, then vanilla ice cream and the syrup drizzled over the top.
