Happy National Root Beer Float Day!
I would imagine I had my first root beer float at the A&W in Frankfort, Michigan during a family vacation many years ago, but I can’t say for sure. I can say I preferred the Faygo “red pop” floats my Grandma Mary L. would make for us during the summer much more than I enjoyed the root beer versions. Grandma Mary B. would likely disagree with my tastes, as she took up the habit of enjoying one root beer float a day until she no longer could.
I knew I would make some sort of root beer inspired dessert today in honor of National Root Beer Float Day, I just didn’t know what kind of dessert until I came across a recipe for root beer brownies on the Cookies & Cups blog.
I was skeptical the root beer taste would come through all the chocolate in a brownie, but it really does! These brownies are fudgey, gooey bites of chocolate-root beer deliciousness, though I do wonder if they cross the line into the overly “rich, gooey, and chocolatey” category Kristin so lovely described for us earlier this week.
To give the brownies an added twist, I topped the brownies with a marshmallow, chocolate and pretzel concoction. My mother sometimes covers brownies with a similar topping, though she adds peanut butter and puffed rice cereal in place of pretzels. I have no idea where she first saw the recipe for her topping, but it is quite good.
Pour yourself a tall glass of root beer ( but it’s Saturday, so omitting the root sounds good too), and enjoy a sweet.
- ⅓ cup all purpose flour
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided
- 4 Tablespoons butter, divided
- 2 eggs
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup root beer, plus 2 tablespoons
- 2 cups marshmallows
- 1 cup crushed pretzels
- Whisk together flour, cocoa powder and salt in a small bowl and set aside.
- In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the 1 cup of the chocolate chips and two tablespoons of the butter. Stir frequently to ensure the chocolate does not burn.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat together the eggs and the sugars until well combined.
- Add the melted chocolate and vanilla while continuing to mix.
- Slowly add the flour mixture and root beer in two alternating additions. Mix until combined; the batter will be thin.
- Pour the batter into a greased and floured 8 x 8 inch baking dish.
- Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out with only a few crumbs.
- Sprinkle marshmallows onto the tops of the brownies and place back in the oven approximately 3 minutes until the marshmallows have puffed and melted.
- While the marshmallows melt, again melt the remaining 1 cup of chocolate chips, two tablespoons of butter, and two tablespoons of root beer in a small saucepan over low heat.
- When melted, add pretzels to saucepan and stir to coat.
- Remove the brownies from the oven, and pour the chocolate mixture over the brownies.
- Allow to cool to room temperature, then place in refrigerator to set.
What a fun twist on the brownies with that topping!
Thanks! I really enjoyed reading your Root Beer Float Brownies post.