Root Beer Cookies are soft and delicious with root beer extract in the cookies and the buttercream frosting on top.
What is better than root beer? Root beer in cookie form! Root Beer Cookies are so fun to make! These cookies have a very subtle root beer flavor – you can easily add more extract for more of a root beer flavor. Even though the root beer flavor isn’t very strong, these cookies have the most amazing consistency – we could not stop eating them! The buttercream frosting on top is absolutely incredible also.
How to make The BEST Root Beer Cookies:
After making lots of cookie recipes over many years, I have picked up several important tips for making the absolute best cookies!
- Make sure that you have enough flour in the dough. If the dough is too sticky, you may need to add a little bit of flour.
- Spend a little extra time when you mix the butter and sugar. Creaming them together for 2-3 minutes will improve the consistency of your cookies.
- Preheat the oven. This will help your cookies turn out right every time!
- Use a cookie scoop! If you want all your cookies to be perfectly shaped and have them all be the same size, a cookie scoop is the way to go.
- Use parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Doing this will make it really easy to remove the cookies from your cookie sheet so that you don’t have to scrape them off the pan – they will just slide right off in perfect shape!
- Don’t over bake the cookies – when I take mine out of the oven, they still look slightly under baked but they will continue to bake on the cookie sheet for a couple more minutes so that’s ok!
Ingredients in Root Beer Cookies
-1 cup butter, softened to room temperature
-2 cups brown sugar
-2 eggs
-3 tsp root beer extract
-3 1/2 cups flour
-1 tsp baking soda
-1 tsp salt
-3-4 Tbsp milk
How to make Root Beer Cookies
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy (2-3minutes).
Add eggs and mix well. Add the root beer extract and continue to mix.
In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda and salt.
Add the flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture and mix until well combined. Add the milk, one tablespoon at a time until the mixture is not crumbly. The dough should just be a little bit sticky. Cover the cookie dough and chill for at least one hour.
Preheat the oven to 350°. Use a cookie scoop to scoop the dough into balls and place them on a prepared cookie sheet. Just barely press down the tops of the cookie dough balls.
Bake the cookies for 8 minutes. Let them cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before cooling them on a wire rack. Once the cookies are completely cooled, frost with Root Beer Buttercream frosting.
How to make Root Beer Buttercream frosting
Use an electric mixer to beat 1 cup of butter for about 2-3 minutes, until fluffy. Add 3 cups of powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Then add 2-3 tsp of root beer extract and mix well. If the frosting is a little too thick, add 1-2 Tbsp of milk until desired consistency is achieved.
How do you soften butter to room temperature?
The best way to soften butter is to set it out for a few hours before you make your cookies. Since most of us (or maybe just me!) aren’t that prepared or don’t think that far in advance, there are a few tricks to softening butter perfectly in just a matter of minutes.
My favorite way to soften butter is in the microwave. It’s definitely fast, but you do have to be very careful not to melt it. Just put the whole stick of butter in the microwave (as long as it isn’t wrapped in foil!) and microwave for about 6-7 seconds. If the butter is still really cold, try another 5-7 seconds and check it again. You may need a few intervals, and if the butter is starting to feel soft, you can shorten the final interval to just a few seconds to make sure it doesn’t start melting.
I actually prefer to use the defrost setting on my microwave – I don’t know exactly what that mode does differently, and it takes a little bit longer (closer to 30 seconds), but it seems to be easier to get the butter to soften without melting.
Why do my cookies burn on the bottom but aren’t done in the middle?
If your cookies are always burning on the bottom, it is probably a cookie sheet issue! If you are using really dark cookie sheets, the bottoms of your baked goods will tend to burn before they are actually cooked all the way through. If you use a lot of cooking spray, the same result can happen. I prefer to use lighter colored non-stick pans so that I don’t have to use cooking spray at all. As mentioned above, I have been converted to silicone baking mats over the last couple of years and I love how easy it is for cookies to come off the tray – no sticking ever!
Root Beer Cookies have root beer extract in the cookies and the buttercream frosting on top. These cookies are soft and delicious!
I’m not the best cake decorator but I do enjoy making cakes for my kids for their birthdays. This year my son wanted a Hobbit hole cake and this is what we created after perusing Pinterest and finding some ideas. There are some amazing Hobbit cakes out there! Mine is nowhere near professional but it was fun, my son got to help me and he loved it! I’ll call that a win!
Tisha says
Root Beer cookies sound amazing!!! I think I want to serve them with ice cream for a fun twist on a root beer float!
Kaylie says
Such a fun idea! Thank you, Tisha!
Michele says
A rootbeer float icecream sandwich would be amazing. Adultify it and add rumchata to the iceream
Ashley says
These cookies are so fun to make! A sweet treat for any time!
Kaylie says
Thank you, Ashley!
Liz says
I made these for my daughter, our resident root beer lover, and she loved them!! In fact, our whole family did! Thanks for the fun recipe!
Kaylie says
Thank you, Liz!
Taylor says
These cookies are so fun! Absolutely love the root beer flavor!
Kaylie says
Thank you, Taylor!
Sophie says
I used the exact recipe and it turned out nothing like the picture 🙁 The cookies themselves are quite nice and despite adding extra rootbeer extract, the flavor did not come through. Do you have any more tips? I am not sure exactly where I went wrong!
Nellie says
So sorry they didn’t turn out for you – sounds like something went wrong! The root beer flavor isn’t super strong, but should be noticeable for sure!
Brandy says
Do you think it would be okay to use root beer concentrate instead of extract?
Nellie says
I would think so…the flavor might be a little less strong, but it should work fine!