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Wednesday, August 29, 2001
Root beer traditions kept alive
Cake and cookies get special flavor
By Joyce Rosencrans
Scripps Howard News Service

Scripps Howard News Service

The Root Beer Stand has been a suburban Cincinnati landmark since 1957, when it opened as an A&W.

Soft-drink fans have their preferences. Who will ever forget the "Pepsi Challenge"?
   But root beer rooters are in a class by themselves, and their enthusiasm is contagious. You can tell a root beer drinker by the inside of his refrigerator door; it may be lined with a variety of brands - IBC, Stewart's, Barq's, A&W - to provide a certain taste at the proper time of day.
   For example, a sweeter style of root beer, such as the creamy Stewart's brand, may stand in for dessert at the end of the day. There's no caffeine in root beer, so it's soothing rather than stimulating. Add a scoop or two of good vanilla ice cream for a classic root beer float and it's practically a meal, good for the soul if not the waistline.
   There are "diet" root beers alongside most brands, but that's heresy to traditionalists, and maybe to the regulars loyal to the Root Beer Stand, a suburban Cincinnati landmark since 1957, when it opened as an A&W.
   '50s drive-in
   Customers stop by for a "beer" on tap (75 cents, $1 or $1. 25) to enjoy in a frosty mug drawn water-chilled from a gurgling tank. Jackie Donley has owned the Root Beer Stand for 11 years, opening it every April and closing it for the season on the last Thursday of September. She faithfully brews the root beer herself, making it not overly sweet, not too fizzy and filling.
   The Donleys use a root beer double concentrate for consistency, and Donley can rattle off the natural components in the concentrate, such as alfalfa root. "But we don't have to actually stomp on it," she jokes.
   Some cooks enjoy using the soft drink as liquid in recipes. Root beer extract may also be found in some stores along exotic flavoring extracts besides vanilla.
   These recipes from the 'Root Beer Book' by Laura Quarantiello (Tiare Publications, Lake Geneva, Wis.) call only for root beer, the soft drink; for root beer schnapps, the liquor product; and for crushed root beer barrels, the old-fashioned hard candy.

   ROOT BEER CAKE
   2 cups all-purpose flour
   2 cups sugar
   1 cup root beer
   2 sticks of margarine
   ½ cup milk
   1 teaspoon baking soda
   1 teaspoon vanilla
   ½ teaspoon salt
   2 eggs
   1-1/2 cups miniature marshmallows
   Boiled frosting, optional (see instructions)
   Yield: Oblong cake, 9x13
   Mix the flour and sugar in a large mixing bowl. In a medium saucepan, slice the chilled margarine by tablespoon-chunks into the cup of root beer. Bring to a boil and add to the flour mixture, stirring well. In a large measuring cup, whisk together the milk, soda, vanilla, salt and eggs. Blend well and add to the flour mixture. Fold in the marshmallows. Turn batter into a well-greased or sprayed baking pan, 13x9 inches. Bake in a preheated 325-degree oven for 30 minutes.
   Boiled frosting: While cake is baking, cut 1 stick of margarine into 1/3 cup root beer in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil and add 1 box of powdered sugar and 1-1/2 cups chopped pecans. Mix well and pour over the cake once removed from the oven, but while the cake's still hot.

   ROOT BEER WITH A KICK
   2 ounces root beer schnapps
   10 ounces root beer
   Crushed ice
   Yield: 1 serving
   Mix schnapps and root beer in a frosted mug and add coarsely crushed ice.

   BEER BARREL COOKIES
   2/3 cup butter-flavor Crisco
   ¼ cup sugar
   ¼ cup brown sugar, packed
   1 egg
   1-1/2 cups flour
   ½ teaspoon baking powder
   ½ teaspoon salt
   ½ cup root beer barrel candy, crushed
   Yield: 3 dozen
   Heat oven to 350. Lightly grease baking sheets with Crisco. Beat butter-flavored Crisco with both sugars in a large bowl at medium speed of electric mixer. Beat in egg. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt. Blend into butter mixture by hand, adding crushed candy. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Bake for 11-15 minutes.



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