Adult | I Can Cook That

Adult Root Beer Float

Note: I was sent coupons for Graeter’s Ice Cream for review. Opinions are my own.

Happy National Root Beer Float Day! I had to celebrate the only way I know how, by making myself a root beer float, or, more specifically, an Adult Root Beer Float!

Luckily, Graeter’s Ice Cream wanted me to celebrate in style and sent me some coupons so that I could try their snazzy flavors in my float.

Graeter’s Ice Cream is still made the same way it has been since 1870: by hand. Made with high quality ingredients, the ice cream is still made one batch at a time in 2 1/2 gallon French pots.

Graeter’s has some seriously awesome flavors. To highlight some of them, I decided to make an “adult” root beer float, made with Not Your Father’s Root Beer, because, why not?

The Bourbon Pecan Chocolate Chip Ice Cream seemed like the perfect way to make a root beer float more for adults– it’s made with the bold taste of Kentucky bourbon, then loaded it with roasted, buttered, salted pecan halves and our gourmet bittersweet chocolate chips. (There isn’t actually bourbon in it by the way.)

The Original Salted Caramel is one of the first flavors Graeter’s made over a century ago. Made with brown sugar, cream, and a pinch of salt, it’s a perfect complement to root beer in my opinion!

(They also have a Madagascar Vanilla Bean flavor if you’re not feeling particularly adventurous with your float this time around.)

Ingredients:

1 pint Graeter’s Ice Cream of your choice, (I suggest Bourbon Pecan Chocolate Chip or Original Salted Caramel)
2 bottles of Not Your Father’s Root Beer
Whipped cream, optional
Chocolate syrup, optional

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Coppola Chardonnay Pink Grapefruit Snow Cone and Frozen Cocktail

Snow cones (or snow balls, depending on where you are from) are synonymous with summer, boardwalks, and childhood. Shaved ice topped with a flavored sugar syrup are a refreshing treat on hot days. Francis Ford Coppola Winery offers Skylite Snowball Cocktail Syrups that pair perfectly with Coppola wine offerings for adult snow cones! I was sent a bottle of Francis Ford Coppola Chardonnay to try out this fun treat and paired it with the Skylite Pink Grapefruit Syrup to make Coppola Chardonnay Pink Grapefruit Snow Cones and Frozen Cocktails!

Ingredients (makes 1):

2 tablespoons Diamond Collection Chardonnay
1/2 tablespoons Skylight Pink Grapefruit Syrup
5 oz shaved ice

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Black Cauldron – An Adult Root Beer Float

Do you remember the first time you had a root beer float? I remember thinking “soda and ice cream, why hadn’t someone mentioned this deliciousness to me before this very moment?!” Mind you, I was a kid and probably didn’t need any more sugar or desserts in my life. But root beer floats always have such a wonderful feeling of nostalgia. I was at Franklin Fountain in Philadelphia recently. I saw that they sell root beer floats, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about them since. So when this month’s Cooking Light arrived with what I can only call an “Adult Root Beer Float” I was so excited to try it out.

The drink, referred to as a Black Cauldron (it’s the October issue), is just as simple as a traditional root beer float, but it uses a stout instead of root beer. To add a little bit more flavor, the drink also has a touch of vodka and brewed espresso. How can you not like this drink?

Ingredients: (makes 4)
1 pint vanilla ice cream
1/4 cup vanilla vodka
1/4 cup brewed espresso (or coffee)
24 ounces stout beer (oatmeal, chocolate, whatever your favorite is)

Brew your espresso or coffee. Allow to cool.

Add 1/2 cup vanilla ice cream to each of 4 glasses.

Top each with 1 tablespoon vodka and 1 tablespoon espresso. (Note: espresso can make this drink very bitter. Feel free to use brewed coffee instead.)

Fill with the stout (it will get very frothy).

That’s it! What a great upgrade!

If you don’t like stouts, you are obviously not going to like this drink. But as a stout lover, I couldn’t get enough of this drink. The ice cream melts into the drink, making it really creamy. On a couple of mine, it actually floated to the top!