Initially assuming the liquid and the surroundings are at the same temperature,let us proceed.
First let us consider the evaporating liquid which is the object of interest ,not the surroundings.
When you say a substance is at a constant temperature,the average KE of the molecules is a constant,in this case for the evaporating liquid.Though,we say the evaporating liquid is at a constant temperature,you will always find molecules having KE greater than and lesser than the average KE. Also,we know that Evaporation is a surface phenomenon.Therefore,molecules only at the surface can evaporate,so those molecules which have KE greater than say a "critical KE" will escape into the air.The Surface molecules tend to absorb KE from non-surface molecules which have KE greater than avg. KE and also itself. Once, the surface molecule escapes into the air(or whatever),the remaining liquid is left with a lesser average KE ,which implies a lesser temperature(however small say dT).Therefore ,the evaporating liquid absorbs an elemental energy(dE) from the surroundings for every molecule evaporating.Therefore responsible for cooling effect on the surroundings.
The catch:
If you ask how can there be non-surface molecules which have KE greater than surface molecules,(owing to surface energy...)I would say on an average surface molecules may have higher energy,but still it is an average, in a distribution you will always find "some" non-surface molecules with higher KE than surface molecules