Merry Grinchmas!

Happy Holidays My Bombshells!

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanza, Feliz Navidad, or just Happy Winter! Christmas is one of my favorite holidays and even though the holiday season can add a lot of stress, this is my favorite time of year. This has been my first Christmas settled back in my home after being away in college for 5 years. Due to this, I wanted to really live it up this holiday season and start my own traditions. This was also my first Christmas as a cat mommy so I was able to focus on starting new traditions for my baby and me. Typically in my household, the annual theme for the holiday decor has been centered around all things Disney, more so “traditional” Disney. I’ve always enjoyed our decor, but this year I wanted to spice things up with my own decor in my office. I decided upon Grinch and planned an all things Grinch Christmas. So for this festive post, I wanted to share with you guys some of my party outfits, decor, and Grinch inspired recipes I decided to try this year.

Funny enough even though I chose Grinch as my theme for holiday decorations, I was actually petrified by the Grinch when I was little. I could watch the cartoon version of the movie just fine and could even sit through the Jim Carrey version, but I could not stand the trailer for the Jim Carrey movie. Does anyone remember watching Vhs when you were younger and being forced to watch through the commercials before the movie because you didn’t want to sit there and press fast forward? Well I do and the Grinch commercial is one I remember very well thanks to my older cousin playing it on repeat just to terrify me. Specifically I just couldn’t stand the Grinch’s face when he mocked Cindy Lou Who in the mailroom and said “the the the Grinch”! Yea I know I’m a big weenie. Anyways I actually really love the Grinch movie now, Jim Carrey and all.

Last year when they released a new animated Grinch movie, I ended up buying some cute holiday clothes inspired from the movie. Even though this time of the year is my favorite, I never really had a lot of “Christmas theme” attire or anything like Christmas sweaters so I was happy I finally had something with a little Christmas in it. Now I have a holiday grinch sweatshirt, I can go run errands in or wear to a holiday party. Speaking of holiday parties….

Every year before I was away in college, my parents and I would throw a little shin dig in our house where we made various finger foods and mocktails. Well now that I’m the glorious age above 21, I decided to make some festive cocktails in addition to our usual spread. Since I decided my Christmas was going to be centered around Grinch, I found the perfect recipe for a Grinch looking recipe and I want to share it with you.

For the cocktail, I knew I wanted something green so I remembered the Green Apple Moscato at Olive Garden. I found a recipe and tweaked it a bit to match the colors I wanted. I posted the recipe below as founded from Delish.com, but I will say for mine I decided to stick to strawberries being my only added fruit. I wanted the drink to stick to the classic red and green colors so I did not add any oranges. I will also say the color of the drink is closer to the image below and not the ones with me because the color from my Christmas tree lights was blowing up the green to a different hue in case you were wondering. I do find the drink absolutely delicious though and suggest it for any occasion.

Grinch Cocktail (Green Apple Moscato)

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 bottle Moscato
  • 1 cup of Apple Pucker
  • 3/4 cup of Pineapple Juice
  • 1 cup of sliced strawberries
  • 1 Orange
  • 1 Green Apple sliced

DIRECTIONS

  • In a pitcher, stir together apple pucker, pineapple juice, and fruit
  • Pour mixture in a glass over ice
  • Top glass off with moscato and spoon over fruit

Now for any party in my house one thing I’m usually known for is my desserts. When I was in the 3rd grade, I wanted to be chef, but little did I know I actually just preferred baking. Everyone I knew would give me cookbooks and baking supplies so baking has been a long-time hobby of mine. I like to bake mostly treats with some sort of fruit aspect like my apple strudel muffins or cinnamon banana cake. This year, I thought I tackle something a little bit more on the chocolate side. I’ve never made a chocolate cake from scratch and usually buy anything peppermint chocolate around this time so I thought why not try making my own. I made a peppermint chocolate cake with peppermint buttercream. I also posted the recipe for this cake which I found from Cookingclassy.com. For my cake, I doubled the recipe and added Ghirardell peppermint bark pieces in bewteen the layers for an added crunch.

I have baked from scratch for a long time, but I actually never decorated a whole cake before. The most I’ve ever decorated is cupcakes and even then that is usually a struggle for me. I decided to push myself this time and decorate my cake with a grinch theme. I found an image of grinch cake decorations and re-illustrated them since the temlate was no longer available and added it to my cake. I also added green sanding sugar and peppermint meringues around the border to make a collar. In additon to my cake, I made triple chocolate cupcakes to represent Max, his dog. For these I used a box recipe but added Andes mint chips in the batter. I decorated with chocolate frosting and a broken chocolate covered pretzel for the reindeer antler. Below you can see my creation and the recipe. I will tell you just from the scraps I tasted, it is a very moist, tasty cake.

Peppermint Chocolate Cake with Peppermint Frosting

Prep Time: 35 minutes Cook Time: 30 minutes Serves 16

CAKE INGREDIENTS

  • 1 3/4 cups All Purpose Flour
  • 2 cups Granulated Sugar
  • 3/4 cups Unsweetened Cocoa
  • 1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
  • 1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
  • 3/4 tsp Salt
  • 1 cup Buttermilk
  • 1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
  • 2 Large Eggs
  • 1 tsp Peppermint Extract
  • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 1 cup Boiling Water

FROSTING INGREDIENTS

  • 1 1/2 cups Butter (1 cup Salted, 1/2 cup Unsalted) at room temperature
  • 3-5 tbsp Heavy Cream
  • 2 1/2 tsp Peppermint Extract
  • 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 4 3/4 cups Powdered Sugar

DIRECTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degress. Butter two 9-inch round pans and line with parchment paper. Butter parchment and set aside.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt until well combined. Set to the side.
  3. In another bowl mix add buttermilk, vegetable oil, eggs, peppermint and vanilla extract. Using an electric mixer, mix your dry ingredients from the previous bowl into your wet mixture on low until combined. Then increase speed to medium and mix for 2 minutes. Mix in boiling water.
  4. Divide batter evenly among pans. Bake in oven 30-35 minutes then cool for 10 minutes. Once cooled, frost with Peppermint Buttercream and store in an airtight container at either room temperature or in the fridge.
  5. For the Frosting: In a stand electric bowl mixer, whip butter until pale and fluffy. Add in 3 tbsp of heavy cream, the peppermint extract, vanilla extract, and 1 cup of powdered sugar. Mix until combined.
  6. Add remaining powdered sugar and mix on low speed until blended. Increase to medium-high speed and whip until light and fluffy while adding additional cream 1/2 tbsp at a time to reach the right consistency.

After my parents and I eat and drink during our little party, we usually settle down for some hot chocolate and christmas movies waiting for midnight to open a gift. Most of the time during the whole holiday season, we get too busy to watch holiday movies so this our chance where we can settle and relax. I don’t know if I have a favorite Christmas movie, but I know I have a selection I must watch every year. This is very typical Home Alone, Elf, Grinch, Jingle All The Way, The Little Drummer Boy, etc. I watch some classics, some comedies, and even throw in some Harry Potter from time to time because there is always a reason to watch Harry Potter. I will say I will not watch Hallmark type Christmas movies; I can’t really deal with those ones. I rather watch Die Hard.

There is a little bit of my traditions for you. This may be one of the craziest times of the year, but I always find myself smiling in the end. I hope you all enjoy your time in whatever you celebrate or however you celebrate. If you’re traveling, I wish safe and easy travels. I hope everyone can have some fun and be merry. I also am just going to take one second to be a little sappy.

I’ve only been blogging for a few months now and finally getting on a strive and schedule with it. So the fact my readers have been continously growing each day, I just want to give a big big THANK YOU to everyone who has been joining my site. This blog has been a lot of fun for me and something I have wanted to do for a really long time so thank you again for taking the time to tune in. I can’t wait to keep going and I only hope to write and create even more for you. 🙂

What do you celebrate this time of year? What is your theme for Christmas decorations? Do you have any traditions of your own or with your family? Any presents you are hoping for? Let me know in the comments below and be sure to like, share, and subscribe to get notified of new posts. I would love for you guys to come along with me into the new year. Also follow Bombshell’s social media pages on Facebook (@bombshellgamingandstyle), Twitter (@bombgame_style), and Instagram (@bombshellgamingstyle). Until next time my Bombshells, Bye!

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