A green hot cocoa with red candy hearts is just what you need to boost your holiday spirit. This fun holiday party drink is green Grinch hot chocolate and perfect for watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas! This is a festive holiday season hot chocolate recipe which is guaranteed to bring a smile to every face this Christmas.
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The grumpy recluse known as the Grinch might not be in a festive mood but I’m sure you are! One of the best drinks you can make this Christmas is this festive holiday hot chocolate, which is warming, cute and delicious.
Festive Holiday Hot Chocolate Ingredients
This green Grinch hot chocolate is made with milk, chocolate syrup, heavy cream, vanilla, green food colouring, peppermint sugar sprinkles, mini marshmallows, and red sprinkles.
Feel free to make substitutions for some of the hot cocoa ingredients. You can use whole milk, half-fat or skim milk, or even a plant-based milk alternative.
Another kind of red candies or red heart sprinkle mix could replace the red candy hearts, although the little hearts are more Grinch-like because it is all about Grinch’s heart. You can even top it with some white chocolate chips, chopped candy canes or chopped up green candy melts. Sub whipped cream for the mini marshmallows, or add a different extract instead of vanilla such as peppermint extract. Making a festive mug of hot cocoa is so much fun for the whole family!
How to Make this Fun Holiday Party Drink
Add the milk, cream, chocolate syrup, and vanilla to a pan and simmer it, whisking, for several minutes. Add in some green food colouring and mix well. If it doesn’t look green enough, don’t be afraid to add more drops of green food coloring.
Wet the rim of a clear mug with water or milk and press it into the sprinkles. Next you can pour the hot cocoa mixture into the mug and then add marshmallows and sprinkles on top. This is best served right away unless you’re making it for kids, in which case let it cool down a bit first. This Grinch hot cocoa is a delicious drink for Christmas Eve or while watching your favorite Christmas season movie. If you ask me, the Grinch movie is one of the greatest holiday films ever!
History of Hot Chocolate
Hot chocolate or hot cocoa dates back even further than you might expect. In fact, the Mayans used to enjoy it around 500 BC. They made it by grinding up cocoa seeds and mixing with water, chillies, and cornmeal.
They would then pour it from cup to cup to make it frothy. Fast-forward to the 1500s and Cortez, an explorer, brought the cocoa beans back to Europe with him. King Charles V enjoyed it in Spain, although his preference was to swap the chilli peppers for sugar.
That is still nowhere near this green Grinch hot chocolate recipe but it’s always nice to know the origin of famous drinks. There are many different varieties around today including hot cocoa mix or instant hot chocolate powder you simply add boiling water to.
You could even make a shortcut by making one of those then topping with whipped cream and red candy hearts, although you’d be missing out on the cute green Grinch colour that way. And that’s a huge part of what makes these so good! I have also seen some very cute Grinch hot chocolate bombs or hot cocoa bombs made with a silicone mold which I want to try one day.
If you want to make your own Whoville feast, try these Grinch Heart Cookies or Crinkle Grinch Cookies. You can also make fun Grinch fudge or a Melon Grinch Green Cocktail for adults. These treats are sure to boost your Christmas spirit while you watch your favorite Christmas movie. The green grump from Dr. Seuss is a favourite holiday movie character.
Festive Holiday Hot Chocolate FAQs
You might be wondering about an adults-only version of this green Grinch hot chocolate. You can absolutely make a version for the grownups by including a splash of liquor.
Brandy or bourbon would work or you could use something which won’t darken the colour too much, such as white rum or Malibu for example. Another good idea for this festive holiday hot chocolate would be peppermint schnapps!
Swap the milk for your favourite kind of non-dairy milk and omit the cream. This will give you a similar drink but it won’t be so thick texture-wise. But if you’re looking for a dairy-free version of festive holiday hot chocolate, it will work at a pinch.
Grinch Green Hot Chocolate Recipe
Festive Holiday Hot Chocolate – Grinch Green
Ingredients
- 1 Cup whole milk
- 2 Tablespoon chocolate syrup
- 1 Tablespoon heavy cream
- ¼ Teaspoon vanilla extract pure
- ½ Teaspoon food colouring neon green
- peppermint sugar sprinkles optional garnish
- mini marshmallows optional garnish
- heart sprinkles optional garnish
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, add 1 cup of whole milk, 1 tablespoon of heavy cream, 2 tablespoons of chocolate syrup, and ¼ teaspoon of pure vanilla extract and whisk the mixture over medium-high heat and simmer for about 3 minutes. Once heated, whisk in ½ teaspoon of neon green food coloring. Whisk until combined into a “grinchy” green color.
- Now it’s time to decorate the rim of our mugs! Pour some peppermint sugar sprinkles into a shallow bowl. Wet the mug’s rim with water and gently press it into the sprinkles until the edge is coated.
- Pour the hot chocolate into the mug and top with marshmallows and sprinkles.
Nutrition
Notes
- Do not overheat the hot chocolate mixture, as you could burn the chocolate. Simmer, but do not bring to a boil.
- Take care when serving hot chocolate to little ones!
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
You’ll love how rich and delicious this festive holiday white hot chocolate tastes. Green food colouring gives it a Grinch-like hue, while mini marshmallows and red sprinkle hearts finish the decadent drink off beautifully.
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Bella Bucchiotti
Bella Bucchiotti of xoxoBella is a storyteller, food lover, dog mom and adventure seeker living on the Pacific coast. She shares her passion for recipes, dogs, sustainability, adventures, travel and philanthropy, in hopes of encouraging followers to run the extra mile, try new recipes, visit unfamiliar places and stand for a cause. Bella lives with Type 1 Diabetes and Celiac Disease.
Bella Bucchiotti is a freelance food, travel, and lifestyle writer for MSN and the Associated Press Wire.
My kids love this!
Any suggestion on a liquor to add to this to make it boozy?
you could add some baileys or peppermint schnapps