Holiday Ice Cream Bar with Graeter's

12.04.2017

Holiday Ice Cream Bar with Graeter’s

Tis the season to throw dieting to the wind and indulge in your favorite tastes and sweets of the season. While candy canes and gingerbread men might be the typical go-to holiday items for your Christmas party, I prefer treating guests to a festive holiday ice cream bar for all to remember. Whenever I start preparing for my annual holiday ice cream bar, I always go out in search of my favorite ice cream brand, Graeter’s. I honestly can’t get enough of this family-owned ice cream brand, and if you haven’t heard of them before you might recognize their beautiful packaging from your recent trip to the grocery store.

read on

Shop the post

Shop All

Graeter’s was even kind enough to offer TCC readers $5 off Ice Cream purchased before December 13th with code Coastal-Sweets.

This brand stole my heart not only by incorporating vast holiday flavor options to their lineup, like peppermint, madagascar vanilla bean and cinnamon, but for remaining true to the old-fashioned French Pot Process of making ice cream. Overall Graeter’s is the essential item in putting that extra jingle jangle into your holiday ice cream bar. So when I saw that their handcrafted holiday flavors were already available for purchase, I figured, why not share some Christmas cheer, with a sneak peek into what I have planned for this year’s holiday ice cream bar.

I always recommend setting up your ice cream bar on an easy to clean surface, as things can get messy quickly. This year, I pulled out a wooden cutting board and some snowy pinecone garland to set the tone and create a festive space for my cousins to gather and get creative. Most importantly, make your ice cream bar a place for guests to stage their creations and snap a quick photo or two. I had a hard time this year sticking to just three flavors for my holiday ice cream bar but in the end, I went with peppermint, cinnamon and salted caramel chocolate chip for the party, and purchased a few extra flavors for myself. But if you’re utterly indecisive like Matt, and are having trouble selecting flavors Graeter’s has a holiday deluxe gift pack which includes both classic and festive flavors, to give your tastes buds a sample of everything. Once the ice cream is squared away in the freezer, let’s turn our attention over to the toppings. This year I went with the classic holiday aesthetic of silver and gold edible glitter. Once I stocked up on glitter, I decided to get creative with additional toppings like gingerbread cookies, sugar toppers and for the extra touch these peppermint spoons.

ln the end, I ended up creating three uniquely satisfying holidays sundaes. I’ve shared the details below:

+ Seven Levels of the Candy Cane Forest – includes three scoops of peppermint ice cream, layered with jumbo red nonpareil sprinkles, a peppermint topped cookie with smashed peppermint sticks and a heavy dusting of gold glitter.

+ Visions of Cinnamon Buns – includes three scoops of cinnamon ice cream, layered with chocolate carvings, red nonpareil sprinkles, a cinnamon stick and a hefty dusting of silver glitter to boot. To be honest, though, this sundae is paired best with warm apple pie.

+ Salty & Sweet – includes three scoops of salted caramel chocolate chip ice cream, layered with chocolate carvings and or chocolate syrup, a coating of silver and gold edible glitter and to top it all off crumble layers of gingerbread wafer cookies for extra texture.

Holiday Ice Cream Bar with Graeter's | The Coastal Confidence by Aubrey Yandow

All and all, being a hostess can be hard, and sometimes stressful BUT it’s important to have fun, play with flavors and embrace the spirit of this upcoming holiday season. With that being said, whether you’re planning a holiday party for work, family or friends save yourself a trip to the store and order these items via online. If you are anything like me, I avoid grocery stores like nobody else this time of year, and yet I end up fighting for a parking space once to twice a day leading up Christmas Eve. So I saved myself one trip by ordering all of these items from the Graeter website, minus the toppings which came from Amazon. Once everything arrived at my door I had everything prepared and ready to go within 15 minutes; making this the easiest and most festive holiday dessert bar in town.

Finally, I hope this has inspired you all to get creative this holiday season. Embrace the flavors, your company and the greatest gift of all…GOOD ICE CREAM! Graeter’s was even kind enough to offer TCC readers $5 off Ice Cream purchased before December 13th with code Coastal-Sweets. xx Aubrey

SHOP THIS POST: