Irish Potato Candy

 

It’s almost here – St. Patrick’s Day. I’m not super into St. Patrick’s Day but as a Mom I try to celebrate (and educate) my kids about most holidays and special events. That’s important, right?

I wasn’t quite sure what to make for this special day. St. Patty’s Day sugar cookies are always a hit in our house but I’m a little tired of sugar cookies after Valentine’s Day. And my kids wouldn’t go near corned beef and cabbage if I paid them. So we decided on Irish Potato Candy. There are two “traditional” types of Potato Candy and I thought they both sounded tasty, so we made both.


Irish Potato Candy
Adapted from: Cooks.com

2 (1 lb.) boxes powdered sugar
1/2 cup hot mashed potatoes, drained
peanut butter (you can use creamy or chunky)

– Boil your potatoes like you always do for mashed potatoes.
– Measure out about 1 cup of potato chunks and add to mixing bowl.
– Beat until crumbly.
– Start adding the powdered sugar. Don’t be alarmed when it turns to liquid. This is normal.

– Just keep adding powdered sugar until it is thick and spreadable.

– Sprinkle waxed paper with additional powdered sugar. Make sure there are no “blad” spots. This mixture is pretty sticky and will stick to the paper. I used this handy dandy Pampered Chef pastry roller. It worked great! (My kids also like it for Pay Doh) =o)

– Take a baseball sized ball of mixture and roll out on waxed paper.

– Spread with peanut butter.

– Roll up
– Refrigerate for a couple of hours, then slice.

For the second variation:
– After mixture is thick, roll into walnut sized pieces shaping them to look like potatoes.

– Let sit on the counter for a couple of hours or refrigerate. This makes the cinnamon not get moist when you roll them in it. I’m not sure how – it’s just the law =o)
– Roll in cinnamon.

Store in the refrigerator.

I’m not sure which one I liked more. I really like the taste of the peanut butter but the ones in cinnamon look so darn cool.

Everyone has seen this saying, right? It’s nothing new. It’s been around forever. It basically means “Ireland Forever!” Nice, right…

Growing up it was hard having the name Erin on St. Patrick’s Day. This is what everyone did to this wonderful Irish saying…

Darn kids!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Don’t forget to wear green or you’ll get pinched – which, by the way, is strickly an American tradition.


And also don’t forget to check out the great linky parties on my sidebar =o)

I’m also joining Kathleen and her 3rd Annual St. Patrick’s Day Blog Crawl!

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Comments

  1. Neat, we made potato fudge when i was a kid for Christmas, which is basically the same method. I love cinnamon, so i might just try the potatoes sometime!

  2. Those are really cute ideas!!

  3. GREAT idea to share this simple recipe. My kids loved this when they were growing up…I tend to forget about it. Thanks bunches for the reminder – and great photos! Those darned kids when you were growing up! HOW DARE THEY? =)

  4. Totally looked like potatoes! I’m glad they didn’t taste like them. Super cute.

  5. I’m loving that potato candy! Especially the recipe that looks like little potatoes!
    Blessings, Beth

  6. Potato candy has been a Christmas tradition in our family for generations. This post brought back memories!

  7. Your Irish Potatoes are both different versions than the one I make with cream cheese and coconut! They look great-have fun with the kids:@)

  8. arent they adorable! I made a different version too.. probably the same as above, but I swapped all the coconut for chopped walnuts!

  9. Too cute!!! Love it!

    Lots of yummy love,
    Alex aka Ma What’s For Dinner
    http://www.mawhats4dinner.com

  10. What a cute idea!! Happy St Patrick’s day to you!

  11. I Love this candies!
    I’ve never heard about potatose candies, and this look awesome!

  12. I have not had those for years. Thank you so much for posting them and sharing the receipe.

  13. I’m thinking about making the potato ones for April Fool’s! Thanks for the step by step!

  14. Very cute, Erin! Maybe you could combine them by rolling the peanut butter ones (and shaping them too)in cinnamon. Love the look of the little potatoes, but the p. butter version sounds yummy. Your fist version is potato candy, and your second is candy potatoes:) I posted some candy potatoes a couple of weeks ago. Thanks for a variation!

  15. These are so cute! Such a great idea for st. patty’s day – love it!

  16. Making candy is the perfect way to celebrate St. Patty’s Day…much more fun than corned beef 🙂

  17. I have a daughter named Erin! From the first time we heard the name (before we were even married) we knew we would give it to a little girl if we had one. We had four little girls but just the first one is named Erin 🙂

    Your candy looks fantastic! Fun stopping by to visit with you!
    Kindly, Lorraine

  18. Thanks so much for linking up to THIS WEEK’S CRAVINGS “Everything GREEN”! Don’t forget to come back next Monday for Chocolate…Chocolate… and more Chocolate!!!

    http://momscrazycooking.blogspot.com/search/label/THIS%20WEEKS%20CRAVINGS

  19. Erin your potatoes look real! Wow! I don’t know if you are familiar with Bakerella’s blog. I am sure you will love it; she makes all these cute kiddie pops. I got there through Katrina’s (from In Katrina’s Kitchen), blog. Bakerella is currently in hospital, so if you visit and leave her a message, you will surely put another smile on her face (www.bakerella.com).

  20. Hi Erin,
    Your candy looks awesome, I will try to make some this week. Thank you for sharing and you have a great day!

  21. I have never seen this candy. It sounds yummy. I like the ones that look like potatoes; the really look real, but the PB ones sound good too.

    Kids can be so mean. I am sure you hated that then but you probably laugh now..lol

  22. Both of them look so yummy! That saying is funny now, but I would have died then! Joni

  23. I have never heard of these before. They look so cute and tasty!! Kids are so mean..atleast now you can laugh about it!! I took it as a good saying.

  24. Erin,
    Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting at Reasons to Skip the Housework! I have a Tuesday Time Out Link Up that’s open until Saturday – I’d love for you to link this recipe up!

    Tuesday Time Out Link Party:
    http://reasonstoskipthehousework.blogspot.com/2011/03/tuesday-time-out-link-up-party.html

    Smiles,
    Melanie
    http://reasonstoskipthehousework.blogspot.com

  25. I love it, I am going to try it out!
    http://www.mylifeunzipped.blogspot.com

  26. I’ve been meaning to try to little guys forever. I like the look of the cinnamon potatoes. The problem is…I have no kids to eat them, but I’m adding it to my list anyway…thanks for sharing your version. :O)

  27. This comment has been removed by the author.

  28. I have never seen Irish potato candy but looking at the recipe I bet it’s really good. I can’t wait to share this with my loves to bake daughter – she will be so excited! Thanks for sharing (Sorry – removed first post for major spelling errors!

    March 16, 2011 4:11 PM

  29. What fun candy. Great recipe to try out.

  30. I’ve always wanted to try making potato candy, but had no idea it’s Irish. I was hoping since you titled your post Irish Potato candy that you had dyed it green or something like that…I think it looks tastier without the green dye though :).

  31. Those look so cute! I can’t decide which one I’d like better either.

  32. This is very interesting!! I will have to give it a try!
    Come visit me at http://willcookforsmiles.blogspot.com/

  33. I want some potato candy 🙂 they look yummy!

  34. YUM! I just had irish potato candy for the first time today at work. Although the lady that made them said she didn’t use potatoes.. which I thought was rather weird. LOL They were good though! Thanks for linking up for Tasty Tuesday this week!

  35. those look very unique
    I WANT TO TRY!!

    xoxo
    bB

  36. Potato candy? That’s something new to me. Thank you for sharing this recipe. It seems so easy to make, and it looks so yummy! Definitely gonna try it.

  37. Fun craft! Erin Go Bragh came from Eire Go Bragh… Kids can be silly.

  38. Who would have ever thought of this? I love it. Thanks for sharing with Sweets This Week.

    Sarah

  39. I’ve seen potato candy every St. Patrick’s Day but have never made it or even tried it! Love the cinnamon ones, they really do look like potatoes!

  40. Absolutely adorable! I love the little potato shapes. So whimsical! I know my girls would have a blast making these!

  41. Wow! This looks amazing! Thanks for linking up to the It’s a Keeper Thursday blog hop! Be sure to come back next week and link something new!

    Christina @ It’s a Keeper
    http://www.everydaytastes.com/
    http://twitter.com/itsakeeperblog
    http://www.facebook.com/ItsAKeeper

  42. OH MY GOODNESS!!! My mom made this when we were kids. I’ve gotten the recipe from her but never tried to make it. She always made it at Christmas time, but St Patty’s day, genius!!!!! Way to keep one more thing out of the Christmas mix!

  43. Found your post via my Lucky Green blog hop: http://parentingpatch.com/lucky-green-linky-love-in-march-2012/?blenzaplus_refresh=1330794177641

    These Irish Potato Candies sound yummy and festive!

  44. These look delicious. I just pinned it. We have a link party called Wednesdays Adorned From Above Blog Hop and would love to have you share this and any other posts with everyone. It runs from Tuesday night through midnight Sunday. Here is the link to the party.
    http://www.adornedfromabove.com/2013/02/wednesdays-adorned-from-above-blog-hop_26.html
    Debi and Charly @ Adorned From Above

  45. This is the most unusual candy. Thanks for sharing at Saturday Dishes and I hope you’ll return next week when we are featuring Easter recipes. -Savannah http://www.hammocktracks.com

  46. Sounds like some good candy….
    but a lot of powdered sugar. We are on a sugar free diet right now….using a sub that we really like but don’t think it comes in powdered sugar form…..
    bet your kids love both these candies.

  47. Good Morning,
    Thank you so much for sharing your awesome recipe with Full Plate Thursday. Hope you have a lovely week and come back soon!
    Miz Helen