Candy: "Irish Potato" Candy and Irish "Potato Candy"
Subject: "Irish Potato" Candy and Irish "Potato Candy"
Newsgroups: rec.food.cooking
From: Diane Duane (owlsprng at iol.ie)
Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2000 17:24:24 GMT
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Two different things, but around this time of year we seem to get a lot of requests for either or both of them. I have no idea where either of them may have been invented, but I don't think it's Ireland, as (so far) after thirteen years of living here, none of the native Irish I've talked to have ever seen or heard of either of them.
The first one is simply a candy made with mashed potatoes. There are three versions of this, not too much different from one another.
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Potato Candy
3/4 cup mashed potatoes
1 lb powdered sugar
1 lb coconut
1 teaspoon almond OR vanilla essence
Mix all ingredients together.
Roll into any desired shape.
Chill, then dip in chocolate mixture.
Chill for 20 minutes.
Chocolate Mixture:
1 large package of chocolate chips
1/3 block of plain parafin wax
Melt over hot [not boiling] water.
Cut up the parafin wax before melting.
Other flavourings can be used also, chopped nuts, coconut.
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Categories: Candies, Christmas
Yield: 16 servings
1 tb Mashed potatoes
2 1/4 c Confectioners' sugar
1 12 oz jar peanut butter
Placed mashed potatoes in a mixer bowl. Add confectioners' sugar one cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Spread into greased 10 x 15 inch pan. Spread peanut butter over top. Roll as for a jelly roll. Cut into slices.
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Potato Candy
1 medium sized potato
1 tsp vanilla
6-1/2 cups icing sugar
6 Tbsp peanut butter
Cook potato until soft; drain and mash with fork. Blend in vanilla. Work in sifted icing sugar until mixture is thick enough to roll easily. Divide into two portions.
Roll each portion out into an 8-inch square on a board dusted with icing sugar. Spread peanut butter on each square and roll-up like a jelly roll. Wrap each roll in waxed paper and cool in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours before slicing.
Makes about 4 dozen 1/2-inch thick slices.
Variation: Press one portion into an 8-inch square pan, spread with peanut butter and top with second portion. Frost with 2 squares of unsweetened chocolate that have been melted. Cool in the refrigerator and cut into 36 squares.
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Then there's the candy which doesn't have potato in it, but is shaped to look like potatoes. Two versions of this:
Irish Potato Candy
4 oz softened cream cheese
1/4 lb butter -- softened
1 1/2 boxes confectioners' sugar
Cinnamon
1. Blend cream cheese and butter together well.
2. Stir in confectioner's sugar.
3. Make into bite size balls and roll thoroughly in cinnamon.
4. Serving Size: 1
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Or alternately:
Using a box of confectioners sugar, combine with evaporated milk to make a thick dough. Mix until smooth. Make into potato shapes and roll in cinnamon. Let dry on flat cookie sheets until hard and dry. You can add a little flavoring--whisky, nuts,extrac ts--when you add the milk. To add eyes, use fork to texture potato.
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Best! -- Diane
From: Edwin Pawlowski (esp at snet.net)
Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2000 23:07:46 -0500
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Diane Duane wrote in message
> Two different things, but around this time of year we seem to get a lot of
> requests for either or both of them
None of these are what I remember when I lived in Philadelphia. Every year at this time the better candy shops had the Irish potato candy. They were made from a mixture very similar to the coconut cream eggs made at Easter, but instead of a chocolate covering, they were rolled in cinnamon. Some of the best were made by Stutz candies.
Ed
From: Diane Duane (owlsprng at iol.ie)
Date: Sun, 12 Mar 2000 16:00:22 GMT
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Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
>None of these are what I remember when I lived in Philadelphia. Every year
>at this time the better candy shops had the Irish potato candy. They were
>made from a mixture very similar to the coconut cream eggs made at Easter,
>but instead of a chocolate covering, they were rolled in cinnamon. Some of
>the best were made by Stutz candies.
I remember Stutz! They did pretty nice stuff. But I never saw the potatoes...I was standing in the wrong place at the wrong time, I guess.
I have a feeling there are probably a lot of regional varations on both these themes -- the little-tiny-potatoes version and the rolled-up-candy version. I'd venture a guess that someone originally tried the little-tiny-potato version using marzipan as a base: you see a lot of marzipan little-tiny-fruit-and-veg on the continent.
Best! -- Diane
Newsgroups: rec.food.cooking
Subject: How sugar and evaporated milk to make the Irish candy
From: eoliver44 at aol.com (Eoliver44)
Date: 11 Mar 2000 21:27:59 GMT
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Thanks for the recipes, Diane!
The last one, using the sugar and evaporated milk was the one I tried a few years ago.
But they were so sweet my teeth almost fell out. I couldn't get the consistancy to be right.
Any exact measurements of sugar to milk?
Don't worry about how much "Irish Whisky" to add. I can guesstimate that one.
thanks
From: Fluffie (fluffie at agalis.net)
Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2000 00:32:00 GMT
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> The last one, using the sugar and evaporated milk was the one I tried a few
> years ago.
> But they were so sweet my teeth almost fell out. I couldn't get the
> consistancy to be right.
Are you sure you didn't mistaken evaporated milk with condensed milk which seems to be a common mix-up. Evaporated milk has no sugar added and condensed milk does and is very sweet and thick.