Irish Potato Candies
Forget the corned beef and cabbage. This is how to celebrate St. Paddy’s Day.
I’m assuming that if you’re not from Philly or Central PA, you’ve probably never heard of Irish Potatoes. Or maybe you have (sorry for assuming, you well-informed-blog-reader, you!) Either way, you’re in for a Philadelphia-style treat.
As a Pennsylvania native, I can fondly recall little boxes of Oh Ryan’s Irish Potatoes popping up in convenience stores in early March. For a long time, I just dismissed them because frankly, who wants to eat something that looks like it’s covered in dirt? Then I discovered it was cinnamon and never looked back. I have fond memories of my college roommate Fisher rushing to the 7-11 near our workplace to scoop them up for us before they sold out. So good.
This recipe doesn’t actually contain potato as an ingredient, although Wikipedia tells us that the original candies did include some cooked potato. The main ingredients here are cream cheese, sugar, coconut and cinnamon and they’re a breeze to put together.
If you’re making these for the first time, I would suggest halving the recipe like I did. I got about 16 candies and that is plenty for our house. They are pretty sweet little bites- you usually only need one (or half of one) to satisfy your sweet tooth.
This recipe is making me miss Philly and it’s St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. Shout out to my favorite Irish things in Philadelphia- the Malloys, the Irish Pub and my girl Fisher! I wish I could share these with you over a Guinness.
Happy St. Paddy’s everyone- and be safe!
Irish Potato Candies
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
via http://bakedbree.com/irish-potatoes
Author: Baked Bree
Serves: 12
Ingredients
- ½ stick of butter softened
- ½ brick of cream cheese softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 4 cups confectioners sugar
- 2½ cups sweetened coconut
- 2 Tablespoons cinnamon
Instructions
- Beat together butter and cream cheese. Slowly add the confectioners sugar.
- Add the vanilla.
- Add the coconut and mix until combined.
- You may want to chill the coconut mixture a little before you roll them. I like to use a small ice cream scoop. These are really rich, so you want them to be small.
- Roll the coconut mixture into a ball.
- Roll the coconut mixture into the cinnamon and put on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Keep the Irish Potatoes in the fridge.
The Malloys miss you like whoa!!
Hey, Philly girl!
‘Oh Ryan’s Irish Potatoes’ contain raw egg white! (I have no idea why, but I wrote to them to ask) Butter & vanilla aren’t necessary–they don’t make much difference in taste, but they DO make the ‘dough’ very sticky. This year, try this EASY recipe from another Philly girl: (just 3 ingredients dusted with cinnamon) ENJOY!
–1 (8oz) block of cream cheese
–2 lbs of powdered sugar (sweetened or unsweetened–makes no difference)
–1 sm bag of coconut
–After rolling 5 or 6 into small balls, shake in a snack-size ziploc bag of cinnamon.
DON’T FILL THE BAG–just a few shakes is enough to dust the ‘potatoes’
(when the cinnamon gets too dark from moisture, use another snack-size bag of cinnamon)
Using this ratio of the sugar & cream cheese (cut in half, if fewer are desired) makes a TIGHT,THICK PIE-LIKE DOUGH that’s easy to roll into balls without chilling (but I chill afterwards because I think they taste better & are firmer). Using a mixer with dough hooks makes an easy job of it.
HAPPY ST PATRICK’S DAY!