Irish Potato Candy: Is not potato!

Struck by the spirit of the holiday, I decided to whip up these “Irish Potato Candy” treats and take them into the Newsroom Taste Testers on St. Patrick’s Day. To be clear, there is not a shred of potato, and I’m not convinced there’s any Irish involved, but if that’s what they’re called, well, begosh and begorra and all that.

We used to have a co-worker who brought this homemade sweet into the newsroom every once in a while, pointing out that reference to spuds is about looks. Once you mix the ingredients together, just mold them into irregular shapes akin to a small version of a real potato (or maybe fingerling potatoes), dust thoroughly with cinnamon, and chill a bit. At first glance, you might actually think — as Stephen Colbert would say — “is potato.”

Is also simple, and hard to mess up as long as you make sure to soften the cream cheese and butter. But be forwarned, with four cups of powedered sugar and the cream cheese, butter and coconut, this could be too sweet for some, as proven by our taste testers.

“It’s very good and very sweet,” said John Nolan, Circulation Marketing and Sales Specialist for Times Leader Media Group. “I can only have one.”

“It’s too sweet for me,” columnist Bill O’Boyle said.

I should point out that the samples they had were barely chilled. Give them a couple hours in the fridge and some people may find the cooler temperature mitigates the sweetness a bit. At least, I thought so when I tried one the next day.

“I love coconut candy, and coconut anything,” page designer Ashley Bringmann said, asking if there was nutmeg in the dusting and suggesting she’d like to make them with nutmeg.

Before actually reading the recipe (but knowing the basics from experience), I had expected the dusting to be more than cinnamon as well. Obviously, you can mix in what you like, as long as it gives the potato skin finish.

“They taste like something you’d find at the end of a rainbow,” MT said, trying to stay in the St. Patrick’s Day/leprechaun spirit. “They’re almost addicting.”

“It’s wonderful,” news editor Roger DuPuis said, adding “I know about this; I’ve read about how people claim they originated in Philadelphia.”

Roger provided a link to a billypenn.com article claiming it’s almost certainly a Philly thing of uncertain origin — something other articles echo. Why Philly? An article at saveur.com offered a plausible explanation, theorizing it may have been a confluence of circumstances distinct to the City of Brotherly Love in the late 1800s: The region was becoming a candy mecca, Irish immigrants came in large numbers due to the potato famine back home, and Philadelphia’s evolution as Carribean Trade port assured a good supply of coconut. Confectioners wanted something to sell big between Valentine’s Day and Easter. Voila, Irish Potato Candy on St. Patrick’s Day!

While I made them on Friday, there was plenty left Sunday morning when the Rev. Jospeh Verespy stopped me on the way out of St. Nicholas Church after Mass and asked what was coming up for the test kitchen. I told him about the spudless potato candy. “Sounds interesting,” he smiled. So I promised to get a few of the remaining potatoes to him, which MT did, on Monday, the day our pastor was celebrating the feast of his patron saint, St. Joseph.

St. Joseph, incidentally, is considered the patron saint of the “New World,” and of at least nine individual countries, none of which are Ireland.

Dobru chut!

Irish Potato Candy (allrecipes.com)

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

¼ cup butter, softened

4 cups confectioners’ sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 ½ cups flaked coconut

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Beat cream cheese and butter together in a large bowl until smooth. Add confectioners’ sugar and vanilla; beat until smooth. Mix in flaked coconut.

Roll mixture into balls or potato shapes; roll in cinnamon. Place onto a cookie sheet and chill to set, at least 10 minutes. If desired, roll potatoes in cinnamon again for a darker color.