Tater Candy

My mother, in addition to her many other talents, is a fabulous baker and confectioner. She has a booming side business making cakes for weddings and other occasions and is contemplating giving up her day job to open a bakery. Go for it, Mom! My favorites growing up were the candies she made: divinity, fudge, chocolate covered peanut butter balls that look like chestnuts, and, my favorite of all, potato candy.

Potato candy is super simple and is fun to make with kids. Boil a potato (an “arshtater” as we called it back in the holler). Mash a couple of tablespoons of the boiled tuber in a mixing bowl, and add confectioners’ sugar until it forms a ball of elastic dough. You will want to coat your hands with some of the sugar to keep the dough from sticking to you while you knead it. Put the ball on some wax paper and flatten it out with a rolling pin into a sheet like a pizza crust. Spread peanut butter on the sheet of dough, and then roll the whole shebang into a tube (peanut butter on the inside, of course).

Finally, slice the roll into half inch thick patties. I prefer to chill the roll in the fridge before slicing, because the pieces will have a more uniform shape and the candy is better cold. As you may surmise, potato candy is super sweet, so it is not for the faint hearted.