Ingredients:
1/4 cup softened butter
8oz softened cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar
2 1/2 cups shredded coconut
cinnamon
The mixing part was easy -- combine the softened butter and softened cream cheese with a hand mixer. Then add the vanilla and sugar mixing between cups, and then mix in the coconut. The recipe then said to roll it into balls and then roll them in the cinnamon, chilling afterwards to set.
This proved impossible, as right after mixing the whole thing was, literally, a hot mess and just gooped all over our hands instead of balling up. These ingredients are the exact same as those for cake icing, at about the same ratio, so I dont know why I was surprised at the consistency.
We stuck the mixture in the fridge for an hour and that helped a little, but my son still thought it was too sticky. He tried molding a few, but they came out looking pretty nasty and he soon gave up.
I soldiered on and found that you could toss a hunk of the mixture into a small cinnamon filled bowl, swirl it around quickly and the centripetal force (or is it centrifugal?! I never did very well in Physics) would form it into a ball and coat it in the cinnamon. Two birds, one stone. Here's the before and after.
The recipe yeilded about 35 one inch round Irish Potatoes, and once chilled they had good texture and flavor. They are much better than the chalky ones you buy boxed at the grocery store. You know, the ones that have so much cinnamon coating them that it goes straight to your lungs and makes you cough.
The homemade ones soon get sloppy again, though, so keep them in the fridge. I thought about adding more sugar to stiffen the mixture, but they are really sweet as is, and so decided against it.
Enjoy your Saint Patrick's Day! And sorry for the long duration between posts, I am now getting paid to write about food and that is taking precedence. Check it out my new column, Worth the Whisk, where I reveiw local restaurants on http://www.uppermoreland.patch.com/.
