All Philadelphians know that these popular St. Patrick’s Day treats have little do to with potatoes or the Irish. What they might not know is that the city’s confectioners are rolling up their own sweet twists on this coconut cream candies.

The Original
Asher’s traditional recipe of sugar and coconut rolled in cinnamon has been a Philadelphia mainstay for over a hundred years.

The Fancy Spud
The gussied-up potatoes coming out of Emerald Confections’ Mayfair kitchen (pictured) are creamier than the original variety and dipped in milk, dark, white or mint chocolate. And they’ve shared the recipe with us. (below)

The Cold Potato
Pick your favorite ice cream (vanilla lends the purest flavor) and Center City’s Scoop DeVille will blend in shredded coconut, cinnamon and, of course, house-made Irish potatoes.

Emerald Confections’ Irish Potatoes

4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 pound confectioners sugar
1 (7 ounce) package shredded coconut
Cinnamon, to taste

In a bowl, mix cream cheese, butter, sugar and coconut. Chill until firm, about 2 hours. Roll into quarter-sized balls, then roll in cinnamon. Makes 50 Irish potatoes.

Photo, Zoey Sless-Kitain

This entry was posted on Monday, March 17th, 2008 at 6:00 am and is filed under Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Posted by Bridget Salmons on 3/17/08 in Recipes