In honor of St. Patricks Day

We went to a St. Patricks Day party today. Yes, it was a bit before the holiday but better before than after, correct? This year I hadn't done any planning prior to the party so I was scrambling for something to bring and found "Irish Potato Candy." I thought it would have potato but no, of course it didn't! The real advantage to that is that I'd bought a coconut this week because Sam was very curious about them. This morning we drilled a hole in it so he could try the coconut milk (an unpleasant surprise for him) and I tried the trick I saw on Alton Brown's program about tossing the coconut into the oven at 350 for 30 minutes in order to make it easier to take off the shell. It worked great! I used fresh coconut in this recipe.



IRISH POTATO CANDY

1/4 c softened butter
8 ounce package cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 c powdered sugar
2 1/2 c flaked coconut

1 T cinnamon
1 T cocoa
2 T powdered sugar

DIRECTIONS:

Cream butter and cream cheese, add vanilla and 4 c powdered sugar and coconut. Mix the cinnamon, cocoa, and powdered sugar. Take small pieces of the coconut mixture and drop into the cinnamon mixture. Roll into potato shapes.

I found this to be very sticky and soft. I don't know if it was partially because of the fresh coconut (the recipe didn't say if it should be sweetened or not either) and perhaps the coconut should have been pressed into the measuring cup. At any rate, these had the texture of frosting rolled in cocoa which is not a bad thing but not the best thing for a party. I stuck them in the freezer to make them a bit more finger friendly.

They tasted great but looked too unappealing to be a big hit. If you make these, label them! I fear them may have gone to waste which given their flavor would be a damn shame.