Cracking food secrets: coconut-almond bonbons

This is one of those recipes you look at and think “not gonna happen”. Specially because of the first item in the ingredient list, which is cold mashed potato.

As weird, or even unsavoury as it can sound, the mad scientist in me wouldn’t let me rest until I tried it. You know, there’s a chemical reaction here – the potato in contact with sugar melts from solid to liquid… Ok,  so I’m a big nerd, so what? Besides that, the other bloggers who made the recipe SWORN this is good stuff, and tastes exactly as a famous candy bar (let’s call it “Almond Happiness”, shall we?).

So in a brave act of boldness, I did it.

And yes, my friends, it’s good. Pure happiness.

Coconut-Almond Bonbons or simply Almond Happiness (adapted from several sources) – aprox. 20 bonbons

• 1/4 cup cold mashed potatoes
• 1 1/2 (or more, if needed) cup confectioner’s sugar
• coconut extract (optional)
• 1 to 1 1/2 cup desiccated unsweetened coconut
• 20 raw almonds (optional)
• 300g milk chocolate

1. Peel and cut in four pieces a medium potato. Boil until soft, strain and return to the hot pan to dry well. Mash while hot and pass through a sieve. Let cool. (don’t use a food processor)
2. Place the potato and 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar in a large bowl:

3. Whisk, and you wil observe the potato starting to melt, like this:

4. Keep whisking until it turns liquid:

5. Add the remaining sugar. Mix well until it reaches a paste texture. You may need more sugar to get to this:

6. Add the coconut and mix well. I used my hands, since it got a little thick to use a spoon or spatula.

7. Using two teaspoons of the mixture, mold with your hands little bars, or even balls. Press one almond over each bonbon. Let them rest a bit in a baking sheet while melting/tempering chocolate.

9. Dip in the chocolate first the bottoms, one by one, and set on a large piece of parchment paper to harden. Then, place each candy in a fork and, with a spoon, let some chocolate cover the tops and sides. Let it drain a little to remove excess chocolate. Place them on the parchment paper and let the chocolate dry.