How to Make Potato Candy: A Favorite Holiday Treat

This is the time of year when I start making my Christmas treats to enjoy when friends and neighbors stop by during the holidays. One of my favorite treats to make is potato candy. This is such an easy treat to make. My kids love making it, too. We have a lot of fun in the kitchen making potato candy. The great thing about potato candy is that it looks very expensive but is really very frugal to make.

Some people have trouble making potato candy because they make it too complicated. It is actually a very simple treat to make and only a few ingredients are needed. Be sure to pick up the following ingredients on your next shopping trip: one small white potato, one bag or box of 10x sugar or confectioner’s sugar or powdered sugar, 1/4 cup to 1/2-cup creamy peanut butter more or less depending on taste, salt(optional), and vanilla(optional).

Here is my simple recipe for homemade potato candy.

First take a small potato. Wash. Rinse, and Peel. Then cut the potato in half and place in a small saucepan with a cup of water. Add a pinch of salt to the water. Place pan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Once it starts to boil, cover pan and lower heat. Cook until potato can be pierced easily with a fork, approximately 10 minutes or longer depending on your stove. Drain water from the potato. Mash potato thoroughly with a fork.

Using 10x sugar (also called confectioner’s sugar or powdered sugar) pour the sugar from its box or bag into the mashed potato a little at a time. Keep adding the sugar until the potato mixture can be formed into a smooth ball. (While adding the sugar you can also add a pinch of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla, both are optional) Lightly dust your cutting board with 10x sugar. Place the potato/sugar ball in the center of the board and flatten with a rolling pin. If you want your candy slices to be various sizes from very small to large then you form you potato/sugar mixture into a round ball. IF you want your candy slices to be more uniform, form the potato ball into a rectangular shape. Lightly dust a rolling pin and cutting board with 10x sugar so the potato mixture does not stick to the rolling pin or board. Using the rolling pin, roll the potato ball out until it resembles the depth of piecrust, either as a large circle or a long rectangle depending on how you shaped the ball earlier.

Spread creamy peanut butter over the flattened potato mixture just like you are making an open face peanut butter sandwich. Now starting at the top roll this together forming a long log. Slice this log into serving size slices. IF your potato mixture was formed in a circle, you have tiny slices that are cut from each end of the log with larger pieces sliced from the thicker center. If you formed the potato ball into a rectangular shape, your log will be about the small thickness all the way across the log and your slices will be about the small size.

Place your slices on a pretty platter. Dust lightly with 10x sugar. Enjoy!

This is a great treat so easy to make. Kids love it and so do adults. It is great for serving at your holiday parties and also great to give as a homemade Christmas gift.