The Quest For Mashed Potato Smiles

When thinking back to high school cafeteria menus, not very many good memories come to mind.  There was one thing I looked forward to, however, those delicious little mashed potato smiles.  I haven’t been able to find them in grocery stores or online (plus how ridiculous would it be to have something like that shipped).  I finally decided, why not make my own.  After our Thanksgiving feast, I’ve been left with more mashed potatoes than any person would know what to do with.  It is with these extra potatoes I’ve decided to stop looking for mashed potato smiles and start making my own (the recipe is posted below). 

I took to the kitchen to pull out ingredients to be added to the mashed potatoes.  My first thought was just roll mashed potatoes into a ball.  That proved impossible.  I knew additions would have to be made.  I grabbed the flour and an egg and decided to make a dough out of the potatoes.  Then I decided to improve even more upon the idea of mashed potato smiles… add cheese.  Cheese just makes thing better.  I had cheddar on hand so I used that.  Finally, I rolled the bites in bread crumbs and sprayed them with butter-flavored cooking spray to give them that deliciously crisp coating that I remember from eating them in high school.  I used what my mom told me is the “magical temperature” to bake them in and popped them into the oven at 350 degrees until they were nice and golden.  The verdict:  not quite what I had in school, but good enough to end the search for the smiles.  Now I have a recipe for mashed potato bites!

Mashed Potato Bites

About 2 cups mashed potatoes

½ cups flour

1 egg, beaten

¾ cup shredded cheese

Bread crumbs

Cooking spray or melted butter or margarine

1.        Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray or coat with butter or margarine.

2.       In a mixing bowl, combine mashed potatoes, flour, egg and cheese.  Stir until well combined.

3.       Pour bread crumbs on a plate.  Take one to two tablespoons of potato mixture.  Roll in bread crumbs until well coated and no longer sticky then drop onto cookie sheet.  The potato bites expand a small amount, so make sure to leave some space between each bite. 

4.       Once all potato mixture is used, spray bites with cooking spray or drizzle with melted butter or margarine.  Bake in oven until golden brown, about 8-12 minutes.  Enjoy!