Duchess Potatoes

I've only had duchess potatoes once before in my life and it was at some party function hosted at a hotel with a buffet-style dinner. They were good, not great, but so pretty to look at. I decided to share my version, which I made for Easter this year. And this is a great recipe for using up leftover mashed potatoes.

Ingredients:
2 lbs potatoes (I prefer yukon gold)
2 egg yolks
⅓ cup + ¼ cup heavy cream (or milk)
1 teaspoon butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

Start by peeling the potatoes and boiling them. I like to cut them up into smaller pieces so that 1) they cook quicker and 2) they cook through the center without the outside going all crumbly.

Next, mash up the potatoes with a bit of butter and then let them cool for 20 minutes or so. Add in the egg yolks, 1/3 cup of cream, salt, and pepper and stir.

Then, to make sure these potatoes will be pipe-able, stick them in a food processor to finely puree them.

Fill up a piping bag and pipe out pretty little mounds of potato.

Gently brush the tops of the potato with a bit of heavy cream (which will promote browning) and then bake at 350 for 15 to 20 minutes or until the edges and peaks start to brown. Be careful not to overcook them, as they'll dry out and take on a strange, spongy texture.

They look a bit like sugar cookies but they taste like potato. How strange.

Here's the recipe page: