What was that? You say you aren’t getting enough desserts these days? Well, then let’s make some brownies.
Oh yeah, and since this is Mid-Century Menu, the first ingredient is instant mashed potatoes. Because this is how we cook around here.
These are Potato Brownies!
AuthorRetroRuth
From 42 Hot Potato Ideas, Betty Crocker, 1967
Tested Recipe!
[cooked-sharing]
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8x8 pan.
Measure potato flakes into the mixing bowl. Blend in hot water; set aside.
Melt shortening and chocolate over low heat, stirring constantly. Add chocolate mixture, sugar and eggs to potatoes in the bowl.
Stir together remaining ingredients; blend into chocolate mixture. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 25 to 30 minutes. Cool; if desired, frost.
Ingredients
Directions
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8x8 pan.
Measure potato flakes into the mixing bowl. Blend in hot water; set aside.
Melt shortening and chocolate over low heat, stirring constantly. Add chocolate mixture, sugar and eggs to potatoes in the bowl.
Stir together remaining ingredients; blend into chocolate mixture. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 25 to 30 minutes. Cool; if desired, frost.
Notes
This lovely is from 42 Hot Potato Ideas, which was published by Betty Crocker in 1967.
Do you see that? Up in the corner? “From soups to desserts.” I love how these product pamphlets overreach their limits in recipes.
But it isn’t too much of a reach in this case. I know that mashed potatoes are actually a pretty common ingredient in vintage recipes, especially in bread. Doughnuts and rolls made with mashed potatoes are fantastic. But the reason that this recipe caught my eye wasn’t just because of the addition of mashed potatoes, it was the amount of potatoes.
When you look at the recipe, its pretty much just sugar and mashed potatoes with a little chocolate thrown in. I wanted to see if they had gone too far. I can imagine that they wanted to see how much potato they could cram into one recipe and still get it to work.
They actually worked! They totally looked like brownies. I was shocked. I honestly thought they would look pretty much like batter when they came out of the oven.
“What do you think? Are they brownies?”
“Yeaaaaahhh. Sort of. They are pretty good.”
The Verdict: Sort Of Brownies
From The Tasting Notes –
These were really interesting. The taste was great, a good chocolate flavor and not overly sweet. I accidentally used salted nuts in the batter, and it actually ended up being really good with the extra salt. The texture was where things skewed a bit. Since they were made mostly of potatoes they tasted mostly like…potatoes. While they were warm, they very much had the mouth feel of mashed potatoes. It wasn’t 100% potatoes, but you could tell what you were chewing. When they cooled the texture changed to somewhere between cheesecake and fudge. Not bad at all, but just not a normal brownie texture. But they were moist and still had a good chocolate flavor. So overall I would say these are a yes, especially if you need a chocolate fix and you have little to no flour in your house. And the texture of potatoes doesn’t freak you out.
Hi Ruth:
This sounds delish, but I am really hoping to be able to open another recipe you had up and I can’t get it . It is from the PET (powder) milk calendar from 1961 I think it is the Fluffy Chocolate Pudding and Sunshine Dessert Sauce . My mom lost the recipe years ago and we have been looking for it for so long. If you could send it to me or help me open it onlline, we would be very grateful!
Interesting! like a recipe for emergency brownies.
I remember reading a few years ago about some… I am going to say vigilante gastronomer who said that dessert mashed potatoes were a decidedly overlooked culinary possibility and was very “in” to them. It does make a certain amount of sense when you think about it logically. Potatoes are mostly just starch, and mashed potatoes have some fat added. Add some sugar and flavoring and you basically have a dessert recipe! I might try this, because yum, chocolate.
It occurs to me that since the main starch in this is potato, you could probably very easily swap out the 1/3 cup of flour for something else if you’re cooking for someone with celiac disease and make gluten-free brownies that stay mostly the same without having to do a million flour fiddles to find one that gets the texture right.
Hi Michelle! I will email you a copy, just give me a few days to go through my collection and find it. 🙂
I was thinking the same thing about the gluten free brownies, but I wasn’t sure where potatoes fall for people with celiac disease, so I didn’t bring it up. So thank you for mentioning it!
Now I am thinking about dessert mashed potatoes. I will have to keep my eye out for some more recipes and see what I can unearth!
I could totally see making a pan of these in an emergency. They would fit the bill nicely!
Gluten is only found in grass seeds–wheat, barley, rye, and oats. But not rice, which is why rice flour is such a common substitute in gluten-free cooking. Potatoes, being tubers, are free of the stuff. So yeah, this could be easily made a gluten-free recipe for people with special dietary needs!
Excellent! Thank you for clearing that up!
Yes, I’m sure a lot of people in 1967 were making pot…ato brownies. All those potato heads making their special brownies, and then hurriedly explaining them to someone else.
My mother made potato candy every year at Christmas back in the 60s and 70s. https://spicysouthernkitchen.com/old-fashioned-potato-candy/ Would be interesting to add cocoa to that.
Good recipe. Easy. Good flavor. Next time I will use coffee instead of the hot water. I also used butter because I didn’t have shortening. Used a 9×9 baked time 20 minutes.