From the story: Beginner’s Love.
These showy potatoes (pommes duchesse in French) elevate the humble starch to suit any special occasion.
Royal Duchess Potato Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 2 pounds russet or Yukon Gold potatoes
- ½ cup half-and-half, heavy cream, or whole milk
- sea salt (for potatoes) to taste
- 4-6 ounces butter can use cow, goat, or vegan, to taste
- ½ teaspoon black pepper to taste
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg optional
- 3 large egg yolks for potatoes
- 1 teaspoon sea salt (for boiling water)
Egg Wash:
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon filtered or bottled water
Instructions
- Peel potatoes and cut into large chunks.
- Boil water with a teaspoon of salt in pot large enough to completely submerge potatoes. Add potatoes and bring to boil. Turn down heat and simmer without lid for 25 minutes or until potatoes are soft and tender when tested with fork. Drain water.
- While potatoes are boiling, butter cupcake pan so potatoes will not stick.
- Return potatoes to pot, turn off stove, add butter, add salt to taste, and mash with hand masher. Add cream or half-and-half or whole milk (your preference), pepper, and optional nutmeg. Continue mashing until smooth, but do not overmash which could make them gluey.
- Taste potato mixture and adjust spices according to your taste. You can increase the salt, pepper or optional nutmeg. When the potato mixture is cooled a little, mix in egg yolks until they are smoothly blended throughout potatoes (this is to avoid allowing the egg yolks to cook in the hot potatoes before you mix it).
Fill cupcake pan with potato mixture.
- Fill each cupcake section to the top, adding more forming a little hill. Create a design on top by pulling a fork across the surface to make indentations or to create peaks (optional).
Egg Wash.
- Beat 1 egg with 1 teaspoon water. Brush top of each potato cupcake with this mixture. (Can add small chunks of additional butter on top of potato cupcakes prior to applying the egg for additional richness and crunchiness).
Baking.
- Preheat oven to 450°F. Bake for 15 minutes, then check. Potatoes are ready when golden brown. If necessary, continue cooking until they turn golden brown. Check in 5-minute intervals.
Notes
These potatoes go well with a fancy dinner and make it easy to impress your guests. It's an uncommon dish for most, so it adds flair to almost any type of meat or fish. Leftovers store well in the refrigerator. When cool, individual potatoes easily pop out of the cupcake pan. Reheats nicely.
