A few years ago, this variation took first place in the non-traditional category in our office chili cookoff. This is one of the first things we cook when the weather cools off! Great for groups as well.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 45 mins |
| Additional Time: | 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 15 mins |
| Servings: | 24 |
| Yield: | 24 small baked potato puffs |
Ingredients
- 4 small Yukon gold potatoes, or as needed, quartered
- ½ cup water
- ¼ cup butter
- kosher salt to taste
- ½ cup flour
- 2 large eggs
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper
- 1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg
Instructions
- Place potatoes into a large pot and cover with salted water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain and mash. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Butter 24 mini muffin cups.
- Combine water and butter in a saucepan over medium heat and season with salt. Heat until butter melts and starts to bubble. Stir in flour until mixture pulls away from the pan and comes together into a dough.
- Transfer pastry dough to a bowl. Spread in the bowl and let cool, about 5 minutes. Mix in eggs using a spatula until dough is very soft and sticky. Add 2 cups of the mashed potatoes and mix until well combined. Add a pinch of salt, cayenne pepper, and nutmeg. Give it one last mix.
- Scoop potato dough into the greased muffin cups.
- Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown and puffed, about 20 minutes. Let rest for 1 minute before removing puffs onto a wire rack. Let cool for 5 minutes and serve warm.
- Russet potatoes also work in this. Feel free to play around with the ratio of potato to dough. With less potato, it might taste something like a potato-flavored doughnut or fritter. A higher concentration of potato makes the final product more like a deep-fried potato.
- You can include any add-ins to the dough, like bacon or scallions, during the final mix.
- Feel free to deep-fry or shallow-fry the batter as well, at around 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 45 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 5 g |
| Cholesterol | 21 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 0 g |
| Protein | 1 g |
| Saturated Fat | 1 g |
| Sodium | 37 mg |
| Sugars | 0 g |
| Fat | 2 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
These are too good to complain about. Those of you who say it is too bland… I think you should just make it again and use more ingredients. The recipe even said to use more ingredients if you want! My idea was to add garlic and a little parmesan. It turned out to be the best thing ever and I invited my family over. All said it was great 🙂
Awesome just as is! Next time though I want to try putting a tiny piece of soft cheese into middle.
super good way to use leftover mashed potatoes. I added 1/4 tea each onion and garlic powder and some finely chopped chives (because I had them) also added 1/2 cup swiss cheese. I baked them in a regular size muffin tin for 35 minutes. I will definitely make these again.
Easy with parma cheese
My husband and I loved these. I added shredded cheddar, garlic and onion powder to my mixture. Definitely a keeper and will serve at get togethers when Covid is FINALLY over!
This is a great recipe! Fairly easy but looks/tastes labor intensive. I baked them in regular muffin tins and just watched them until they were done, about 35 mins. I added 1/2 cup shredded cheese to one batch and they were even better! Will probably use more + sharper cheese next time, and chives, maybe some bacon. These can stand up to a lot of flavor.
None of my guests thought this was a good replacement for mashed or baked potatoes on the side of a good steak. Not that much flavor so need more than a pinch of nutmeg and cayenne. Really pretty bland. Won’t make again.
These were yummy! I made the dough, but then had to wait a couple of hours before baking, so it’s nice to know that the dough can be prepared ahead of time. I used Pam in the muffin cups and they came out fine. I made some plain, added bacon crumbs to others and bacon and chives to the rest. They were all good. Next time, I will try some with cheese. Even my picky eater, who is loath to try new things, loved them.
OMG this is GOOD! I did deep fry mine, and made only a half-recipe, adding one chopped scallion. Note: If you deep fry, use HOT HOT oil, as it quickly cools. Mine started at 375, then cooled off. I cranked the heat up until it was over 400 and had much better results. It was easy to make, and FABULOUS! We are big potato lovers, and it is wonderful to find a new recipe that is different and good! YUM! Thank you, Chef John!
OMG this is GOOD! I did deep fry mine, and made only a half-recipe, adding one chopped scallion. Note: If you deep fry, use HOT HOT oil, as it quickly cools. Mine started at 375, then cooled off. I cranked the heat up until it was over 400 and had much better results. It was easy to make, and FABULOUS! We are big potato lovers, and it is wonderful to find a new recipe that is different and good! YUM! Thank you, Chef John!
My husband ranked this in one of my top 5. That’s knockin’ it outta the park Thanks again Chef John !! You have dibs on 3 out of those 5. I put the mixture together this morning and let it cool and covered (like pudding) with plastic wrap until into the oven at 6pm. Wish now I would have doubled it. I used my half tall muffin pan that I bought years and years ago; well before ‘ Muffin tops’ were even a thing. 50/50 butter and olive oil flavored with roasted garlic to grease tin. The pommes dauphine jumped out of the pan.
No changes necessary. Perfect as is. My kids and hubby loved them. A nice change still using yummy potatoes. White potatoes worked lovely as we didn’t have Yukons.
Saw Chef John’s video on YouTube and, being a lover of mashed potatoes, just had to try this recipe and I’m so glad I did. I made 1/2 of the recipe, added in a bit of parsley but didn’t add enough salt. They were quite easy to make and I will definitely be making them again. No problem with them sticking.
Easy to put together (if you’re used to scratch cooking). I recommend baking a bit longer in the oven to get a crispier outside. I used a silicone cup cake pan which made then just pop right out. they are soft and taste like mashed potatoes on the inside. My husband used gravy on them I used just a pat of butter. The recipe called for quite a bit more than a pair of us consume in a meal. The left overs we just popped into the deep fryer and fried them back up to go with breakfast. those were good too.
Oh my GOODNESS. Out of this world. Definitely a fun take on a potato. As someone else has suggested, I pre-heated the muffin tin and added melted butter right before adding the batter. I also added some guyere and parmesan cheese to the mashed potato batter. I was a little worried when working with the “dough” in the pot, but it turned out wonderful. I highly recommend.
Love these with your chili pepper pesto
We loved it! I even bought a pan to try it. Gonna get my puff pastry band back!
I’d never had them before, they came out perfectly but if I’m honest I won’t make them again. Family wasn’t thrilled. But they are picky eaters. They did bake up beautifully though!
We forgot the nutmeg, but they still turned out wonderfully. We’ll try adding the nutmeg back in for the next time.
They stuck to the well greased muffin tins. Ended up in peices. I added a bit of cheese and bacon. My husband loved them and wants me to make again. Next time I’ll try silicon baking sheet.
I made these – pomme dauphine – to accompany an old-school French “surf-n-turf” for Valentine’s dinner for my wife and I – petit filet à la sauce bordelaise, coquille saint jacques, haricots verts à l’amandin, tomates poêlées, mousse au chocolat avec framboises et crème. : )The potato puffs were a great addition. I made a half-batch and added chives. The only thing I did differently was to preheat the muffin tin and add a dollop of butter so when I dropped in the batter (pre-portioned and set aside on parchment paper) they fried nicely on the bottom, like Yorkshire Puddings. In the time it took them to bake and cool I was able to cook the steaks and make the red wine sauce, finish off the green beans, sear the tomatoes, and broil the scallops so everything was done together. These puffs are very tasty (pictured in a cluster of 3, upside down to the left), can be prepped ahead, and present well on the plate.