You won’t ever need to purchase store-bought brittle again if you use this cashew candy recipe. The butteriness of my cashew crunch makes it melt in your tongue. My relatives say it’s difficult to resist this sweet. Do it and you’ll understand why. Keep in an airtight, wax paper-lined container.
| Prep Time: | 1 hr 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 30 mins |
| Servings: | 16 |
| Yield: | 2 9×13-inch pans |
Ingredients
- 10 pounds potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
- 2 cups butter, divided
- 3 onions, diced
- 1 bunch celery, diced
- 1 ½ cups milk, divided
- 3 tablespoons seasoned salt, divided
- 1 (1 1/4 pound) loaf of white bread, torn into pieces, or as desired – divided
Instructions
- Place the potato cubes into a large pot and cover with salted water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until tender, about 25 minutes. Drain and allow to steam dry for a minute or two.
- Melt 1/2 cup of butter in a large skillet over medium heat, and cook and stir the onions and celery until they are reduced and browned, about 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 2 glass baking dishes, each 9×13 inches.
- Place another 1/2 cup of butter into the work bowl of a stand mixer, and add the cooked potatoes. Start the mixer on Low setting. While mixer is running, pour in 1 cup of milk, and add 1 tablespoon of seasoned salt and 4 slices of torn bread. Mix those ingredients briefly into the mixture, and pour in 1/2 cup of milk and 4 more bread slices. Mix that addition, and then mix in 2 more bread slices.
- After the last 2 bread slices have been roughly incorporated, place another 1/2 cup of butter, 1 tablespoon of seasoned salt, all the onions, celery, and butter from the skillet, and 4 more slices of bread into the mixer bowl. Mix to incorporate, and finally mix in 2 to 4 additional torn bread slices. Allow the mixer to run until the dressing is the desired consistency.
- Place half the dressing into each prepared baking dish, and top the dressing with the remaining 1/2 cup of butter, cut into thin slices and scattered over the top. Sprinkle remaining 1 tablespoon of seasoned salt evenly over the top of the dishes. Cover the dishes with aluminum foil.
- Bake in the preheated oven until the dressing is browned, about 1 hour.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 544 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 72 g |
| Cholesterol | 63 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 8 g |
| Protein | 10 g |
| Saturated Fat | 15 g |
| Sodium | 976 mg |
| Sugars | 6 g |
| Fat | 25 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This is my mom’s recipe too and I do know the secret ingredient lol I make this every holiday.
My Dutch grandmother made this filling at Thanksgiving instead of stuffing. I like your recipe a lot, too! I’m not sure what the secret ingredient is but in addition to the celery and onion, Nannie added sweet baby peas and evaporated milk instead of regular milk and no cubed bread, just the bread crumbles on top in her recipe. She garnished it with paprika after it came out of the oven with peaks of filling blanketed in a delicious golden crust, served with her homemade gravy. Now that we’re health conscious, we use skim milk and skip the gravy but is still delicious and a pleasant change from stuffing.
I make this and use Bells seasoning as the secret ingredient. Fabulous!
This is my Grammy’s recipe for potato patties! I’ve searched and searched for it but all the recipes I found were with flour and egg and very runny. My Grammy and my Mom are both dead and I was sure I remembered them tearing soft white bread into it. Today I was inspired to look for Pennsylvania Dutch potato cakes, and there it was! They made individual patties, not a casserole but that was enough to re-create the cakes and the flavor of my childhood on Grammy’s sunny kitchen! Thank you, thank you!
I have not made this recipe yet, so cannot rate it, but I grew up eating potato filling as my dad and his heritage was Pennsylvania Dutch. Born and raised in Lebanon, PA. I believe your secret ingredient is saffron. A very expensive spice but only takes a few threads soaked in water. At least, I know my dad always added it! P.S. I had to give rating to leave comment but again, I have not actually made or tasted this particular recipe so it is a curtesy rating.
The secret is eggs. my family’s recipe called for 5lbs potatos and we add three eggs when mixing potatos.
I grew up on this in PA. I agree you need eggs in it to make it fluffy but also parsley. Saute celery, onion, parsley in equal amounts then add in bread cubes to toast them. fold this into the mashed potatos. We didn’t add sage but I’ve added thyme to mine sometimes.
Growing up in Lancaster Co., PA, my grandmother always added 2-3 raw eggs, beaten, to the mashed potatoes. She also put 5-6 strands of saffron into 1/2 c. of boiling water and let is steep for about ten minutes. She would then add the saffron water to the potatoes, eggs, sauteed onion and celery before adding the cubed bread. Skip the seasoned salt and marjoram, as some suggested, and use just salt, pepper and saffron.
This is a fantastic recipe! I added a pinch of saffron to the celery/onion mixture about 1-2 minutes before it was done sautéing. I also added a bit more milk it because it was slightly dry.
The Penna Dutch women in the HS cafeteria make this type dressing.They put some poultry spice in it to give it more of a turkey taste (poultry spice on the turkey also). I think this may be the secret ingredient.
The secret my Nan Nan always used was saffron!! Boil the potatoes with it.
I love potato filling and was looking for a recipe similar to family’s because I was unable to locate it. I agree with the other reviewers that the addition of an egg or two prior to baking is a must! I also always add 1-2 teaspoons of poultry seasoning to the recipe and add the bread slices to the butter/celery/onion mixture! Delicious! Thanks for the great recipe!
The secret ingredient that’s missing is Marjoram. I’m 63 and have enjoyed this during the holidays since I was a kid. Use Marjoram to your taste.
The missing ingredients that you mention are egg and turkey drippings. We add the turkey drippings to top instead of butter just before baking (uncovered) Also, to make a smooth, mashed potato-like consistency, my mother in law Puts the chopped celery and onion in a food processor with a little water to Get it like a baby food consistency. Than we fry that in butter. Sound weird but if you don’t like chunks but like the flavor it works. She also dries the bread out ahead of time, crumbles it in a large bowl, and adds milk until it’s wet. Thanks for the amounts of ingredients. My mother in law eyeballs everything!
The secret ingredient is poultry seasoning.
I, too, grew up with this stuffing and there is nothing like it! The only differences in my mom’s recipe was that she used mashed potatoes from the start, she added an egg, added parsley, and she sauteed the bread cubes in butter before adding them. Not much difference in taste in any of those changes. There is absolutely no other ‘stuffing’ like it! By the way – it’s delicious as a left over – my mom used to make “patties” and fry them for breakfast the day after Thanksgiving or Christmas!
This is amazing!
Taste great even making it with gluten free bread family loved it
My family has been making this for decades. We always boil the potatos with a tablespoon of saffron.
Grew up with this–it wouldn’t be a holiday meal without it. The secret ingredient is eggs. Both my grandmothers always mixed in several raw eggs as they were mashing the potatoes. Gives it a little color and “crustiness” when baked. (5 stars if you go easy on the salt and saute the bread cubes with the onions and celery.)
I gave this recipe 1 star for the following reasons….. 1. The season salt. 3 TBS is a ton of salt in the first place and real PA Dutch filling doesn’t have season salt in it. Just salt and pepper. 2. The fact that the bread is just to be added soft into the potatoes as they are in the mixing stage. This is very odd. The bread should be cubed and browned in more butter then added after the potatoes have already been mashed. 3. The lack of eggs 4. The crazy amount of butter on top. The top should be dotted with a TBS or 2 of butter but 1/2 cup is way to much. The majority of butter should be in the dish not on it. You are already cooking the celery onions and bread in butter not to mention making the mashed potatoes with butter. 5. The veggies should be softened but not browned. 6. This should be made the day before to allow the flavors to really meld together 7. This dish should NOT be covered while baking. When putting the filling in the dish do not smooth the top down all the little peeks and the top will get a yummy brown top. And last but not least even more season salt on top.