Chocolate Peanut Butter Potato Candy Teddy Bear Pops

Yes, that title does read, Chocolate Peanut Butter Potato Candy Teddy Bear Pops.

Have you ever had an old fashioned peanut butter potato candy pinwheel before?

The traditional potato candy recipe combines mashed potatoes, vanilla, and powdered sugar to make a fudge like dough. It’s rolled out into a thin rectangle and topped with peanut butter, then rolled up, sliced and served.

This old fashioned candy was most likely created because people had an abundance of potatoes and a lack of the more expensive butter. I looked around for the history of the candy, but couldn’t track it down.

I do know that the first time I tasted it I was shocked. The candy is sweet with absolutely no taste of mashed potatoes. When made the traditional way it tastes like vanilla fudge topped with peanut butter.

Last year when I began developing recipes for Bob Evans, using their grocery store products including their mashed potatoes, I added a new twist to the recipe. I simply blended all the ingredients together, rolled it into balls, dipped it in candy coating and sprinkled on some peanuts. To make them festive, I turned them into lollipops.

With the ingredients all blended together, the potato candy tasted exactly like peanut butter fudge.

I’ve shared this candy with a lot of people and not a single person has guessed potatoes were listed in the ingredients.

If you’d like to check out this recipe for Peanut Butter Potato Candy Pops, head over to BobEvans.com. 

For Valentine’s Day, the folks at Bob Evans asked me to dress up the lollipops, so I dipped them in white candy coating and added lots of sprinkles.

You can see the recipe for these Valentine’s Day Potato Candy Pops, at BobEvans.com.

While working on the Valentine’s Day pops, I thought it would be interesting to see if I could change the flavor profile, so I replaced some of the peanut butter with chocolate hazelnut spread. I really liked the new chocolate version of the candy and thought I’d have some fun by making pops and turning them into teddy bears.

They turned out so cute and can be made with either the more traditional peanut butter version or this updated chocolate version.

I’m so curious, have you ever made or eaten a Peanut Butter Potato Candy Pinwheel? If so, what did you think? Is it a traditional candy that is made by someone in your family? I’d love to hear your story.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Potato Candy Teddy Bear Pops 

Ingredients: (makes 16)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Potato Candy –

1/2 cup Bob Evans Original Mashed
Potatoes

2 ¼ – 2 ½ cups confectioners sugar
(powdered sugar)

1/3 cup creamy peanut butter

1/3 cup chocolate hazelnut spread

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch of salt

Decorations-

16 ounces light cocoa candy coating

32 brown candy coated peanut butter
pieces

32 pink or white heart sprinkles

4 caramel candies

16 chocolate chips

 

32 small candy eyesSupplies:
16 paper straws or lollipop sticks
cake pop stand or a rectangle piece of styrofoam

Instructions:

 

Press 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes through a fine mesh sieve, to remove the larger pieces of mashed potatoes. Measure out 1/3 cup mashed potatoes to use in the recipe.

Stir together the mashed potatoes,
2 1/4 cups confectioners sugar, peanut butter, chocolate hazelnut
spread, a pinch of salt, and vanilla extract. If needed, add more confectioners sugar,
about a tablespoon at a time, until you can easily roll the candy
into balls.

Scoop out 16 heaping tablespoonfuls of
the candy and roll into balls.

Melt the candy coating in the
microwave. Heat on high power for 45 seconds. Let sit in microwave
for a minute or two, then stir. Heat for 25 more seconds, let sit for
a minute, then stir. If the wafers are not all melted, heat for 10
second increments, stirring after each until melted.

Dip one end of each paper straw or
lollipop stick into the melted candy coating before inserting it into
a candy ball.  Allow the candy coating to dry for about 10 minutes.

Dip one peanut butter lollipop at a
time into the candy coating. Remove the candy ball from the candy coating, and
hold the lollipop upside down over the bowl for 30-60 seconds.

 

Press a fork into the candy coating
then pull the fork away, creating spikes of fur.

Continue to do this all over the pop, adding more candy coating as needed, until you have a nice furry looking ball.

By the time you get all the spikes done, the candy coating will be pretty dry.

Set the pop in a cake pop stand or in a
piece of styrofoam. Repeat coating all 16 mashed potato candy pops.
Allow the candy coating to harden.

Create the decorations to add to your
teddy bear pops.

Snout: Place all of the caramels in the microwave
and heat on defrost power for about 10-15 seconds, to soften them.
Cut each caramel into 4 even pieces. Knead each piece, then roll into
balls, flatten and shape into an oval shape.

Nose: Cut the tips off the chocolate
chips and insert one chip near the top edge of each piece of caramel.

Mouth: Use a toothpick to poke a hole
in the caramel opposite the chocolate chip nose. Press the toothpick
to create an indentation from the nose to the mouth.

Ears: Use a small dab of candy coating
to attach one white or pink heart sprinkle to each brown peanut
butter candy.

Use the remaining candy coating,
re-heating if needed, to attach one caramel snout & nose, two
candy ears and two candy eyes to each teddy bear pop.

These pops will keep at room temperature for about a week.

Before you go, I want to share one more interesting dessert with you.

While developing recipes using Bob Evans Mashed Potatoes, I also made this incredible chocolate cake. Not only does it have potatoes in the cake, but also in the frosting.

I know, crazy right?But, seriously this cake is fantastic. I shared it with a group of my friends, all of whom wanted the recipe.

I actually offered $20 to anyone who could guess the secret ingredient. No one won.

The potatoes add a lovely moisture to the cake and they don’t compete with the chocolate flavor, so it’s intensely chocolate..

Using potatoes in the frosting was more than a bit unusual, but it made a nicely sweet frosting that was pure white and best of all wasn’t the slightest bit greasy. Everyone loved it.

You need to check out the recipe for this Chocolate Potato Valentine’s Day Cake at BobEvans.com.I am a recipe developer for Bob Evans, but was not compensated to write this post. I just wanted to share all unique recipes I’ve created using their Mashed Potatoes.

Items used to make this project that are available on Amazon.com (commission earned for sales)

If you are looking for other treats or gifts to make for Valentine’s Day,
you might like these other recipes too.