Potato Party Cups and Pockets

I am very excited to be part of the Ultimate Recipe Challenge for potatoes.  My family loves potatoes.  We don't make them at home very often though, and usually have the kind that come from a drive thru. This recipe was a lot of fun to come up with because I got my kids involved and they had some wonderful ideas.  

It was my daughter's idea to serve the potatoes in a cup, which would make it perfect to serve at a party or get together.  To start the recipe she opened a package refrigerator dough. They had a big and flaky version on sale this week, which had a little more dough than the regular size.  

Instead of rolling to dough into a crescent, she rolled the dough into a ball. 

She pressed each ball into a muffin tin to form a cup.  Following the directions on the tube, she baked the cups for 10-12 minutes at 375 degrees. While she was working on the cups, I was working on the potatoes. 

I had peeled 4-5 medium potatoes and boiled them until tender.  When it was time to blend into mashed potatoes, I added 1/3 brick of cream cheese, and 1-2 cups of steamed broccoli. I really do not know exactly how much I added to the potatoes. I had steamed them in a ba in the microwave and then sight added it to the mix. It really is up to your preference, and you can even leave it out all together if you do not like broccoli. 

When the dough cups came out of the oven they had puffed up a bit, but we were able to push them back down with a spoon.  My daughter wanted to add some extra shredded cheddar cheese to the cups that would be on the bottom of the mashed potato mixture. 

I generously filled each of the cups with the mashed potatoes.  We garnished the tops with some more cheddar cheese and a piece of broccoli.   We had them for dinner that night, and we LOVED them.  The dough cups make them a great side dish for a party or pot luck. They would also make a great side dish for dinner.  

My son had another idea for a potato recipe. He also wanted to use some dough, but instead of forming it into a cup, he wanted me to make a potato filled pocket.  Just like above I separated the dough into sections, and then used the dough to form a rectangle shape.  If I wanted them to be more uniform, I think i would use dough that is not pre-cut into triangles, and cut it into rectangle shapes. 

I added a generous amount of the cream cheese broccoli mashed potatoes to the dough and folded it over.  I probably over stuffed it a bit, because there were a bit difficult to seal. Once folded over, I use a fork to seal the sides.   I then cut a small hole to each pocket and sprinkled with some seasoning.  I used a bit of garlic salt and minced onion to give it some extra flavor.

When I took them out of the oven, they were golden brown  

These pockets were very filling, and the family loved them as well. They would also be great to serve for a large group. You getting the yumminess of mashed potatoes without the mess and silverware. 

If you like these potato recipes, be sure to check out more in Ultimate Potato Challenge by 40+ other bloggers.  

   

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