Day 320: Parmesan Potato Balls

Good morning everyone!  I have some great news!  Tomorrow I'll start taking orders for the cookbook!  I've been working on getting everything together and there will be around 250 recipes along with everything I've learned about cleaning, seasoning and heat control.  It should be a great resource and I hope you are all as excited as I am!  So come back tomorrow and I'll have all the details for you!

Its really weird that yesterday I may have bought my last 6 bags of charcoal for the year.  I'm not quite sure how I feel about that.  Cooking in my dutch oven has become such a habit that I won't know what to do if I don't have to go out and start coals!  :)  For now I'm just going to enjoy it! 

Parmesan Potato Balls
12" dutch oven

3 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 Tbs. milk
1 Tbs. butter, softened
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1 Tbs. chopped green onion
2 1/2 Tsp. onion soup mix
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. hot pepper sauce
dash of pepper
1 egg, beaten
2 cups panko bread crumbs

Place the potatoes in a dutch oven and cover with water.  Bring to a boil over a full spread of coals; cover and cook 15-20 minutes or until tender.  Drain.  Transfer the potatoes to a bowl and mash.  Beat in the cream cheese, milk and butter until smooth.  Stir in the Parmesan cheese, onion soup mix, salt, hot pepper sauce and pepper.  Shape into 1 1/2 inch balls (I used a cookie scoop).  Place the egg and bread crumbs in separate shallow bowls.  Dip the potato balls into the egg, then roll in the crumbs.  Place the balls in a dutch oven (I used the same one I cooked the potatoes in).  Bake at 400° for 20 minutes or until golden brown and crispy.  Serves about 6.

The Finished Product

The Review

I was really surprised by these.  They were really good!  I didn't make a ton of them because I wasn't sure how they would be, and when my kids went back for more and the pot was empty their faces fell.  My little 5 year old even cried!  They said I had to double the recipe next time.  I liked the crispy outside and soft inside and the onion soup added a nice flavor to the whole thing.  I'll be making these again!  Grade B+.