I am the product of Irish and Italian heritage (and I'm sure a little bit of some others as well if I dug really deep!). My dad's family is Irish and his mother, my Gram, was a happy-go-lucky Irish Catholic woman...also known to be a spit-fire! She lived her life bleeding Green and loving anything that had to do with the Irish. St. Patrick's Day was one her favorite holidays!
Growing up, it was a family tradition for her to make Irish potatoes with my younger sister and me; we were her only granddaughters. She passed away 3 years ago, on March 18th...the day after St. Patrick's Day. I believe she stayed with us purposely for another day so our tradition didn't have a dark cloud over it for the years to come...and so she could go on knowing she lived to celebrate 92 St. Patty's days :)
Even though Gram is no longer with us here on Earth, we will not let the tradition die. My sister and I still make Irish potatoes each year, and now we do them with my daughters. This year was the first year my girls were old enough to do them and understand what we were making. Unfortunately, Livia couldn't partake since she's fighting a cold {yuck!} but Brynley had a great time rolling, just like we do our meatballs!
My girls know Gram through pictures, but were too young to remember her being with us. I look forward to sharing stories and pictures with them as they get older and hope they choose to continue the family tradition when they have children. I will surely be passing down the Irish Potato recipe to them :)
Irish Potato Recipe
1⁄2cup (1 stick) softened butter
8 ounces Regular cream cheese, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1(32 ounce) package confectioners' sugar
14 ounces sweetened flaked coconut (2 1/2 cups)
3 tablespoon ground cinnamon
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and softened cream cheese.
Next, add vanilla and confectioners' sugar.
Beat until the mixture forms a ball.
Mix in coconut with a spoon (I prefer to use my hands to thoroughly mix).
Roll into small balls.
Place cinnamon in a shallow bowl (a ziplock bag is less messy) and roll the balls in it.
Place the balls on a cookie sheet and chill for about 1 hour or until firm.
Happy St. Patrick's Day!