This Old Fashioned Easter Egg Candy is a generations-old family recipe. We make it every year for Easter and it never lasts long. Don’t be alarmed by the mashed potatoes that the recipe calls for, they are a critical ingredient that I was skeptical of at first, but you’ll never be able to even tell that they’re mixed in the filling!
This old fashioned Easter egg candy is a generations-old recipe that has been in my family for a long time. It’s amazing, highly coveted by family friends, and it also includes a critical secret ingredient that you might have not seen coming.
Potatoes.
Believe it or not, the filling for these Easter Egg Candies is made partly of mashed potatoes.
I’ll be the first to admit that I had was severely skeptical the first time my mom showed me how to make this candy. When she started to peel the potatoes I thought she was joking, and I also thought there was no chance I would ever eat a candy that had anything to do with potatoes.
I was wrong.
The potatoes mostly serve for binding together the otherwise very sweet, sugary filling for these Easter Egg Candies. It’s untraceable in the finished product, and I encourage you to see if your guests can figure out what the “secret ingredient” actually is.
Tips for Making Old Fashioned Easter Egg Candy
- To make the potatoes, peel them, dice them into even-sized cubes, and boil them until tender when pierced with a fork, then drain and allow them to cool completely before mashing. You must make fresh mashed potatoes specifically for this recipe, don’t use leftovers that may have other ingredients (milk, pepper, garlic, etc.) mixed in.
- Let the potatoes cool completely. Don’t refrigerate them, just leave them at room temperature once you’ve drained them until they are completely cooled, and then mash them until no lumps remain.
- Add more sugar as needed. The dough will need to chill before you can roll it into eggs and it will be too tacky when first mixed up, but it should be somewhat shapeable. If it’s too runny, add more sugar, up to 2 cups more.
- Dust your hands with powdered sugar when rolling the eggs — the dough won’t stick to your hands and you’ll get nice smooth easter eggs that way.
- My grandmother’s recipe used unsweetened chocolate for the coating, as the filling can be very sweet and the unsweetened chocolate helps temper the sweetness. My family found the unsweetened chocolate to be much too bitter, and so I recommend using semisweet chips instead.
- I thin my chocolate a bit with a teaspoon of shortening, it helps the chocolate cover the eggs more neatly, but is optional (my grandmother’s recipe used paraffin wax.
Enjoy!
Old Fashioned Easter Egg Candy
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup mashed potatoes* Use russet potatoes
- 1/2 cup salted butter softened
- 5+ cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 18 oz semisweet chocolate I use 1 1/2 bags semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 teaspoon shortening (like Crisco) optional, but this will make the chocolate thinner and smoother and easier for decorating
Instructions
- With electric mixer, combine mashed potatoes, butter, and 1 cup sugar.
- Add in remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time.
- Stir in vanilla.
- Refrigerate filling for at least 1 hour.
- Once chilled, scoop by 1 1/2 Tablespoon and roll into egg shape and place on wax-paper lined cookie tray. If dough is still sticky, chill for longer or dust your hands with powdered sugar before rolling. Return to refrigerator while you prepare the chocolate coating
- Pour chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl, add shortening, and heat at 25 second intervals, stirring well in between, until chocolate is melted.
- Dip eggs in chocolate to coat and return to cookie sheet (to dip, I usually set the egg on the tines of a fork and then use a spoon to pour chocolate overtop and then slide egg onto wax paper lined sheet to harden).
- Refrigerate until chocolate coating has hardened. Keep eggs refrigerated.
Notes
Nutrition
Recipe originally published April 19, 2014. Photos and some text updated March 19, 2018.
Rachael says
Would it be weird to add orange extract? I’m craving citrus but want to try out this recipe!
Sam says
Nothing wrong with that! It’s totally a matter of personal preference 🙂
Je'Anna Roeper says
Good idea – Nothing wrong with a little twist and experimentation on a classic recipie !!
Rae Taylor says
Can you make peanut butter eggs with mashed potatoes? A neighbor of mine thirty yrs ago made them, while sweet, not overly sweet. She had no recipe, just feel. She would peel 10 lbs of potatoes. I really want to make them, can you help
Sugar Spun Run says
Hi, Rae! I have a potato candy recipe that you can use as a reference. It uses potatoes and you can then dip it into chocolate if you wish. I hope that helps! 🙂
Tanya Blanchard says
I just found your wonderful website. I love Potato Candy/Doughnut recipes. I have yet to make these and or the Potato Candy Pinwheels. I am so looking forward to it. My family will make them all disappear real quick. Thank you for sharing your Ancestors delightful goodies with all who are lucky enough to find your wealth of wisdom in the confectionary delights.
Hug your family for passing down their recipes to another generation.
Side Note:
Do you have a Potato Doughnut Recipe?
When I was a little girl, my immediate family would travel back to where we were originally from, Louisiana. My Grandmother would take us to Winchels for Doughnuts. They by far were not the yeast doughnuts most Doughnut businesses make. I learned over the years that they were made with Mashed Potatoes. I have yet to find an Authentic recipe.
I jumped at the chance to make Potato Candy and found a delightful site that feels a lot like my own Grandmother’s home sweet home.
Sam says
I am so happy you are enjoying the website and the recipes, Tanya! I do not have a potato doughnut recipem, at least not yet. Do you know if the ones you are referring to are the same thing as “fastnachts”, which are popular around Shrove Tuesday?
Alex says
This was something that my grandmother used to make at Easter but I never saw a written recipe for it, so I was glad to find this! I have adapted it for the Christmas season by adding peppermint oil (~ 3t, but it is to taste) and shaping the candy into discs instead of eggs using a small (~1 in) biscuit cutter. I like to melt paraffin with the chocolate to give the finished candies a nice shiny appearance, and I usually put a small mint or crushed candy cane pieces on top. To help the filling hold its shape while being dipped in chocolate I add an extra cooling step between cutting the shapes and dipping them – at least an hour or two. Thanks again for posting this!
Sugar Spun Run says
I am so glad that you enjoyed the candy, Alex, and that you were able to adapt to the Christmas season. I hope that everyone enjoys it! 🙂
Susan says
Hi my adopted grandmother made these she also put peanut butter in them can that work with your recipe and how much thanks
Sam says
Hi Susan, I actually have a version that uses peanut butter, you might want to check that one out 🙂
Karen says
How long will these eggs stay fresh and not spoil? Trying to start a fund raiser for our Church.
Sugar Spun Run says
Hello Karen, the old fashioned Easter Egg Candies will last about 1 week in the fridge if stored in an airtight container. I hope that this helps! Let me know if I can provide any additional recipe recommendations for your fundraiser event. Best wishes! 🙂
Joseph Reeder says
Actually, they can last several weeks in the refrigerator, several days at room temperature. There is a Luthern Church in Pennsylvania that makes several thousand of these eggs over a 2 week period to sell.
Mary says
Another winner. You’re four for four! I made these for my husband’s birthday. He loved them and, let’s face it, how could he not?
I live in a very rural area and a trip to the store is never easy, so I opted to cobble together some ingredients. In particular, the chocolates. I didn’t have Dutch processed cocoa, so I used regular. I had 2 oz of unsweetened baking chocolate and some chocolate chips at the bottom of the bag, which together totaled close to 4 oz. I will use the correct ingredients next time, but I really can’t imagine a better outcome.
These were not difficult at all and about a thousand times better than boxed.
Mary says
So sorry, I wrote this on the wrong page. I made your Best Ever brownies, not this recnipe (yet). And I DID use Dutch cocoa, which was on the very fine print of the label. I apologize for the confusion. Feel free to delete these two comments entirely.
Best wishes in your new home. Hope you are settling in nicely.
Sam says
That’s ok, Mary! I am glad you took the time to leave a comment. Thank you. 🙂
Sam says
Thank you so much, Mary! I am so glad you enjoyed the brownies. 🙂
Nancy. L. Sparks says
Looking forward to trying these out..
Sam says
I hope you love it, Nancy! 🙂
Arika says
I made these for Easter – they were a big hit! I did not see the note to wait until the potatoes were completely cool, but it still worked fine. After chilling the filling, I shaped the eggs and froze them. This helped them not melt when dipped in the chocolate.
Sam says
I’m so happy to hear that they were such a hit! Thank you for commenting, Arika!
Tarre says
These sound simple and delicious! Do see any problem with using coconut oil rather than crisco? When I think of shortening / crisco I feel my arteries closing ….
Sam says
Hi Tarre! I think that would be fine. Enjoy!
Giovanna Jones says
I’ve always loved candy eggs and marzipan eggs and I can’t wait to put a new twist on a classic
Sam says
I hope you love it, Giovanna! 🙂
Kim says
We always add chopped cherries and walnuts
Sam says
That sounds delicious, Kim! 🙂
Giovanna says
I can’t wait to make these! I’ve always loved marzipan Easter eggs and I am so excited to put a new twist on a classic candy!