Ingredients
4 small Yukon gold potatoes, or as needed, quartered
For the Pastry Dough:
½ cup water
¼ cup butter
kosher salt to taste
½ cup flour
2 large eggs
1 pinch cayenne pepper
1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg
Directions
1
Place potatoes into a large pot and cover with salted water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain and mash. Set aside.
2
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Butter 24 mini muffin cups.
3
Combine water and butter in a saucepan over medium heat and season with salt. Heat until butter melts and starts to bubble. Stir in flour until mixture pulls away from the pan and comes together into a dough.
4
Transfer pastry dough to a bowl. Spread in the bowl and let cool, about 5 minutes. Mix in eggs using a spatula until dough is very soft and sticky. Add 2 cups of the mashed potatoes and mix until well combined. Add a pinch of salt, cayenne pepper, and nutmeg. Give it one last mix.
5
Scoop potato dough into the greased muffin cups.
6
Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown and puffed, about 20 minutes. Let rest for 1 minute before removing puffs onto a wire rack. Let cool for 5 minutes and serve warm.
7
CHEF JOHN
Notes
Russet potatoes also work in this. Feel free to play around with the ratio of potato to dough. With less potato, it might taste something like a potato-flavored doughnut or fritter. A higher concentration of potato makes the final product more like a deep-fried potato.
You can include any add-ins to the dough, like bacon or scallions, during the final mix.
Feel free to deep-fry or shallow-fry the batter as well, at around 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).