CHOCOLATE ALMOND BUTTER POTATO FUDGE

Steps:

• 1. Ingredients: 2/3 C. potato flakes (Hungry Jack's) 2/3 C. water 1/3 C. milk Or 1 C. stiffly mashed, plain cooked, pealed potato 2 tsp. vanilla extract 2 pounds confectioner's powdered sugar ¼ C. Hershey's or good quality unsweetened cocoa (for vanilla fudge, leave out the cocoa) ¼ to ½ tsp. salt--can be left out. 1 ½ Tbl. Very softened butter, but not melted completely. 1 12-oz. jar no-stir (or thoroughly stirred) almond butter--Creamy or Crunchy. (can use peanut butter or hazelnut butter or other nut butters) *Other possible ingredients: finely shredded coconut; toffee chips; chopped cherry, etc.
• 2. Directions: Please read ALL directions first!
• 3. Thoroughly mix or mash potato; mix in vanilla, and set aside.
• 4. Put about 1 pound of powdered sugar into a large mixing bowl. Mix cocoa and salt into sugar.
• 5. Stir the 1 Cup of potato mixture with vanilla into the 1 pound of p. sugar, until completely mixed. Mixture will be fairly moist.
• 6. Add the very soft butter, mixing well. (Save a little sugar to powder the rolling surface so the fudge dough will not stick.)
• 7. This is important, and the fun part! Be patient, it will be worth it! Continue blending, very well, the remaining pound of powdered sugar about half a cup at a time into the mixture until the fudge dough is the texture of play dough. Use your hands to knead the fudge dough to the right texture.
• 8. You want the fudge dough to be thick, but not sticky, and flexible enough to roll out, and then, roll up as you would a jelly roll. If fudge dough is too dry, lightly moisten your hands with water and knead the dough until all moisture is evenly incorporated. A little water goes a long way! Continue to knead and add moisture as needed, until the fudge dough is ready to roll out.
• 9. Roll out dough into about a 12" circle or rectangle and thickness is about 3/8". I do the rolling on non-stick foil or sugar-dusted wax paper or sugar-dusted surface. Try lightly rolling edge of dough into a tube, if the dough is too dry and cracks too much, you can re-knead adding more moisture into the dough. Continue until fudge dough has the consistency and flexibility of play dough, and not too sticky.
• 10. After rolling out dough into shape, spread the almond butter over the entire surface of the fudge dough. (If you would like, you can sprinkle finely shredded coconut or other ingredients over the almond butter for added flavor.)
• 11. Start rolling dough with almond butter into as tight a roll as you can (without squeezing out the almond butter) to start so the roll will not be too large in diameter when completed. (When finished, mine is a kind of "square" roll instead of round. It will make square pieces when completely cut.)
• 12. If the fudge dough is not already as stiff as you would like, you may chill the roll for half hour or so, then slice roll into ½" slices; then, cut slices into fourths (about normal fudge-size pieces), but, as it is a fudge, you can slice first, then refrigerate (I slice first since slicing will become more difficult as the fudge firms).
• 13. Enjoy!