Tag Archives: candy

VGNMOFO 2018: Needhams

September 2, 2018

It’s been a hot summer, and it really has been a damper on my desire to bake lots of cakes and pies. Ouch. But that doesn’t mean I wasn’t busy in the kitchen. Nope. I’ve just been busy exploring other parts of American desserts- candies. I am not a big candy maker, but I do have fond memories as a child of buttering my fingers and cutting hot sugar and rolling them into hard candies.

The first candy I was happy to feature on the blog doesn’t use melted sugar. It is a very simple candy to make, like most American candies, but has an ingredient that is unexpected- potato. I’ve made them twice before, once from a vegan recipe from Homestyle Vegan. I’ve simplified and more readily “veganized” the recipe today. But… let’s take a step back- What is a needham? Where are they from? And what’s the history?!

Well, a needham is made with sugar, coconut, mashed potatoes, and butter. They are cut into squares and coated in chocolate. If you are an American and never heard of this candy, chances are you haven’t been to the New England area, specifically Maine. This is a local treat that is kind-of overshadowed by lobster, blueberries, and whoopie pies for tourists. But many Maine natives have fond memories of the dessert.

This history of the Needhams. Like all candy it is shadowed in a bunch of folklore. One story tells about a priest who made the candies to increase church attendance. Another story tells about a candy maker who named the candy Needham after a popular evangelical priest in hopes to increase sales. If you need a non-priest storyline, supposedly one year there were “too many potatoes” for crops and a competition was set up to find new ways to eat them. And guess which recipe won- the needham of course! Most historians think most likely there WAS a competition, but it wasn’t because of a surplus of potatoes but because it was set up by a company that sold potatoes. The facts are that the earliest recipes for Needhams go as far back as 1926/1930

Regardless there is a little something about using potatoes in the candy. It does have some binding properties, making it so you don’t have to do any of the usual candy making heating. Some people claim it cuts down of the sweetness, but I think there is something to be said about the starchy texture in your mouth. If you have time to cover these gems in chocolate give this recipe a go! Don’t be like me who got tired towards the end and just poured the chocolate over the remaining candies. I didn’t include those in the pictures. lol

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Posted by Jennifer in Recipe, Vegan Mofo, Vegan Mofo 2018 Tags: american candies, candy, coconut, Maine, new england, potato, potatoes, Vegan MOFO, vegan mofo 2018

5 comments

Vegan Mofo 2015 Day 17: Irish Potatoes

September 17, 2015

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Vegan Mofo is asking for us to share our regional dishes. Many people in the US will say this is a little bit of a tricky one. Yes, we do have foods we are proud of and only found in certain parts of the US, BUT we are a melting pot here. I think it becomes most obvious in places like New Jersey, where we are sandwiched between two major cities. It isn’t that we don’t have local foods, but it more like people say it is a “Philadelphia” food or a “New York City” kind-of food. It is more obvious to me, since I have went from North Jersey to South Jersey, and can see all the local foods get snatched by the cities.

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One very regional food is the Irish Potato. One might think two things- one that the food is really Irish and two that the food would have potatoes. I am not sure how this weirdo dish came to be, but it has no potatoes, and no Irish roots. The food gets it’s name because they resemble a small potato. And although they don’t have Irish roots, they are a seasonal treat with the Saint Patricks Day holiday.

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And if you are sitting here thinking “I’m from New Jersey and I’ve never heard of an Irish Potato!” then I am going to guess you are from Central/North Jersey. I never heard of these guys until I moved to Philadelphia. My roommates (one from Northeast Philly, the other from South Jersey) thought I was crazy that I never heard of these things. One told the story about how for class their assignment was to make a food from their heritage. So Italian kids made lasagna, German kids schnitzels, and Irish kids would make Irish potatoes. As laughable it maybe for a kid to mistake “American” food with “Irish” food they are a great food to make with kids. They are super sweet and super easy to make. You just need an electric mixer, or a really good potato masher.

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So what is an Irish potato made of? Well, they are like small candies on par with a fudge. They are pretty much just butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, and coconut rolled with a cinnamon coating. As my roommate described it “They should be really disgusting, but you can’t stop eating them.” Oh I think I should note that most people use Crisco over butter in the recipe!

But I couldn’t just leave it be simple. I took another region dessert from the United States and mixed it. Needhams. These are a Maine treat that use potatoes, powder sugar, butter, and coconut flakes, that is covered in chocolate. The snack uses potatoes to balance all that sugar and fat, which is probably what Irish Potatoes need.

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I made the batch and sent to my husband’s work, putting it to the true locals test. Turned out that everyone loved it, and couldn’t taste the “vegan” parts of it. Plus most people liked how the potatoes cooled out the sweet parts.

I technically made this recipe almost 2 years ago before I “opened” the blog up. But I thought I should update the photos. I only had two pictures, and I remember taking it with a very-old not-so-hot camera. These are such a local food, that I think they need to be shared around more often.

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Posted by Jennifer in Recipe, Vegan Mofo, Vegan Mofo 2015 Tags: candy, coconut, cream cheese, Irish potatoes, Philadelphia, potatoes, powdered sugar, South Jersey, Vegan MOFO, vegan mofo 2015

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Sunday Reading 08-23-15 #50

August 23, 2015

My goodness this week was pretty crazy! Everything crept up pretty fast and then it became the weekend. I figured I need to spend more time working at settling down in the house than updating the blog, which is why I haven’t been that good at updating the 365 posts on Saturday anymore. Oh and because of the farm trips. It is peach season here so every single week has involved us going to our CSA, and then going to the orchard. This week we picked so many peaches that we made chutney. And I am thinking that we still have enough for jam. Wow.

Alexa and I are also busy for VEGAN MONTH OF FOOD! They have a list of prompts and we will try and stick to them. We have some good ideas planned, and some not so much. So we will see how it goes. Especially with the 365 idea. I am not sure how I will incorporate that into the posts.

Anyways, I might not be as active the next week or so while we try and get our ducks in a row for Vegan MOFO. We also may or may not continue with the 365/Sunday Reads posts during that month. But I guess only time will tell what will happen.

**Note: Sorry guys that this post originally just have URLs below and no descriptions or links! I have NO idea what WordPress’ problem is right now. It keeps messing things up.

Farm Round Up:

What I got:
1/2 pint sungold tomatoes
1 quart of yellow pear tomatoes
1/2 pint blackberries
1 quart ground cherries with husks
25 lb yellow peaches
2 lb gala apples
2 lb red plums
1 large cantaloupe
1 large yellow watermelon
1/2 lb green beans
8 lbs slicing tomatoes
5 lbs tomatillos
5 1/2 lbs cherry tomatoes
3 lb purple potatoes
1/2 bag of mixed asian stirfry greens
3 asian eggplants
4 green bell peppers
1 bunch of radishes with greens
6 red italia peppers
7 jalapenos
4 poblano peppers

What I’m cooking:
Tomato Sauce + Pasta + Beet Balls
Tomatillo and Berry Crisp
Tomatilo Tofu Tacos
Yogurt, granola, and ground cherry/blackberry bowls
Yellow Watermelon Tequila Cocktails
Side salads with sungold tomatoes and radishes
Eggplant Stir-fry with Green Beans and Cashews
Greek Kale Stuffed Tomatoes from Pure Pleasures
Spaghetti Squash Yakisoba Style
Peach Chutney

Reading for the Week:

Jon and I are planning Halloween already. Gonna watch 6 episodes of Treehouse of Terror on Halloween, and we will be watching plenty of horror films and Goosebumps (hubby’s choice) for the month of October. And since we are in our first home, I said we would buy halloween candy, and showed my husband this PETA list of vegan candy to show him that we won’t get egged. (because that wouldn’t be vegan either)

I always like to put in some film info on this blog, and I love soviet russian media! Especially film! So I have to share this super bizarro propaganda film. It is a mixed media animation that takes place in space. Very surreal. Very cool visually.

So Alexa and I missed Sailor Moon Appreciation Day?

This week we got a watermelon, which is perfect timing because I’ve been craving some after seeing this huge watermelon!

This hot weather is making me swoon over this matcha mint sugar scrub.

I love how Gina breaks down protein in this new post. She makes it pretty simple and easy to figure out how much protein you need in your diet, and gives some great options. And she makes me feel better for giving my husband whole wheat PB&J sandwiches- 15 grams of whole protein? Hell yeah.

Washington Post asks the question- why aren’t conservatives going after fertility clinics if they don’t want fetuses to die?

I know that this isn’t the most vegan all videos. A giant heart…. but I know that sometimes these are the types of things that really get people to connect to other animals. Hopefully it helps put things in perspective for you, humans are the center, or the best.

I love Healthcare Triage because they don’t pussyfoot around. Aaron lays down exercise for what it is- a lot less that what we expect but really beneficial! I am always telling people that you don’t need to run a marathon- just moving. Like to garden? Do that! Cleaning the bathroom? That is actually fairly vigorous activity.

Another Healthcare Triage video that I think is pretty interesting. It goes over what the fuss is about Flibanstein and talks about human trafficking.

Posted by Jennifer in Sunday Reads Tags: candy, choosing raw, Fragrant Vanilla Cake, halloween, healthcare triage, my friend munster, open culture, peta, sunday reading, sunday reads, vegan architect, washington post