Mashed Potato Patties

I have a confession to make. 
I buy instant mashed potatoes (insert judgmental gasp here).  I'm not proud of myself.  To clarify, I am not serving up instant mashed potatoes as a side dish alone but I do use them when I make things like Shepherd's Pie. I mean Shepherd's Pie is something I make when I don't really feel like cooking so peeling, boiling, mashing is not going to happen when I'm looking to cut a corner.
Why am I telling you this?

Well, last week when I was meal planning for the week, I mistakenly didn't include a side dish for my Pork Tenderloin with Bacon & Brown Sugar Glaze recipe.  It was towards the end of the week and didn't have much fresh produce left.  I open the pantry and there, staring at me, were these tempting pouches of instant mashed potatoes. 

For months I have wanted to make mashed potato balls but by the time I've gone through the effort to prepare mashed potatoes, well, I've gotten lazy and scrapped the idea.  Light bulb moment!  I decided to prepare the instant mashed potato and use those to try the mashed potato balls. 
Why am I calling them mashed potato patties if what I set out to make are mashed potato balls?  Well, I'll tell you.  I could not get them to keep their shape as a ball so I smooshed them down and made them patties - ta da!

MASHED POTATO PATTIES
Click HERE to print

Ingredients:

• 1 envelope instant mashed potatoes (prepared) or 2 C homemade
• non stick spray
• 2 eggs beaten
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/4 t garlic powder
• 1/8 t cayenne pepper
• 1/2 C sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1/2 C dry bread crumbs

Directions:

1. To prepared mashed potatoes add eggs, salt, garlic powder and cayenne.  Mix well and add in the cheese.
2. Spray a mini muffin tin with non stick spray and preheat oven to 400.
3. Place the breadcrumbs on a shallow plate.
4. Scoop out about 2 T at a time and drop onto breadcrumbs and roll around.  Mixture will be loose it's okay.
5. Place each "ball" into a mini muffin tin well.  Push down a bit to make a patty.
6. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes or until they are nice and golden brown.

NOTE:

• This is a great recipe to use up leftover mashed potatoes, just re-heat potatoes before mixing in eggs and other ingredients.
• These patties can also be served as an appetizer