A traditional Scottish chocolate bar made with mashed potatoes!
Wash the potato and boil (unpeeled) until it's soft enough to cut through with a fork. Drain and leave to cool completely.
Peel the potato and mash it in a large bowl until there are little to no lumps left.
Add around ¼ of the icing sugar and mix well. At this point, you should have a soft and runny mixture. If you're using vanilla, add it in now and stir.
Continue adding in the icing sugar, mixing a little at a time, until it's all used up. The mixture should go from runny to stiff.
Transfer the mixture into a freezer-proof dish lined with baking paper and smooth it out to the sides. Freeze for 2 hours.
After 2 hours is up, remove the mixture from the dish and peel off the baking paper. It may still be a little sticky but will be firm enough to shape.
Cut the mixture into small bars or shape rectangles. This mixture will be enough for around 20 bite-sized bars. (I did originally make larger bars but found them to be sickly as they are super sweet.)
Place the bars onto a lined baking tray and return them to the freezer for 1 more hour.
In the meantime, place half of the desiccated coconut into a dry frying pan over a medium-high heat. Stir continuously until it becomes golden brown. Mix the toasted coconut with the remaining (untoasted) coconut.
Just before the bars are ready to come out of the freezer, melt the chocolate in a bowl.
Dip each of the bars into the melted chocolate and immediately roll it in the coconut. Place it to set on a wire rack with a lined baking tray underneath, which will help to catch any mess.
Once all the bars are coated, put them in the fridge for 1-2 hours or until the chocolate is completely hard.