TableJourney

Where to eat Needham in Portland

A Maine confection: sweetened mashed potato fondant centre flavoured with vanilla and shredded coconut, hand-dipped in dark chocolate. Looks like a chocolate truffle, tastes nothing like any.

The story of Needham

Needhams are an early 20th-century Maine confection from the Down East coast, named after either George Needham (a 19th-century Maine politician) or Charles Needham (a Maine confectioner; both claims persist). The defining trick is the mashed potato in the fondant centre, a Depression-era substitute for more expensive marshmallow or egg-white centres. Wilbur's of Maine in Freeport makes the canonical commercial version; small Portland confectioners and bakeries replicate the format every Christmas. Outside Maine, the needham is unknown; inside Maine, it's the lunch-box Christmas treat.

How to make Needham

Serves: 36

Ingredients

  • 1 medium baking potato (about 200g), peeled and quartered
  • Pinch salt
  • 60g unsalted butter, softened
  • 750g icing sugar, sifted
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 200g unsweetened desiccated coconut
  • 400g good dark chocolate (60 to 70% cocoa), chopped
  • 30g paraffin wax or 30g coconut oil (for the chocolate snap)

Method

  1. Boil the potato in salted water 15 minutes until soft. Drain well.
  2. Mash the potato through a ricer or sieve into a smooth lump-free puree. Measure out 100g (the recipe needs exactly this; spare potato is for the cook).
  3. Beat the warm potato with the softened butter in a stand mixer.
  4. Beat in icing sugar, 200g at a time, until you have a thick stiff fondant. Beat in vanilla.
  5. Stir in the desiccated coconut by hand.
  6. Press the mixture into a 20x20cm tray lined with parchment, smoothing the top.
  7. Refrigerate 2 hours until firm.
  8. Turn out and cut into 3cm squares.
  9. Melt the dark chocolate with the paraffin wax (or coconut oil) in a double boiler, stirring to glossy. The wax gives the snap; coconut oil is the modern substitute.
  10. Spear each square with a toothpick or fork. Dip into the melted chocolate to coat fully; lift, tap to drip excess.
  11. Set on parchment to cool and set, 30 minutes. Store in an airtight tin between layers of parchment; needhams keep 2 weeks at room temperature.

Editor tip. Use exactly 100g mashed potato; more makes the centre crumble, less makes it cement. The potato gives the unique melt-in-the-mouth fondant texture.

The editor picks for Needham in Portland are still in research. Meanwhile, see the Portland signature-dishes index or the Portland food guide.