Today's recipe for THE Mashed Potatoes comes from my mom's recipe file. I really don't know where she got this one - maybe someone she worked with or a neighbor - but these mashed potatoes have been a family holiday staple (mostly Thanksgiving and Christmas) for at least 45 years! These really are THE Mashed Potatoes - the only ones ones you'll ever need! There is nothing better with Turkey Gravy or the gravy that I make from our Christmas ham (made exactly the same way as the Turkey Gravy only with ham drippings instead of turkey drippings), than these ridiculously delicious mashed potatoes. If I ever dared to NOT make these potatoes - there would be mutiny!!!
Here is the recipe as I made it:
THE Mashed Potatoes
Cook until tender:
6 pounds of potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 1/2"-2" pieces (I use russets)
Drain potatoes and mash (I used a hand-held potato masher - don't use a mixer because that will make the potatoes too gummy).
Let them cool just a few minutes.
Mix into warm potatoes:
1 pint sour cream
1-8 ounce package of cream cheese, softened to room temperature
2 teaspoons onion salt (more or less to taste - I use onion powder) and salt and pepper
You can put the potatoes into a crock pot to keep warm, but the best part - you can make these potatoes a day ahead and refrigerate them overnight.
If you're serving these the next day, you can re-heat them in a crock pot on low for 2-4 hours, stirring occasionally so they don't stick to the bottom.
This is the hardest part of making these mashed potatoes - peeling and cutting up the potatoes. I shouldn't say it's hard - it's just a little time consuming. That's why I enlist the help of our middle child. She loves to peel potatoes, and this is now her job every holiday. I love that. 
Don't cut the potatoes too small because you don't want them to get too water-logged. 1 1/2"-2" chunks will be fine. It only takes about 20 minutes to cook until the potatoes are tender.
I put the steaming hot potatoes into a large bowl and let them cool down for a few minutes.
These really are a 4 ingredient wonder. The flavor of these simple ingredients just can't be beat! Put the sour cream, softened cream cheese, and onion salt (I use onion powder) right into the bowl with the potatoes and mash them all at the same time.
It's not really any harder than just mashing the potatoes, so why not save yourself some time and mash the potatoes at the same time as you're mixing in the creamy goodness?
After everything's mashed and mixed in, now is the time to taste. You could use half the amount of onion salt and go from there. My family likes 2 teaspoons, but you need to taste and see if that's ok for you. Adjust the onion salt (or powder) and the salt and pepper from there. Funny - no one seems to have any issue with being a taste tester for these. I always have plenty of volunteers for that!
These potatoes MUST be served with turkey or ham gravy for best results, and for my family, they MUST be served in my great-grandmother's old gravy boat (which Grandma's oldest sister found out in the woods years after a couple of their brothers had been playing with it and left it out there).
There really isn't any better accompaniment to your Christmas turkey or ham than these potatoes.
My family absolutely MUST HAVE these potatoes at every holiday, and we've been doing just that for years and years. They're so tasty and they're ridiculously perfect with turkey or ham gravy and even turkey dressing. We have had Christmas turkey over the years, but many years ago our family settled on a Christmas ham every year. That ham gravy is also amazing with these mashed potatoes, so I know that no matter what you serve for your Christmas dinner, our favorite potatoes will be just perfect with it! I hope you try this easy make-ahead side dish and enjoy THE Mashed Potatoes - the only mashed potatoes you'll ever need with your Christmas dinner!
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