Spice Up Your Thanksgiving Mashed Potatoes with McCormick Potato Toppers

We've always had delicious homemade mashed potatoes at my grandmother's house for Thanksgiving. My aunt can be seen in the kitchen while she peels them, boils them, and gets out the Kitchen-Aid mixer to blend them perfectly with milk, butter, salt, and pepper. When I started hosting my own Thanksgiving dinner, I tried to re-create these deliciously fluffy Thanksgiving mashed potatoes. Though they have turned out pretty well in past years, this Thanksgiving we've decided to break out of the box. Instead of traditional mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving we'll be serving twice baked mashed potatoes. Thanks to McCormick Potato Toppers and my friend Tanya's recipe, the best mashed potatoes will be on my own table this Thanksgiving.

Start making your mashed potatoes as you normally would. Peel and cube your potatoes and then boil until tender. It isn't necessary to add anything to the boiling water, although we like to add a bit of freshly pressed garlic to the pot while the potatoes are soaking. You'll know the potatoes are ready for mashing when a fork can pierce a cube with little to no resistance. Once the potatoes are done boiling, drain the water and prepare to mash them by hand or with a mixer. My experience has been that mashing by hand and then using the mixer will leave you with the fluffiest potatoes.

While mashing the potatoes, add milk and butter as you normally would. Obviously, amounts will vary on taste and portion size. In addition, add a hearty scoop of sour cream. Sour cream can be used in lieu of milk and butter, if you prefer.

Once you've mixed the potatoes well, add some shredded cheddar cheese and one envelope of McCormick Potato Toppers. Flavored with various spices as well as bacon and onion, the combination of ingredients in this packet is out of this world. I usually use just one envelope when making enough potatoes to serve 6-8 people. If you are making a larger quantity, I suggest you have a second envelope on hand and add more seasoning to taste.