Baked Cheesy Bacon Potato Sticks | Crispy Homemade Treat

Peel the potatoes, cut them into smaller cubes, and cook them in lightly salted water until completely soft (approx. 15-20 minutes). Drain thoroughly, press through a potato ricer while still hot until smooth and creamy, then let cool to room temperature.

Cut the smoked bacon into very small cubes and fry slowly in a pan until crispy, golden-brown cracklings form. Remove from heat and let cool until lukewarm together with the rendered delicious bacon fat. Grate the Trappist cheese using a fine-hole grater, and crush the garlic into a paste.

To the cooled mashed potatoes, add the measured all-purpose flour, sour cream, egg yolk (set the egg white aside in a small bowl for brushing), crushed garlic, bacon cracklings with the rendered fat, two-thirds of the grated cheese, as well as the salt, freshly ground black pepper, sweet paprika, and crumbled marjoram. Knead by hand into a soft, homogeneous, easily pliable dough.