My mom makes the best mashed potatoes. They’re not fancy, they don’t contain carmelized shallots or fresh herbs or bacon bits… just potatoes, sour cream, milk and plenty of butter.

So it’s not really a surprise that Toby’s dinner of choice tends to be pork tenderloin, cheese biscuits, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes and a cherry pie. Who can blame him? A carbfest full of comfort food? Sign me up.

But I had a bunch of buttermilk left over from making that pie, so I thought I’d try pouring some into mashed potatoes and seeing what happened.

What happened was potato magic. These mashed potatoes are rich, buttery, comforting and delicious… but with oodles less fat than the way I normally make them (oodles being the technical term, obviously).

Now, clearly I’m never going to give up my mom’s mashed potatoes, because they amazing and totally perfect for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and other holidays that call for the original. But these are a super fast, easy and more waistline-friendly option for those times in between. Like when you accidentally buy a roasted turkey breast instead of a roasted chicken.

Buttermilk mashed potatoes (Serves 4, adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook)
6 small to medium Yukon gold potatoes (or other thin-skinned potatoes, not the big baking kind)
1/2 cup lowfat or nonfat buttermilk
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Salt and pepper to taste

Rinse and peel the potatoes (or leave the skins on, like I did). Cut them into quarters and place in a medium or large saucepan with enough cold water to cover them by about an inch. Cook on high heat until boiling, then turn down the water to medium-low and simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until you can easily stick a fork through one of the pieces.

Once the potatoes are cooked, drain them and place them in a large mixing bowl and add the butter and buttermilk. Use a handheld electric mixer (or a potato masher, or a fork) to mash the potatoes and incorporate the butter and buttermilk. Add more buttermilk if necessary for consistency, but try not to overbeat the potatoes. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve.

(If you don’t want to serve the potatoes immediately, you can cover them and refrigerate until ready to use, then heat in a 350F-or-so oven until heated through.)