Heat the saucepan on a diffuser over medium-low heat. If you don’t have a diffuser, I’ve found that a cast iron skillet works great as a substitute. Gently cook the garlic for about 40 minutes, stirring every 5-10 minutes, until the garlic cloves are tender and easily pierce-able with a butter knife (while cooking, very small bubbles will come up through the oil, but the bubbles should not break the surface - adjust the heat as needed). Remove the saucepan from the heat and allow the garlic to cool in the oil. Refrigerate the garlic in a container with a lid, submerged in the oil, for up to 1 week.
Run potatoes, butter pieces, and garlic confit cloves through a potato ricer into a large pot (I really love garlic so sometimes I use 1/2 cup of the confit cloves… you do you though). Once all the potatoes, butter, and garlic confit are “riced”, warm the pot of potatoes over medium-low heat (I’ve also used a slow cooker on the keep warm setting for this and it works great too). Slowly stir in the warmed heavy cream then puree using an immersion blender. Season to taste with sea salt and black pepper. Transfer to a serving bowl, sprinkle with the chives, and top with a spoonful of butter then enjoy!
Start this recipe by making the garlic confit. Let the potatoes cook and cool while the confit is cooking. Total time includes making the confit (assuming you cook the potatoes at the same time) plus cooling and peeling the potatoes. Recipe only slightly altered from Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc at Home cookbook.