Twice Baked Potatoes - Yum!

This week-end was a friend's birthday, and since he'd mentioned his love for twice baked potatoes, we decided to figure out how to make them for his birthday dinner.

It wasn't difficult, but it was a full meal. So combined with steak and salad and corn on the cob (4 of the 7 ears my garden yielded this year!) it was a huge meal! I saved half of my potato for lunch today.

Here's the simple twice baked potato recipe I used:

4 large baking potatoes
1/4 cup butter
1 cup sour cream
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 cup crumbled bacon
3/4 cup minced green onions
salt and pepper

I'm not sure how I ended up with the cooking detail on this dinner, but with the exception of the steaks, I did.

I baked the potatoes ahead of time, let them cool, then cut an oval out of the top of each of them and scooped out the flesh - leaving enough to hold the "shell" together.

While I was doing that, I had the bacon frying until the little pieces were crisp.

Reserving about 1/4 cup each of the cheese, bacon, and onions, I first added the butter and beat it until it was smooth, then added the rest.

Then I stuffed the mixture back into the shells - which became mounded up on top due to the extra ingredients.

I put that back in the oven to reheat, then about 10 minutes before dinner was to be served, I sprinkled the reserved cheese, bacon, and onions on top, put it back into the oven, and let them melt together.

The result: "Melt in your mouth" potatoes.

One thing I might do differently - probably cut the potatoes in 2 and serve a half potato to each person, because it really was too much. Along with the rest of the meal, everyone was stuffed.

Yours for good eating,
Marte