Twice Baked Potatoes

These are the creamiest, most delicious twice baked potatoes.  Add a perfectly medium rare steak and a Caesar salad (see previous two posts) and you have my all-time-favorite-meal.  Albeit, they are a total pain in the ass to make.  But they are soooo worth it!  And the bright side is 1) you can make them ahead of time and 2) they are much easier to serve and alot more impressive than just a plain old baked potato, which makes them great for entertaining.  Here's how I make them:

Ingredients:  potatoes, canola oil, butter, bacon, sour cream, cheddar cheese, milk, seasoned salt, pepper and scallions.

Rub the potatoes with canola oil.  This helps the skins hold up better once the insides have been scooped out.  Bake at 400 degrees for about an hour or until they are cooked through.

After they are baked, halve them lengthwise and allow them to cool enough to handle.

Scrape out the insides carefully (don't tear the skin) leaving a little bit of potato around the skin to help the potato shells keep their shape.  I use a small scoop but you could use any spoon or a melon baller if you have one.

Put the insides of the scraped out potatoes into a mixing bowl.

Fry up some bacon in a skillet until it's nice and crispy.

And cut up some butter into pats.

Chop the bacon into bits and add it to the bowl of potatoes along with the butter and some sour cream.

Using a potato masher or a fork, smash the potato mixture until it is well mixed.

Then add cheese, scallions, milk, seasoned salt and pepper to taste.

And mix it all together.

Scoop the mixture back into the potato shells.

Sprinkle more cheese over the top and bake for about 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees or until heated through.

Slide one onto your plate next to your thick and juicy steak and dig in!

Link to the printable recipe below:

Twice Baked Potatoes

Source:  Pioneer Woman