Twice Baked Potatoes

I love mashed potatoes and my husband loves baked potatoes, so I decided to combine the two for today's recipe.  Twice baked potatoes are the perfect combination of both of these items.  They take a little more effort than either one, but it's worth it.  One of my favorite things about these twice baked potatoes is that they can be made ahead and frozen until ready to be eaten.

First, start by baking some potatoes.  I baked 8, but only used 4 for the twice baked potatoes.  I kept the rest for baked potatoes for my husband for another time.  Wash the potatoes, poke them with a fork 2 or 3 times to make holes for the steam to escape while cooking.  Then bake on a baking sheet for an hour at 450 degrees.

I lost the picture of the next step, but while the potatoes are still hot you need to cut them in half and scrape out the insides.  Be careful to leave the skins of each half intact as you scrape them out, leaving just a little bit of the insides of the potatoes along the skin.

Mash the potatoes that you scraped out of the skins.  Then, mix 1 cup of sour cream into the potatoes.  The sour cream will make the mashed potatoes creamy.  Then, mix in 1 cup of bacon bits and 1 cup of cheese.

Once everything is mixed in, scoop the mashed potatoes into the potato skins (they will be a little over-full when all the mashed potatoes are used).

Place potatoes back on your baking sheet, top with the remaining cup of cheese.  Bake for 20-30 minutes at 350 degrees or until the cheese on top is melted and starting to brown and the potatoes are warm all the way through.

Twice Baked Potatoes

Ingredients:

      -4 Idaho or Russet potatoes

      -1 cup sour cream

      -1 cup bacon bits

      -2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Steps:

      1.  Bake potatoes for 60 minutes at 450 degrees.

      2.  Cut hot potatoes in half and scrape out the insides, leaving just a little bit along the skins.

      3.  Mash potatoes and mix in sour cream.

      4.  Then mix in the bacon bits and 1 cup of the cheese.

      5.  Scoop the mashed potatoes into the potato skins.  Place on baking sheet and top with remaining cheese.

      6.  Bake for 20-30 minutes at 350 degrees or until heated through and cheese on top is melted and starting to brown.