Mini Twice-Baked Potatoes

Continuing with the girls night recipes, I present to you the appetizer you will never make enough of: the mini twice-baked potato! I wanted to get something delicious and potato-y on the menu for my Irish sister and cousin, and thought of this. Now, I've made twice-baked potatoes before, so I searched Google to make sure that it was possible to make a twice-baked potato this small; I found this: Tiny Twice-Baked Potatoes.

Assured that this appetizer was possible, however, I used my own recipe for twice-baked potatoes. You can use the ingredients in the link I posted, or the ingredients I used, which are as follows:

-1 bag of baby red potatoes

-A few tablespoons of milk

-1/2 stick of butter

-3 slices of bacon, cooked and roughly chopped

-1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese

-1/2 bunch of green onions, chopped

-1/4 cup of olive oil

-Salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Place your potatoes in a bowl, pour oil over the top, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Place oiled potatoes on a baking sheet and bake for approximately 25 minutes, until soft. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for ten minutes, or until potatoes are cool enough to handle.

When cool, carefully cut off the top 1/4 of each potato, doing your best to keep the potato and its skin intact. See below:

Then, using a 1/4 teaspoon measuring spoon, carefully scoop out the insides of each potato and place in a separate bowl. Be sure to leave enough potato behind to form a stable shell for the twice-baked potatoes.

Add the butter, cheese, green onions, bacon, and a little extra salt and pepper to the potatoes in the bowl, as well as enough milk to achieve the consistency of mashed potatoes. When finished, use a small spoon to fill each potato shell with the mashed potato mixture, overfilling slightly as pictured below:

Increase the temperature of your oven to 450 degrees and return the potatoes to the oven. Bake for another 8 to 10 minutes until heated through (cheese will have melted and the potato tops will brown slightly). Serve with sour cream:

One bag of baby red potatoes made about 15 potatoes for my guests and I...and two of my guests ate all but two, so you may want to double or even triple this recipe. My sister-in-law, who hates potatoes, couldn't get enough of these either, so give these mini-twice baked potatoes a try. ENJOY!!