Blue Cheese Twice Baked Potatoes

If you have young kids, you know how hard it is to get out on “special occasions” like New Years Eve or Valentine’s Day when everyone else is wanting to get out as well, babysitters are hard to come by!  A dinner at home can be just as wonderful as a night out.  A simple steak and potato dinner was perfect for us this year.

Instead of a regular baked potato as a side for our steak dinner on Valentine’s day, I decided to get just a little fancy and make twice baked potatoes.  Since Ben and I are both big blue cheese fans, these blue cheese laden potatoes seemed like the perfect choice.

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I fixed these earlier in the day and kept them in the fridge until it got closer to dinner time, which makes these a great make-ahead side dish.  If you haven’t made twice baked potatoes before, they’re really fairly simple and easily flavored to your liking.  Bake russet potatoes, let cool for a while, cut off the tops, scoop out the insides, mix up with whatever you like, scoop back into the potato skins and bake again.

No matter what you’re going to mix in, always mix in butter, sour cream, milk or cream and salt first.  This makes for a smooth and creamy base.  From there you can add your choice of cheese, green onion, cooked and crumbled bacon, or herbs.  Make sure to taste and season as you’re mixing up the filling so that your potatoes are not underseasoned.

The blue cheese flavor is subtle but present and is a great compliment to a nice bite of perfectly grilled steak.  I’m so thankful to be married to a man who knows how to grill a steak and is happy to do it!  I used 2 ounces of blue cheese in the potato mixture and a few crumbles on top.

The recipe below is for two, so double or triple as needed.

bluecheesepotato

Blue Cheese Twice Baked Potatoes

Serves 2

Ingredients

  • 2 russet potatoes
  • olive oil
  • 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) butter
  • 1/4 cup sour cream
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1-2 teaspoons salt
  • 3 ounces blue cheese, divided
  • black pepper, optional

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
  2. Rinse and scrub potatoes under cold water, then pat dry.  Poke with a fork a few times, rub with olive oil then place on oven rack with a sheet of foil underneath to catch drips, and bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes depending on their size.
  3. Let cool for 15-20 minutes.
  4. Cut off the top third of the potatoes and scoop out the insides into a large bowl, leaving some of the potato intact all around so that the skins can still hold their shape easily.
  5. Mash potatoes with butter, sour cream, milk and 1 teaspoon of salt until well combined and smooth.  Fold in 2 1/2 ounces of blue cheese, then taste and add more salt and pepper if needed.
  6. Scoop filling back into the potato skins.
  7. At this point bake the potatoes again or store covered in the refrigerator until ready to bake.
  8. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F , place potatoes on a foil lined cookie sheet, sprinkle with the remaining blue cheese, and bake for 20 minutes if baking immediately, 25-30 minutes if baking from chilled.