Twice Baked Potatoes Recipe

Directions

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a large baking sheet with foil
• Wash the potatoes under cold water and use a vegetable brush to clean thoroughly. Dry off completely with a dish towel
• Using your hands rub the olive oil over all the potatoes making sure they are completely covered
• Place the potatoes on the covered baking sheet and sprinkle with the 1 tsp salt. Roll potatoes around on the baking sheet to make sure all sides have some salt on them
• Place the potatoes in the oven to bake. They should take approximately 1 hour to finish baking. Check that they’re done baking by sticking a butter knife into them to check consistency. The butter knife should glide in easily once they’re done
• While the potatoes are baking
• Cook the bacon on a skillet until brown and just crispy. Set aside to cool
• Once cool, break the bacon into small bite sized pieces
• Chop the chives up into small pieces as well and set aside with the bacon
• Once potatoes are done baking
• Remove potatoes from oven and set them on the counter to cool down for about 15 minutes or so
• Once potatoes are cool, cut each potato in half longways (see picture above for reference)
• Start scooping out the insides of the halved potatoes, but don’t go too deep because you want to keep the potato skins unbroken. You can use a spoon or cookie scoop. Make sure to leave about ¼ inch potato within the skins so that you can have a nice sturdy base and ensure the potato skins remain intact 
• Keep the empty skins on the baking sheet for later
• Place all insides of the potatoes in a large bowl. Mash the contents in the bowl until the chunks are smaller
• Next, add the sour cream to the bowl and mix together with a spoon until well blended with the potatoes. The mixture doesn’t have to be completely smooth, it’s okay to have some chunks
• Next, add the bacon pieces, chives, garlic salt, pepper and paprika. Mix everything together until well combined
• Start scooping the mixture back into the potato skins (about ¼ cup for each skin). If you have extra mixture, add more to each skin. Make sure they’re nice and full.
• Sprinkle more the shredded cheese and and extra chives on top of each potato
• Place the potatoes back into the oven for another 15 minutes. OR, if you don’t plan on serving right away, you can cover in plastic and keep in fridge until ready. Then just pop them in the oven about 20 minutes before serving.
• ENJOY!!