Baked Potato Bites

Seeing as how I have them listed as my favorite food, it’s about time I made something baked potato related.  And with just over a week left until the Super Bowl, I thought I’d make it another fabulous finger food recipe. 

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 4 good sized russet potatoes
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• Cheese
• Sour Cream
• Chives

These come together really quickly, so go ahead and preheat your oven to 400°.  After that, wash your potatoes, scrubbing them thoroughly, dry them, and put them aside.  Melt your butter.  It shouldn’t take more than 10 – 15 seconds in the microwave.  Add the olive oil.  (hint: 4 Tablespoons = ¼ cup, so if you melt your 2 tablespoons of butter in a measuring cup, you can just add olive oil up to the ¼ cup mark) 

Add the salt and pepper.

Stir that all together and pour about a tablespoon of it onto a sheet pan. 

Spread that around to coat the pan. 

Now for the potatoes.  Cut off both ends and discard them. 

Slice the rest of the potato into ½ inch slices. 

Place the slices into a plastic bag and pour over the remaining butter mixture. 

Inflate the bag, and shake until every slice is coated on both sides. 

Dump the slices onto the prepared pan. 

Spread them out leaving a little space between each one. 

Bake them for 15 minutes.  When you pull them out, they won’t be changing on top yet, but they should be just starting to brown on the bottom. 

Go ahead and flip them all over and then it’s back into the oven for another 15 minutes.  They should be looking and smelling fabulous. 

Flip them over again, and top each one with a little bit of grated cheese.  I like to use a really sharp cheddar, but you can really use whatever you like.  Just make sure you don’t get carried away with it.  These are supposed to be finger food so you don’t want them totally covered with melted cheese.  (Is this the part where I admit to being wrong when I said there's no such thing as too much cheese?) 

Back into the oven just until the cheese is melted.  It’ll only take 3 or 4 minutes. 

You may have noticed that I’ve only got 8 slices on the pan for this step.  I put the rest aside to cool and then into the fridge.  You can do the same, and when you’re ready, just pull them out of the fridge and heat them for a few minutes in the oven before adding the cheese. 

Once the cheese is melted, move the potatoes to whatever you’re going to serve them on. 

Top each one with sour cream.  I piped mine on just for that added touch, but a dollop would work just fine. 

Sprinkle on some fresh chives and you have baked potato perfection in a bit size (well, maybe 2 bites) package. 

Crisp and buttery on the outside and lusciously soft within, topped with salty cheese, tangy sour cream and just a touch of oniony chive, it’s everything you love about a baked potato, but easier, faster, and well… better. 

Ravens or 49ers?  Who do you think is going to win?