Jan 11 2013

Ham and Cheese Potato Skins

Posted by Amber {Sprinkled With Flour} in Step-by-Step Recipes

I don’t know about you, but I’ve eaten so many sugary goodies lately that I’m fairly certain I may spontaneously combust into a cloud of sugar at any given moment. So, I thought it was time I take a little break from my sugary friends and give some love to something a bit more savory. When I found this recipe for Ham & Cheese Potato Skins from TK member Dax Phillips, I knew I’d found the perfect recipe to jumpstart the savory love-train.

They are perfect for picky eaters, especially the six-year-old variety that hangs out at my house. A generous amount of melty cheese and ham perfectly complements the crispy, salty potato skin, making these a big hit with any crowd.

You’ll need: Russet potatoes, shredded cheese, diced ham, butter, salt, and pepper. That’s it. Easy, huh?

Preheat your oven to 400ºF. Poke the top of each potato with a fork and place on a baking sheet. Cook in the oven for 1 hour.

Remove the potatoes from the baking sheet and place on a plate to cool for about 15 minutes.

Once your potatoes are cooled, use a sharp bread knife and cut each potato lengthwise into three segments for each potato. So each potato will yield two skins and you can discard the middle slice or use it for something else.

You should end up with 6 potato boats.

With a small spoon, being careful not to poke through the skin, scoop out about 70 percent of the potato. You still want some potato in your boat.

Next, melt your butter in the microwave. This should take 30-60 seconds or so. Turn your broiler to high.

Brush the butter on the inside and outside of each potato skin, then season the inside of each skin with salt and pepper.

Place them back onto the baking sheet and put them under the broiler for 8-10 minutes, until the insides get a bit crispy from the melted butter.

Once the edges and interior are crisp and golden, remove them from the oven. Turn off the broiler, and set the oven to 425ºF.

Add a generous amount of cheese into each potato boat. Top with a generous amount of ham. Simply divide the ham into six sections so each potato gets enough of it. Top with a bit more cheese.

Place the tray back into the oven and cook for about 5 more minutes or until the cheese is nice and bubbly.

Now take a bite, and you will have a cheesy explosion of pure delicious in your mouth. The cheese, the ham, the crispy, salty potato … it’s pure magic. I foresee these potato skins being the perfect addition to our Superbowl party table. You don’t have to limit yourself to just snacking on them either. Throw in some scrambled eggs for a great breakfast, or pair them with your favorite salad and you’ve got a great lunch or dinner!

I’m so glad Dax shared this recipe with us. He’s a whiz when it comes to potato skin creations (among other things), and you’ll find them all on his blog, Simple Comfort Food.

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Ham and Cheese Potato Skins

by Dax Phillips on December 7, 2012 in Appetizers

See post on Dax Phillips’s site!

5.00 Mitt(s) 3 Rating(s) 3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5

Description

A simple twist on a classic potato skin that is perfect any time of the day.

Ingredients

3 whole Russet Potatoes
1-½ Tablespoon Unsalted Butter
1 pinch Salt
1 pinch Cracked Black Pepper
2 cups Colby-Jack Cheese, Shredded
1 cup Thick Cut Ham, Cut Into Bite Sized Cubes

Preparation Instructions

Begin by preheating your oven to 400 F. Poke the top of each potato with a fork and place on a baking sheet. Cook in the oven for 1 hour. Once cooked, remove them from the baking sheet, and place on a plate to let cool for about 15 minutes.

Once your potatoes are cooled, use a sharp bread knife and cut each potato lengthwise into three segments for each potato. So each potato will yield two skins, right? You can discard the middle slice and reuse for breakfast the following morning, or heck for that matter, add some butter, salt and cream, and make some rustic mashed potatoes. When done you should have 10 skins.

With a small spoon, being careful not to poke through the skin, scoop out about 70 percent of the potato, as you still want some potato in your boat.

Next, melt your butter in the microwave. This should take 30-60 seconds or so.

Get your broiler heated to high.

Brush the butter on the inside and outside of each potato skin and place them back onto the baking sheet. Season the inside of each skin with salt and pepper.

Place them under the broiler for 8-10 minutes until the insides get a bit crispy from the melted butter. Once the edges and interior are a bit crisp and golden, remove them from the oven. Turn off the broiler, and set the oven to 425 F.

Add a generous amount of cheese into each potato boat. Top with a generous amount of ham. Simply divide the ham into six sections so each potato gets enough of it. Top with a bit more cheese.

Place the tray back into the oven, and cook for about 5 more minutes or until the cheese is nice and bubbly.

The end result is nothing short of amazing with these ham and potato skins. These are a perfect bite any time of the day, and as a matter of fact I thought they would be even more amazing with a bit of scrambled egg mixed in before baking. That would be a great breakfast bite! Regardless, these are really simple to make and made everyone happy. Next time I will simply need to make more of them as they went too fast. Hope you enjoy.

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Amber is a stay at home mom who lives in the heart of the Missouri Ozarks. It’s a long way from where she grew up, in Wales (yes, way over in the U.K.). The recipes in her blog Sprinkled with Flour include her original creations as well as her family recipes. Go check them out!

Jan 9 2013

Chocolate Hazelnut Cake

Posted by missamy in Baking, Step-by-Step Recipes

Note: I’ve been doing a bit of housecleaning here at the Tasty Kitchen Blog and haven’t been able to stop thinking about this post from the step-by-step archives. It has chocolate. And hazelnuts. In cake form. I’m just as smitten now as I was before. And rumor has it there’s some kind of romantic holiday coming up—a day that most definitely calls for chocolate. Make this and knock someone’s socks off! – Erika

(Republished from 2011.)

Tasty Kitchen’s Erika emailed me last week asking if I’d seen this Chocolate Hazelnut Cake recently submitted by Sabrina (Eatdrinkandbemerry). She said she thought of me. I don’t know why. Why would I like chocolate, and sugar, and butter, and hazelnuts, and Nutella, and peace, and love, and all things good? Hmmm? I don’t get it.

Anyway, I decided to go ahead and make it, ya know, since she twisted my arm and everything. That Erika is one smart cookie, and knows a good cake when she sees one. And this … this is one good cake. One marvelously good cake. Sabrina describes it as tasting like a Ferrero Rocher chocolate, and she’s right on. The super moist, chocolatey cake is topped with a Nutella and mascarpone whipped cream, with a creamy Nutella and whipped cream center. Whoa.

I know you wanna see how to make it, right? Let’s do this thing.

For the cake, you’ll need flour, cocoa powder (I used dark cocoa powder), baking soda, salt, butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, water, and buttermilk.

Begin by combining the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. (The directions say to sift, but shhh. Don’t tell. I whisked it all together lightly.)

In a mixing bowl, beat together the butter and sugars for about 2-3 minutes.

Add the eggs and vanilla and combine well.

Next, alternate adding the flour mixture with the water and buttermilk. Beat on low speed until thoroughly combined. Make sure to not over beat.

Divide batter mixture evenly into 8″ greased and floured round cake pans. Bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. It took about 35 minutes in the Johnson kitchen. Cool cakes in the pans for about 10 minutes, then transfer to cooling rack(s) to cool completely.

(Note: I used my old 8″ angled sided cake rounds. I’d recommend using an 8″ cake round that’s straight edged and 2″ tall if you can. It worked fine as you’ll see later, but would make for easier decorating if the edges were straight and not angled.)

While the cakes are baking, go ahead and make the whipped cream topping. The whipped cream topping calls for mascarpone cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, heavy whipping cream, Nutella, and hazelnuts.

Whip together the mascarpone cheese, sugar, vanilla, and heavy whipping cream until peaks form. Add 1 cup of the Nutella and gently mix until blended well. Refrigerate until ready to use.

When cakes have cooled and you’re ready to begin assembling layers, microwave the remaining Nutella a tad bit (about 30 seconds depending on your microwave) to loosen so it will be easy to spread. Spread the warmed Nutella over the top of the bottom layer of the cake. Put the cake in the freezer for 5-15 minutes for the Nutella to harden. Remove the cake from the freezer and spread a layer of the whipped cream over the layer of Nutella.

Add the second layer and frost the sides and top with whipped cream.

Top with chopped hazelnuts, and add any extra piping decorations to the edges to finish off if desired.

I tend to have a more rustic style when decorating cakes. I’m sure y’all can do much better. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Delicious! It’s a decadent and rich cake for sure. Definitely a cake for special occasions. I think the next time I make this cake (and there will be a next time), I’ll make cupcakes, with a thin layer of Nutella, topped with a swirl of the whipped topping and sprinkled with the chopped hazelnuts. The perfect cupcake indeed.

Many thanks to Sabrina for submitting this tempting Chocolate Hazelnut Cake. It’s a keeper. (Check out Sabrina’s blog Eat, Drink & Be Merry for more of her killer recipes!)

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