Cheesy, creamy, with bacon and a little bit of spice…what I wish every meal could be. Loaded Potato Skins or potato boats, as some like to call them, are the ultimate appetizer. It is a mini version of meat and potatoes but loaded with cheese. Who doesn’t want that before the actual meal? The only thing I hate about ordering potato skins from restaurants is that there is never enough bacon, or cheese, or filling. I have had some sad potato skins, I still ate them…but they were definitely sad. The only way to lift my spirits and gain a few extra pounds was to make an easy recipe that had enough bacon and cheese to make anybody smile.

Delicious Rating: OMGoodness! I didn’t want to share these at all. The first mistake when cooking something super delicious: cooking for other people. DH and I could have devoured the whole lot of these potato skins but instead shared them with company. Dang you company!

I think this recipe is perfect. Seriously. I overdid it on the cheese and the bacon so that there was no want. I used green onions for a more subtle onion taste but with some greenery. This is now my go to recipe for potato skins. I change the level of spice on the skins coating and the filling depending on my mood, as can you. Plus, this recipe is super easy and doesn’t require a lot of ingredients. Bake some up and let me know how they turned out for you!
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I had a lot of filling and over did it  but they were delicious anyways.

Top with bacon and bake. Garnish with more bacon or sour cream and chives.

As you can see, my potato skins collapsed. Use firm potatoes and make sure to bake the skin until firm. But collapsed or not, these were the bomb!

Delicious!

No matter how unspectacular a cookie tastes, the way it looks will make it spectacular. Case and point: Pinwheel Cookies. Don’t get me wrong, these cookies are delicious. Simple vanilla and chocolate butter cookies. But there are no bells and whistles with these cookies. What makes them great is the presentation, the way they look. Pinwheels. I have made these on numerous occasions and each time everyone is wowed, I mean, they can’t believe they are eating a homemade pinwheel cookie. “You baked these at home?” If I would have just baked up simple vanilla cookies or chocolate cookies nobody would have asked me that. But make a cool looking design and wham! You got some spectacular cookies. These cookies are made from an easy recipe and are just as easy to assemble.

Delicious Rating: These are delicious butter cookies. My chocolate was perfectly balanced with the vanilla cookie but held its own as well. The cookies will have a firm bottom when baked but the insides are soft and almost, just almost, cakey cookie. But not really. I hope that makes sense!

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I used parchment paper because I didn’t have any wax paper and it worked just fine for me.

If your layers don’t align perfectly after rolling the square into the bigger 7×7 or once rolling them together, don’t worry about it. They will still have the pinwheel look.

Once you wrap it in saran wrap, press the edges firmly in to close any gaps that may have occurred. My end cookies looked a bit crazy once baked but that was just 2 cookies out of the whole log.

So pretty, oh so pretty…

Delicious!

When we used to cross the border into Texas, we almost always went to this little gas station stop outside of the border town that had a Wendy’s and Dairy Queen. We would buy so much junk at that gas station, I think the workers thought we were going into Mexico. But we had been out for so many months we needed a good ol’ junk food fix. One thing that was for sure was that my DH would buy some Hostess chocolate cupcakes. He just loves those things and inhales them in two seconds! So when we were going on a ‘junk food dry spell’ down here in Costa Rica, I decided to make some Hostess Cupcakes but bigger…and better. So a Giant Hostess Cupcake Cake was born. Imagine the chocolate cupcake times a lot…yeah, it was pretty great.

Delicious Rating: Wow, cake is just perfect Hostess cupcake consistency. I love the chocolate ganache too. Once it firms up it really looks and tastes amazing. The marshmallow filling was spot on too, especially fresh. Unfortunately, we don’t have temperature control in the house so once it warmed up just a little the consistency started to change but it still was good and worked out perfect. This chocolate layer cake is a fun and easy recipe. It is great for parties or special occasions that require a giant cupcake cake. It put a huge smile on DH’s face once I cut into it. He wasn’t expecting that middle filling at all. Cake surprises are so much fun!

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 Use fresh brewed coffee to melt the chocolate and be sure it is hot.

I like to whisk my dry ingredients together because it sifts them out from clumps or lumps.

For the best ganache use a good quality bakers chocolate. It will give it a smooth texture and rich yumminess.

Doesn’t it look so pretty and shiny. It was super good too, I kept going back for another spoon dip!

Delicious!