Comfort food.

I think twice-baked potatoes is my favorite Dark Days meal yet.

These potatoes were something I was craving for a late night dinner, and they came together wonderfully.

If you have never made these, I strongly suggest you do.

Here’s how I made them. I took five medium-sized potatoes and stuck them in a 450 degree oven. I let them cook for a good long while, until the center were soft when I stabbed them with a fork and the skins were nice and crispy.

While I set the potatoes aside to cool, I cooked up some bacon and then sauteed leeks in the grease.

Once the potatoes were cool enough to handle, I cut each one in half and scooped out the center. Since I had cooked them at a nice high temp, the skins were extra crisp and held up well as the little bowls I needed.

I added the center of the potatoes to leeks, bacon, shredded cheese, butter and milk. This is not an exact science, just add what you like to taste. Use the milk to thin it enough to make the consistency of thick mashed potatoes. Then simply scoop the mixture back into the empty skins and stick the whole thing back in the oven (go ahead and lower the temperature now, I dropped it to 350.)

Bake until the mixture has warmed back up. If you want an extra crispy top, turn on the broiler for a minute or two.

Every ingredient was from within Washington state, with the exception of the bit of sour cream I added to the top. That came from Oregon.

Once again, I used the milk from Golden Glen creamery that comes in the glass bottles. I love this milk and am entranced by the little bits of cream that gather on the top of the bottles. I also want to just save the bottles because they are so attractive, but it of course makes much more sense to return them for the deposit.

The cheese was from Beechers in Seattle, I used the Flagship cheese. The nice bold taste of the cheese came through beautifully in the potatoes.

I have some of these left over, and I can’t wait to turn them into my lunch. These are a fantastic winter meal that’s both easy and adaptable.