Twice Baked Potato Potato Pie

It’s #FoodnFlix time and this month Camilla from Culinary Adventures with Camilla chose The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.  The title seemed vaguely familiar.  I hunted down a copy and got to watching and it was a delightful movie!

It is set post-World War II in England and follows a medley of characters as the reminisce about the war, hardships, and friendships that evolved – and of course potato peel pie was mentioned!  With rationed food, the only offering one member had to bring to the book club (or literary society) was potato peel pie with potato peel crust, potato filling, and potato topping! 

There was other food in the movie to be sure, but before I set out to cooking, I remembered where I heard the title – it is the book of the same name, which I thought an odd name, so I passed on it without finding out what the book was about.  After watching the movie, and liking it, I knew I had to try the book before creating a recipe!

And as usual, the book was so much better than the movie!  I liked the movie, but I adored the book!  Characters were much more developed in the book (and there were many more of them) and it made for a sweet, touching story.  I highly recommend both the book and movie, especially if you are interested in World War II stories.

The book even included a recipe for Potato Peel Pie which was similar to the movie version, but included beet juice for color (umm..ew).

I decided that I definitely wanted to make potato peel pie, but not a 1940’s potato peel pie.  I decided to load up my pie with all the goodness of twice baked potatoes, with the tater skins as the pie crust, of course!

Hubs and I practically inhaled this and the kids (who aren’t huge potato fans) ate their portion without complaint.  I think there was even an “it’s pretty good” in there, so I take that as pretty high praise!

Twice Baked Potato Potato Pie

6 potatoes (1 ½ pounds)

2 tablespoons butter, divided

¼ cup sour cream

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

¼ cup crumbled bacon pieces

2 tablespoons fresh chives, minced

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

Salt

Pepper

Bake the potatoes by either baking for 1 hour in a 400 degree oven, or 5-8 minutes in a microwave (I went with the microwave option.)

Cool slightly and cut the potatoes in half.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Melt 1 tablespoon on the butter and use it to coat a pie dish.

Scoop the potato flesh into a large bowl.  Place the potato skins into the prepared pie plate, skin side down (it’s ok if there is still some potato clinging to the skins).

To the potato in the bowl, stir in the remaining tablespoon of butter, sour cream, cheese, bacon, chives, and spices.  Stir until well combined.  Spread the potato mixture over the skins and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until heated through and beginning to brown on top.  Serve hot, with additional chives, if desired.