Baked Potato Soup

I love, love, love potato soup. I've never found a recipe that I've loved to make at home, so I've reserved potato soup for cafes and restaurants. I only get it every once in a while, though, because I usually feel guilty about eating it since it's so creamy, cheesy, and bacon-y.

When I saw this recipe on Annie's Eats and saw that it's made with milk (instead of cream), I wanted to give it a try. I thought we were done with soup season, but today was cool enough to fit in one last soup recipe.

This is delicious. Wonderfully creamy and flavorful. Now I'll be looking forward to making this once fall rolls around again!

The only problem was that I made a slight mistake with the potatoes. I think I overblended the potatoes in the food processor so it made the consistency of them kind of gummy, and therefore the soup was kind of gummy. Still, even that couldn't ruin this soup. Next time, I'd skip the food processor completely and just throw the potatoes into the milk (when it's time) and use the immersion blender to combine everything together and make it creamy. Also, we forgot to take a package of bacon out of the freezer in advance, so we decided not to bother and just used some bacon bits. Next time... real (turkey) bacon! :)

Baked Potato Soup
(Source: Annie's Eats)

Ingredients:
- 4-5 russet potatoes
- 4 tbsp. unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, divided
- 6 cups 2% milk (we used skim and it didn't matter one bit!)
- 2 tsp. salt
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 3/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup green onions, chopped
- 1/3 to 1/2 cup light sour cream

For topping:
Sour cream
Shredded cheddar cheese
Chopped green onions
Bacon pieces

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Prick the potatoes with the tines of a fork. Place the potatoes on a baking sheet and bake for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and let sit until cool enough to handle. Scoop the insides of the potatoes into food processor, discarding the peels. Pulse until the pieces are broken into small chunks. (As I mentioned above, if you have an immersion blender, I would skip the food processor.)

2. In a large stockpot or Dutch oven, melt the butter. Add 1/4 cup of flour to the pot and whisk into the butter. Cook, whisking constantly, until golden brown, about 2 minutes.

3. Whisk in the milk and the rest of the flour. Cook until thick and bubbling, about 6-8 minutes.

4. Mix in the potato chunks. (Here is where I would use the immersion blender.)

5. Whisk in the salt, pepper, and cheddar cheese and stir until the cheese is melted. Remove from the heat, stir in the green onions and sour cream.

6. Serve immediately. Garnish with sour cream, cheddar cheese, green onions and bacon as desired.