Crack Potatoes...I sense a pattern here...

Well...between Pinterest and my large (embarrassingly large) collection of cookbooks I should be blogging everyday but for various reasons clearly I am not. So, here's my attempt to make it happen more than every 6 months. I have so many recipes in the wings that I thought it best to start with some of the winners.

[I've never met a potato I didn't like]

So says my Dad and I have to agree! We make crack potatoes for breakfast when we are having people visit for the weekend and we often [always] keep the ingredients on hand. Always. The original recipe can be found here and Pinned here. These hash brown potatoes were introduced to me and my co-workers by a fellow co-worker Lisa. We are still not sure if we hate her or love her for introducing us to the mountain of cheesy-carbs...either way, the first introduction was a huge hit. I immediately re-pinned her pin, stopped at the grocery store on the way home and made them for Saturday morning breakfast.  Enter very happy, sweet husband.

I can't believe I've never snapped a photo of these scrumptious potatoes so this will be a somewhat dry [but cheesy] post. All you need is the recipe and a few suggestions along the way.

Thaw your potatoes completely before starting this recipe.  I have found that because potatoes hold a lot of moisture it took several days for the hash browns to defrost.  I ended up microwaving the potatoes a few times, stirring the potatoes around each time, before I added the butter.  Think about it, if you have even semi-cold potatoes, once you pour the very delicate [and delicious] butter over them the butter will begin to congeal. You don't want this.  

Originally, this recipe calls for corn flakes and almost every time we have made this I have included them. Until one day when I made this as a traveling chef I forgot the corn flakes so a cheese topping it was. Honestly, I didn't miss the corn flakes but I encourage you to make it both ways  and decide for yourself. It does add a nice bit of texture with the buttery, crunchy corn flakes but we didn't like them included if we were planning on having leftovers.  Leftovers for this dish are not always available due to their "crack-ness" but if you happen to have leftovers they do quite nicely warmed in your toaster oven or directly in a non-stick frying pan.

Also, this recipe doubles nicely but prepare separately then mix together in a large lasagna or other deep dish baking dish. Unless you have an industrial size bowl the mess is unbelievable!

{Crack Potatoes}

Ingredients:
1 2lb. bag of hash browns, thawed and at room temperature

 salt + pepper - I never measure this...perhaps a ¼ - ½ teaspoon of each, do what you do!
1 cup butter, melted (1 stick)
1 sm. - med. onion chopped
1 can of cream of potato soup (10 ¾ oz)

1 pint of sour cream (I have used both regular and lite)

2 cups of shredded yellow cheddar cheese + 1-2 cup for the topping

Non-stick cooking spray

Equipment:
Large microwave safe bowl
9x13 casserole dish

Optional:

2 cups of corn flakes
¼  - ½  cup of butter, melted

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or spray a 9×13″ baking dish; set aside.

In a large bowl, combine thawed hash browns with the cup of the melted butter, pepper, salt, cheddar cheese and chopped onion, blending well. 

Fold in the soup and sour cream and be sure to mix evenly. Spread potatoes evenly into a prepared 9×13″ baking dish. Top with the 1-2 cups of shredded cheese or:

Optional: Mix 1/4 cup melted butter and corn flakes together and sprinkle over top of casserole. 

Bake at 350 degrees, uncovered, for 45-50 minutes. If you use a glass casserole dish you'll see the mixture bubble and brown nicely along the sides and on the top for all other aluminum pans.  Let sit 10 - 15 minutes, serve hot with a side of bacon and a fried egg or two.

Good luck getting rid of your next house guests. Enjoy!