Twice Baked Potato Boats Using 3D Printed Scoop

These Twice Baked Potatoes are a cheesy decadent treat!

They're VERY filling which a must with a house full of teens! Steamed broccoli can be mashed in with the potatoes to add some green vegetables.

The inside of the potatoes can be scooped out with a large spoon or ice cream scoop.

But we wanted to create a new tool just for this job! So we did...With Tinkercad and a 3D printer!

This recipe feeds 4 HUNGRY people and the potato skin "sails" become a delicious crispy chip for scooping out all that goodness!

Supplies

• 4 large russet potatoes
• olive oil
• 8 tbsp salted butter, melted
• 1 cup shredded cheddar
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 tbsp garlic salt
• 1 tbsp pepper
• Old Bay Seasoning

Step 1: Manufacturing the Scoop

First and foremost, here is a great article on food-safe 3D printing. Make sure you follow these practices in anything you print that is intended for contact with food! That being said, the item that I am demonstrating here was printed as a prototype and will not be cleaned and reused. When we settle on a final design we will use ABS so that it can be smoothed and then sealed properly. Given the limited contact with cold potatoes we decided we were OK with that approach.

The design was done based on the line size of the printer so that the blade would be a single line on it's edge. After using the prototype, I would change a few things...

1. Make the stem that inserts in to the handle shorter...the handle really needs to be a lot closer to the tool head to work most effectively. We just choked up on it as you will see in the pictures.
2. The tolerance on the handle is too tight, so either scale the handle up a few % or scale the tool head down a few % to compensate.
3. The overall depth of the tool is bigger than it needs to be. It is 15mm by design, but it could be 10mm and still be plenty strong enough and go through the potatoes that much easier.

These were printed in the orientation shown in the first image, with a layer height of 0.2mm and line width of .4mm using PLA. No supports are required, and you can use whatever works best on your printer for bed adhesion.

Step 2: Let's Get Cooking!

Easiest baked potatoes ever!

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Stab potatoes several times with a fork

Rub skins with olive oil and crank on some course salt

Bake directly on the oven rack for 30 minutes.

Turn potatoes over and bake another 30 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool.

Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise

Step 3: SCOOP, SCOOP, SCOOP!

Give that new scoop you just made a go!

OR, a serving spoon or an ice cream scoop will work just fine

Leave a tiny bit of potato, about 1/4 inch, attached to the skins to reinforce the boats

Put the scooped out potato pieces in a mixing bowl

Step 4: Making It Yummy

You will now have 8 halves of potato skins.

Set aside the 4 largest and best looking for the "boats"

Cut triangle "sails" out of the remaining potato skins and finely chop up the rest to add to your potato filling

Place all the potato skin "boat" pieces on a cooking rack that is on a baking sheet...this will give all the pieces extra crispiness.

Brush all the potato parts liberally with melted butter

Crank a little salt onto those sails

Step 5: Mix It All Up

In a mixing bowl combine:

1. scooped out potato insides
2. chopped potato skins
3. rest of the melted butter
4. sour cream
5. shredded cheese
6. garlic salt and pepper

I like to use a stand mixer because I can start cleaning up while it's working.

But, the filling can also be made with a potato masher or hand mixer!

Step 6: Making Boats

Fill up the potato skin boats abundantly and sprinkle with Old Bay Seasoning

Bake the boats and sails in 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes

Cool for 5-10 minutes

Step 7: Assemble and Share

Hold the crispy buttery sails in place with a toothpick and feed the people you love!