Baked Potato Soup

Baked Potato Soup

4 large (or 3 really really large) baking potatoes—*baked
2/3 cup butter
2/3 cup flour
6 cups milk
1 ½ tsp salt
1 tsp white pepper
4 green onions, chopped
12 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled (6 slices if thick)
1 ¼ cup shredded cheddar cheese
8 oz (1 cup) sour cream

*Bake potatoes in a 400 degree oven until done, about 1 hour. Let cool some and scrape out pulp. Discard skins.

Melt butter in a heavy saucepan over low heat; add flour, stirring until smooth. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Gradually add milk, cook over medium heat (med-high? Watch carefully!), stirring constantly, until thickened and bubbly. This takes longer than you would think--just a warning.
Add potato pulp, salt, pepper, *onion, *bacon, and *cheese. Cook until thoroughly heated. Stir in sour cream. The recipe says it serves 10, but no way is that true in my house. 6 maybe? In a soup bar I double this, put it in a 6qt crock-pot to keep warm, and it’s always the first to go.

*If you are serving this for a special occasion and want to make it extra nice, you can reserve half the bacon, all but 2 Tbsp of the onion, and a ¼ cup of the cheese to garnish the top of each serving.