Crash Hot Potatoes, Three Ways

Update: I've entered these babies into the Potato Ho Down over at Noble Pig. Good times.

I've posted about these potatoes before and it's well past time for a followup. Since they first appeared on Pioneer Woman Cooks I've seen a lot of variations of them on various cooking sites. She did them up with just some rosemary, olive oil, salt and pepper. I've done them like that and it's awesome. When I did my first post on them I made them with garlic butter and it was wicked good. This time I decided to make them several different ways at once. Some with cheese, some with bacon and some with... well, garlic butter. Like I said, it's wicked good. I'm not going to repeat the recipe, since it's already on here, but I will show you guys what I did.

First I boiled up my baby red potatoes. I've found reds are really best for these, they just taste better. I don't know why, but there it is. Then I smashed them down on my oiled, foil lined baking pan. Salt and pepper, of course. Then I put some raw chopped bacon on a couple. The plan for this was the fat would render, soak into the potatoes and the bacon would crisp. It worked out like that too. I love it when that happens. Next time I would use a little more bacon though. On some of them I put chunks of cheddar. This was the first time I had made them with cheese for some reason. I must be losing it... oh well. Later I topped the cheesy ones with bacon and some sour cream. And last, but not least is the garlic butter. This time I didn't mix up the butter, instead I just put the garlic on followed by a little pat of butter. Worked out just fine. Then they got tossed into a 450 degree oven for 25 minutes or so. Next time I make them with cheese, I'm going to add it after they have been in for 10 minutes or so. That way the potatoes will have a little more time to crisp up before the cheese gets all brown. But then again, the garlic is nicely toasted. It didn't want to be in the oven much longer either. More experimentation is clearly needed.