Nothing has me craving comfort foods more than when the weather gets cold outside. Growing up in Iowa, one of my fondest memories from childhood was eating my mother’s scalloped potatoes for Christmas dinner. Scalloped potatoes where usually a side dish during many a winter meal. She used the recipe from the Betty Crocker Cookbook back then and when in a hurry she would do the boxed version as well.

The recipe involved cooking a cream sauce on the stove prior to pouring over sliced potatoes and baking in the oven. Most recipes for scalloped potatoes involve some time of creamy sauce poured over potatoes and placed in the oven and baked until the potatoes become fork tender and develop into a creamy dish of deliciousness.

Modern recipes add a lot more ingredients to what was a simple dish, I am trying to recreate my mom’s homemade goodness with fewer steps and keeping it simple for my own Christmas dinner.  To reduce the preparation time, I eliminated making a rue with flour and milk and using half and half with cheese to develop that creamy goodness.  Since I normally keep half and half on hand because it lasts longer than cream in the refrigerator, I developed the recipe using what I would have on hand.  To make the cream sauce more unctuous I added 2 tablespoons of melted butter to the recipe.

The flavor profile of this recipe brought me back to my childhood days and even tasted better than the scalloped potatoes I grew up with.  It was easier to make and quicker to pull together than cooking a rue on the stove.

Cheese: I opted for gruyere cheese in this recipe.  I like the creamy, salty and nutty flavor it provides and often use it when I make frittatas and quiches.  It melts and bakes evenly in the oven. Gruyere adds to the creaminess of the recipe the best.

What to serve scalloped potatoes with:  My favorite Christmas dinner is ham and green beans with scalloped potatoes.  Ribs also go well with scalloped potatoes on a cold winter day.  Scalloped potatoes work well with any dish that you would serve mashed potatoes with.