Easy Homemade Mac and Cheese with multiple cheeses.
I’ve always sought-out macaroni and cheese that’s a balance of creamy cheese and crunchy textures. During my traveling days, I intentionally sought out the likes of Panera Bread outlets that served small portions of M&C with certain sandwiches and sides. And I became intent to learn how to make it myself.
During 2020 quarantining, this was one of the under-takings a few of us did for a group zoom learning session. We had a Chef walk us through tips and tricks to making macaroni and cheese!
Here are my takeaways, and customization after a few takes at this … and a large pan of homemade mac&cheese converted into these cute cupcake portions.
Ingredients
- 3 cups elbow pasta
- 6 tablespoon unsalted melted butter
- 1/4 cup flour or corn starch
- 3 cups of whole milk
- 1 cup of cheddar cheese
- 1 cup of asiago cheese
- 1.1/2 cup of havarti cheese
- 1 cup of panko bread crumbs OR crushed chips OR crushed crackers
- 1/4 teaspoon salt, as needed
- 2 knorr cubes/ boullion, as needed
- 1 cup chicken stock (optional)
- 6 heads of crimini mushrooms (optional)
- Chicken breast (optional)
- 3 strip of bacon (optional)
- Equipment: 9×9 baking pan or cupcake pans
Directions
- Preheat oven 350 degrees
- Boil the pasta, drain. Follow instructions on box, cooking 1 minute less than al dente since it’ll cook more while baking
- Make the cheese sauce by combining a fat (butter), and starch (flour), then whisking in the milk products.
- Cook the sauce until it’s thick.
- Then Add in shredded cheeses, stir well.
- Combine cheese sauce with cooked pasta.
- Transfer half of the mac and cheese to a baking dish, sprinkle with more shredded cheese.
- Top with the rest of the mac and cheese, add sprinkles of shredded cheese.
- Top with breadcrumbs, crushed chips, OR crushed Crackers
- Or repeat the last 3 Steps in cupcake pan with individual cupcakes
- Bake for 30 minutes or until browned
I was very pleased to uncover this site. I wanted to thank you for ones time for this particularly wonderful read!! I definitely liked every bit of it and I have you bookmarked to see new stuff on your blog.