Macaroni and cheese is one of my favorite foods – maybe one of the best foods ever, when done right. I have always wanted to learn how to make a killer homemade mac and cheese, not the kind that comes out of a box (which I’m not above eating, by the way).
Unfortunately, I don’t possess enough cooking talent at the moment to come up with my own recipe from scratch, so for now I need to try out recipes that others have created. Fortunately, I found this promising recipe for Creamy Homemade Baked Mac and Cheese on thechunkychef.com which looked really promising. Here is my attempt at making this recipe. The recipe below is a scaled down version of the original.
Creamy Baked Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
- 8 oz dried elbow macaroni
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1-1/4 cups half and half
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 cup shredded Gruyere cheese
- 1/4 tbsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/8 tsp paprika
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325F
- Grease a baking dish – 8" square should be fine
- Boil elbow macaroni in a large pot of water, cook about 1 minute less than instructions indicate to compensate for additional cooking during baking. Drain pasta and toss with a little olive oil to prevent sticking.
- While boiling pasta, shred cheeses and mix to combine
- Melt butter in large saucepan on medium heat. Sprinkle in flour and whisk to combine. Cook for about a minute, then slowly add milk and half and half, while whisking until everything is combined and smooth.
- Continue to whisk and cook milk and butter until thickened, approximately the thickness of condensed soup.
- Remove sauce from heat and stir in salt, pepper and paprika. Stir in about 3/4 cup of cheese mix until melted. Add 3/4 more cheese and stir until melted.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine pasta with cheese sauce and stir until fully mixed.
- Add half of pasta to baking dish and then sprinkle on 3/4 cup of shredded cheese. Add the remaining pasta to the baking dish and top with the last 3/4 cup of shredded cheese.
- Bake for 15 minutes, or until cheese is bubbling and top is the desired shade of golden brown.
Tasting Notes
The finished mac and cheese was very good. It was creamy and the cheese adhered to the pasta quite well. The cheese wasn’t overpowering by any means, and I almost wish it was a little more flavorful. Next time I might increase the amount of spices that were used, and perhaps add a little bit of garlic powder for just a little extra flavor.
The Verdict: Definitely would make this again, with a few minor adjustments. The base recipe has a lot of promise.
