For­get the box, for­get the pow­dered cheese & go for the real deal Home­made Mac­a­roni & Cheese.  I remem­ber the first time home­made mac­a­roni & cheese graced our table top, it was life chang­ing.  A day of con­ver­sion.  Cheesy good­ness wrapped in the ulti­mate com­fort food.  We have a cou­ple dif­fer­ent recipes for home­made mac­a­roni & cheese. See once you get a base recipe for mac­a­roni & cheese you can play with it, add dif­fer­ent cheeses, herbs & even meat.

Today I’m shar­ing what has to be the sim­plest ver­sion & per­fect for the cooler weather com­ing our way.

What You Need:

3 Cups of Shred­ded Mild Ched­dar Cheese

3 Cups of 2% or Whole Milk

3 Table­spoons of Butter

3 Table­spoons of Flour

1/2 Tea­spoon Salt

1/2 Tea­spoon Pepper

16 ounces (1 box) of Mac­a­roni Noodles

Top­ping:

1 Cup of Mild Ched­dar Cheese

1.5–2 Cups of Panko Bread Crumbs

2 Table­spoons of Butter

Bake for 30–35 min­utes at 350 Degrees.

Let cool before serving.

Serves 8.

How To Put It Together:

Boil your water with a pinch of salt.

After the water comes to a rolling boil add in your mac­a­roni and place. Bring it to a boil, cook for about 8 min­utes. Again do NOT over­cook your mac­a­roni noo­dles.  Al dente should have a lit­tle bite to them, over­cook­ing as I’ve men­tioned before is a sin.  A deadly sin. Of cook­ing any­way (you prob­a­bly don’t have to con­fess it, maybe).

Alright in another pan add in your 3 table­spoons of but­ter & your 3 table­spoons of flour.  Cook these together for about 3 min­utes on medium heat. Whisk these together, what you want to do with this is form a roux.  Your roux will become thick & it will be the thick­en­ing agent for your sauce.

After you do this now add in the 3 cups of milk & reduce to a low-heat.  Whisk these together until thick and bubbly.

Add in your 3 cups of mild ched­dar.  Whisk until these are fully melted & incor­po­rated into your sauce.  It will be thick sauce of cheesy good­ness waft­ing to your nose.

OK, now for your top­ping.  Easy. Just  melt 2 table­spoons but­ter and mix in panko bread crumbs until the but­ter coats the bread crumbs fully.

Mix together your mac­a­roni & cheese sauce.

Place mac­a­roni mix­ture in a 13 by 9 bak­ing dish.

Then add a layer of 1 cup of mild ched­dar.  After this add your panko bread crumb topping.

Pop it in the oven at 350 Degrees for 30–35 min­utes, until bub­bly & golden brown.

Let it cool, then devour it with all the gusto any good com­fort food should be devoured.

{ 11 comments }