Baked Mac & Cheese
Brown buttered baked mac and cheese is all you’ll ever need!
The Ingredients | “Les Ingrédients”
One box of large shell pasta
4 Cups of sharp cheddar cheese, or 16 ounces or 452 g
3 Cups Milk
1/2 Cup of Butter or 115g
1/2 Cup Panko Bread Crumbs
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon paprika
1 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream
1/3 cup of all-purpose flour
The Steps| L’étape
Step 1: Cooking the pasta simply, following the instructions on the pasta container, is ideal. Just add 1 tablespoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the water while boiling, and cook on high heat on the stove, and bring to a boil. Have a collider prepared for the past once complete.
Step 2: Cook 3 cups of milk on the stove on medium heat. We are going to bring this right to a boil and scald the milk
Step 3: Add butter to a large pan or pot and brown on medium heat, or simply melt the butter. While the Butter is browning, preheat the oven to 375°F.
Step 4: Once the butter has browned or has completely melted, you were going to add 1/3 cup of all-purpose flour for approximately 3 to 4 minutes
Step 5: After your flour has cooked down into a beautiful room of a golden or copper brown, you will then add warmed milk. Begin to cook until the sauce begins thickening up 3 to 4 minutes
Step 6: Add ¼ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon pepper, ¼ teaspoon paprika, add cheese, and 1 cup of heavy cream
Step 7: Melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Once melted, add half a cup of breadcrumbs and repeat this process until you have as many toasted breadcrumbs as you desire for the top of your mac & cheese (Ideally, a light golden hue is perfect; anything darker may overcook the breadcrumbs in the oven during the finish bake. Once you have the desired color of your breadcrumbs, take them off the heat
Step 8: Add your mac & cheese to a baking dish and place the breadcrumbs on top of the mac & cheese. Here, you can add more cheese to your breadcrumbs if you desire
Depending on the browning of your breadcrumbs, if your breadcrumbs are slightly golden, bake at 375°F for 30 minutes; if your breadcrumbs are more golden brown, bake for 15 to 20 minutes, checking every 10 minutes until the desired color.
Allow to cool for roughly 10 minutes and then serve
