Homemade Baked Macaroni & Cheese

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I've never made real, honest-to-goodness macaroni and cheese that didn't come out of a blue box before. But I've been thinking about doing so a lot lately. And today was just one of those days where it really hits you that it's fall. I was legitimately cold all day yesterday, and today I even contemplated turning on the heat as my thermostat continued to read lower and lower temps! (Side note: Can you believe that?! It's early September!) So, I kept thinking about a nice warm bowl of REAL mac and cheese. And then, wouldn't you know it, I open up Pinterest on my phone, and the pin at the very top of my feed is for a delicious looking bowl of, you guessed it, Macaroni and cheese.

That pretty much settled it.

I used this "Copycat Panera Mac & Cheese" recipe from my Pinterest feed as inspiration and modified it from there to suit what I was wanting, specifically a baked macaroni and cheese with bread crumbs on top.

This is the delicious bowl of macaroni and cheese I ended up with... perfect for a cozy meal on a cool, fall day!



We begin by making the cheese sauce. And that begins by melting some butter in a medium sized pot over the stove.


Once the butter has melted, whisk in flour and cook for one minute over medium high heat.


Reduce heat to medium and add milk, cream and seasonings. 



While the sauce is cooking (and whisking), cook cellentani noodles according to package directions. Set aside.


Once the sauce has begun to bubble and thicken, reduce heat to low and add cheddar cheese chunks to the sauce.

Originally, I was planning to use white cheddar cheese, however, when I got to the grocery store I found that white cheddar cheese was going to be double the cost. I did a quick Google search on my phone and found out that there really isn't a significant difference between white and yellow cheddar. So I saved a little and went with the yellow cheddar.



Begin mixing in the cheddar cheese and mix until it melts into the sauce.




Pour the cheese sauce mixture over your noodles and stir to coat.


Pour macaroni and cheese into a 9 x 13" casserole dish.


Sprinkle bread crumbs over the top of the macaroni and cheese and place in preheated oven.


Bake at 375* F for 30 minutes. Serve.


Doesn't this look delicious?


Homemade Baked Macaroni & Cheese

Ingredients:

1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
8 oz. heavy cream
16 oz. cheddar cheese, cut into pieces
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 lb. cooked cellentani noodles
1/2 cup bread crumbs

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375* F.

Cook cellentani noodles according to package directions and set aside.

Heat butter over medium high heat. Whisk in flour and cook for one minute. Reduce heat to medium and stir in milk, cream, salt, pepper and mustard. Stir until sauce begins to bubble.

Add in chunks of cheddar cheese and stir until cheese melts into sauce. Allow sauce to sit for a few minutes to thicken. Pour over cooked noodles and stir to coat.

Pour macaroni and cheese into a 9 x 13" casserole dish. Sprinkle breadcrumbs over the top.

Bake for 30 minutes. Serve.

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