My Favorite Baked Mac And Cheese _ Simply Mamá Cooks

Today , I'm making baked mac and cheese .

This is going to have a gooey cheesy center and a crispy cheese crust on top to start .

I already have my water boiling .

This is somewhere between 2.5 to 3 quarts of water that I've boiled .

You could add a tablespoon of salt to this .

I'm going to add a tablespoon and a half of chicken boon powder .

So once it comes back up to boil , I'm going to give that a mix and add eight ounces of elbow macaroni .

Now , if you want a larger portion of baked mac and cheese to fit in a nine by 13 baking dish , you're gonna have to double this recipe today .

I'm just making this for 2 to 3 people .

So eight ounces of Elbow macaroni going in , I'm going to give it a mix and let that boil and cook for somewhere between 8 to 10 minutes .

I'm also going to reserve a quarter of a cup of this pasta water .

I'm going to temper my egg with this for the cheese sauce here over a low heat .

I have my small pot preheating .

I'm going to add one tablespoon of salted butter .

If I had unsalted butter , I would add a pinch of salt to this .

Now , I'm going to add a half teaspoon of paprika and a quarter teaspoon of onion powder .

Now , the paprika that I'm using is smoked paprika , but regular works .

I just like the smoky flavor of that .

So give that a mix .

Now , I'm going to add a softened four ounces of cream cheese , you can also use sour cream and if you don't like the tanginess of those two , then you can maybe add Mars Capon cheese , it's up to you .

So I'm gonna give that a mix combine and let that melt down and get creamy and smooth like this .

Now , I'm going to add eight ounces of Velveeta cheese .

This is American processed cheese and eight fluid ounces of heavy cream .

I'm just going to combine mix until it's melty and creamy like this .

By the way , I did drain my elbow macaroni and it's set aside .

Ok .

So I'm going to add a handful of shredded mild cheddar cheese and the rest I'm gonna reserve for the cheese crust on top and that's eight ounces that I shredded .

So I'm gonna give that a mix and I'm really not gonna melt down the cheese at this point .

It'll get melty and gooey when it bakes , but this is done .

Ok .

So to set and bind my elbow macaroni , I'm going to use one large egg and I'm going to break this into the warm quarter cup of that pasta water .

It did kind of get warm and I'm just going to mix and combine .

This is going to temper the egg .

So when I add it to the hot elbow macaroni , it doesn't curdle and start to cook .

So going right into my pot of elbow macaroni and I'm just going to mix well , you could also add a pinch of salt or seasoned salt to your elbow macaroni at this point , but it's fine .

So now I'm going to pour in that cheese sauce and just combine and mix .

I'm going to be baking this in a medium sized baking dish at least 1.75 to 2 quart baking dish .

And I've already buttered it with a tablespoon of softened butter .

So all of my macaroni mixture is going in , I'm gonna smooth it out and now I'm just gonna add all of that shredded cheese on top .

I will be baking this in a preheated oven at 400 °F uncovered for about 30 to 35 minutes or until everything is bubbly and golden brown on top , just like this .

So once it looks like this , it's ready to set on your counter .

So I'm going to let this set for at least 10 to 15 minutes .

And after that , you can cut into it and serve .

I hope you give this recipe a try .

I hope you like it .

And thanks for watching .