Baked Macaroni & Cheese

Are you ready for Thanksgiving?! We cannot wait to gather our loved ones around the table and share all the amazing things God has done for us this year. Oh, and eat all the food! Today’s Tasty Tuesday is a favorite farm recipe of ours—Baked Macaroni and Cheese!

It is possible to celebrate Thanksgiving without a delicious Mac and Cheese… but we wouldn’t recommend it.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients—

For the Macaroni—

16 oz. Elbow Macaroni Pasta

1 TBSP. Salt

2 TBSP. Butter

For the Sauce—

6 oz. Cream Cheese

1.5 Cups Shredded Sharp or White Cheddar

1.5 Cups Shredded Smoked Gouda

3 Cups Whole Milk

1 tsp. Pepper

1 tsp. Salt

1 tsp. Mustard Powder

1 tsp. Paprika

1 tsp. Garlic Powder

1 tsp. Celery Seed

½ tsp. Turmeric Powder

For the Topping—

3 TBSP. Melted Butter

1 Cup Panko Breadcrumbs

1/3 Cup Shredded Parmesan Cheese

Salt and Pepper to Taste

1 tsp. Paprika

1 tsp. Cayenne (optional)

**Garnish with chopped parsley or chives

**Additional ingredients to mix in when you add the pasta to the sauce—diced tomatoes, pancetta, crumbled bacon, diced jalapenos, or whatever else you think your loved ones would enjoy. This is just a base recipe, feel free to embellish however you please.

Directions—

Step #1—

Grease a 9x13 baking dish. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add macaroni and salt to boiling water. Cook until pasta is al dente. (About a minute or two less than the box directions.) Once cooked to desired firmness, drain pasta in colander. Melt butter in the same pot used to cook pasta. Add pasta back to pot and coat with melted butter. Remove from heat.

Step #2—

While water is coming to a boil, make the topping. In a small bowl, melt 3 TBSP of butter. Add panko, parmesan, salt, pepper, paprika and cayenne. Stir until fully combined. Set aside.

 Step #3—

 Once topping and pasta are made, make the sauce. In a large stock pot or Dutch oven, add the cream cheese, 1 cup of milk and all the spices. Heat over medium high heat, smashing the cream cheese with a spatula until pieces are about the size of a nickel. Then whisk the milk/cream cheese mixture until it’s smooth and thick and no cream cheese chunks remain. Whisk in the remaining milk. Then add shredded cheese 1 cup at a time. Make sure shredded cheese is well combined before adding more.

 Step #4—

Once sauce is thick and smooth, about the texture of whipping cream, add the pasta to the sauce. Stir to coat. It will be soupy, but that’s okay. That’s what you want. Transfer pasta and sauce to prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the panko mixture over the top of the mac and cheese. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the edges are bubbling. Cool for about 10 minutes before serving to your guests. Gobble it up with the rest of your Thanksgiving feast. Be the mac and cheese hero everyone has been waiting for.