3 Cheese Baked Mac and Cheese

 3 Cheese Baked Mac and Cheese - The ultimate comfort food and more importantly, ultimately cheesy and delicious.

I bet if you asked 10 people what their absolute comfort food is at least half would say mac and cheese. Go ahead.  Ask.  You know I'm right.

People get funny about their mac and cheese though, you have to be careful.  Some love the crunchiness the top layer and edges can get from being in the oven, while others detest that.  I personally like a little crunch on top and super cheesy and creamy in the center.  Some love buttery crackers on top or perhaps breadcrumbs and others say no way to any sort of topping.

I am one of those who loves a buttery topping but I happened to find myself out of crackers, thanks to a certain 3 year old.  Because of a chicken parmesan dinner the other night, I was also out of bread crumbs.  I did find a bag of garlic and butter croutons in the panty so I closed up the bag and gave it a good whack with a mallet and instantly had a buttery, flavorful topping.  Now that I've done this sort of by accident, I think it's going to be my new go to topping because it worked out awesome.  Super crunchy and super flavorful.  Give it a try.  I'm even contemplating coating chicken in it.  Hmm, the possibilities are kind of endless.  I'm drifting...

When it comes to the cheese, I highly recommend buying it in block form and grating it yourself.  I don't know about where you live, but lately, my local grocery store charges a fortune for the bagged shredded cheese. 

I wanted to add some zip with the cheese but didn't want to go overboard with spice in case it was too much for the kids, so I went with some Pepper Jack, Seriously Sharp Cheddar and Colby Jack.  I really loved the blend.  I wanted to try the Habanero but I thought it would be too much for the wimps in my family.

Make sure you have the cheese all grated and ready to go because I made this starting with a roux and it moves quickly.  A roux is basically the base of most cream sauces, starting out with butter and flour and adding in milk.  Make sure you whisk, whisk, whisk to get out any lumps.

One last thing, even though I'm all about winging it and changing this, please make sure when you choose your pasta, it is a tubular type.  Cheese and flavor will ooze into those tubes and that is a good thing!

Baked mac and cheese can easily be the main dish but if you also live with a carnivore you can either add some diced cooked chicken right into the mix or serve it along side something like my Sweet & Spicy Boneless Chicken Thighs.

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3 Cheese Baked Mac and Cheese

Christine

5 from 3 votes

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Ingredients

  

• 16 oz Pipette Pasta or any other short tube pasta ie: elbows
• 3 T butter
• ¼ C flour all purpose
• 2 C milk
• ½ teaspoon dry mustard
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon onion powder
• ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• 1.5 C Sharp White Cheddar I use Seriously Sharp Cheddar
• 1.5 C Colby Jack
• 1.5 C Pepper Jack
• 1 C crushed croutons or buttered crackers Ritz

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 375.
• Cook pasta according to package directions, being sure to add salt to the cooking water. Drain and set aside.
• While pasta is cooking, melt butter in a pan over medium heat. Once melted stir in flour until it forms a paste. Allow to cook 1-2 minutes (this helps get rid of the flour flavor). Slowly pour in the milk while constantly whisking to break down lumps. Season the milk mixture with all seasonings. Allow to cook 3-5 minutes until starting to thicken up.
• Remove from heat and stir in cheeses.
• Prepare a 9x13 baking pan with butter or non stick spray. Place pasta in the baking pan and pour cheese mixture in with pasta. Stir to combine well.
• Sprinkle crouton crumbs over the top and bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

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