Baked Macaroni and Cheese (Mac and Cheese)
An iconic American food, tender elbow macaroni nestled in a cheesy savory custard and topped with extra cheese for the ultimate "cheese pull" in every bite!
Servings 6 servings
Ingredients
- 8 ounces elbow macaroni dried
- 12 ounces mild cheddar cheese
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 6 ounces pasta cooking water see instructions below
- salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Boil 1 quart of water in a sauce pot.
- Add macaroni and salt and stir well. Cook, stirring occasionally until just shy of al dente, about 4 to 5 minutes for elbow macaroni.
- Reserve 6 ounces of pasta water and then drain the pasta and pour into an 8x8 baking dish.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Shred cheese with a hand/box grater or with the grater attachment on a food processor. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, make the custard by whisking together eggs, milk, salt and pepper until combined. Continuing to whisk, pour in the still warm pasta water, (whisking constantly to avoid cooking the eggs).
- Pour the custard mixture onto the pasta along with two-thirds of the grated cheese and gently stir to combine. Press the pasta down to form an even layer and top with the remaining grated cheese.
- Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 to 35 minutes.
- Remove the foil, and bake for another 10 minutes and then turn on the broiler and broil for 2 to 3 minutes, or until golden brown. NOTE: every broiler can be a bit different so when you switch to broiler mode, don't walk away from the oven and peak at the macaroni every minute to make sure it's not getting too browned.
- Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes and then serve and enjoy. It'll still be pretty hot at this point so you may want to let it cool longer but I love how stretchy the cheese is and I just blow on each bite from my plate if it's too hot. Read: it's like a hot slice of pizza - I think we all know what that's like, lol!