Here it is!!! My mom’s recipe for her Mac and Cheese. I could surround this post with a bunch of pomp and circumstance, but let’s just cut to the chase and get down to the recipe. The only thing I will say about it, is if you were to look up the word ‘indulgence’ in the dictionary, a picture of this mac and cheese would be next to the meaning. It is far from lite, friends, so try to look past some of the full flavored ingredients. Enjoy, enjoy, ENJOY!!!
Mom’s Mac and Cheese
SERVES 6-8 PrintDownloadIngredients
- 1 16 oz box of elbow macaroni noodles
- 1 8 oz block of white cheddar cheese
- 2-3 12 oz cans of evaporated milk
- 5 Tbsp of butter
- 3 eggs
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add about one teaspoon of salt to the boiling water and add the pasta. Cook for about 7-10 minutes until it's al dente. Make sure not to overcook the noodles since you'll be baking them as well.
- Drain the pasta and dump it into a 9x12 baking dish. Add the butter to the hot noodles, stirring it around to allow it to melt.
- In a mixing bowl, open 2 cans of milk, pour them in the bowl and whisk in the 3 eggs.
- Grate 3/4 of the block of cheese and add it to the milk mixture. Add about 1/4 teaspoon of salt and pepper. Mix well. Pour the mixture over the noodles and make sure it's all combined.
- Slice the remaining cheese and place it on top of the casserole.
- If it looks a little too dry, open the third can of milk and pour a little of it over the casserole just to make sure it comes out super creamy. Bake uncovered at 350 for 45 minutes-1 hour. The top should be bubbly and browned.
- You can make this about a day ahead. Follow all the directions up to placing the cheese on top of the casserole. Cover with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge. About a half hour before baking, remove it from the fridge and let it come up to almost room temperature. Pour about half a can of milk over top and move the noodles around so that the milk doesn't sit on top of the casserole. Bake it as noted above.
- Just a couple of notes:
- *USE WHITE CHEDDAR!! This will make all the difference in the taste of your mac and cheese.
- *If you don't love the idea of evaporated milk in a can, you can make your own. Evaporated milk is milk that has had about 60% of the water removed from it, so simply simmer milk until it reduces by a little more than half. It's easily done at home on your own stove, it just takes a little extra time. For the amount of evaporated milk you'd need for this recipe, I would start with about 6-7 cups of whole milk. You'll end up with about 3 cups of evaporated milk after it reduces.