I will give this 5 stars for presentation! They look great. However, just by reading the ingredients I could tell they would be bland so I added some spices to my preference like garlic powder, onion powder, salt and Pepper to the pasta. Because my true favorite recipe for Mac & cheese has cottage cheese and Parmesan cheese in it, I thought I'd add them too! I am glad I did. So, I can't really rate this recipe as written because I tweaked it too much, but baking them in the muffin pan is a brilliant idea and it went over well with my daughter who only likes the boxed process kind...untill now! thanks.
I wanted to make something special for my son's first day of Kindergarden. This fit the bill perfectly. I used 8 oz. extra sharp white cheddar, 4 oz. sharp cheddar and 4 oz. grated parmesan cheese. I sauteed a little garlic in with the butter, then added the milk and eggs. For me, this made 16 large mac and cheese muffins. More than enough for a couple lunches or dinner warmups. My son was impressed with handheld macaroni and cheese. I'll make this again for another special occasion. EDITED TO ADD: My family at all 16 mac and cheese muffins. This was a huge hit. Think about making it my way. You'll thank me.
The mac and cheese is no doubt bland - but, that can be fixed. I too like the idea of using muffin tins to cook this. Makes lovely individually sized servings and you really can't find anything more simplistic than this. I froze them and have found they make perfect lunch time treats. As for the mac itself, I admit that I doctored it up quite a bit to make it better. Add black pepper, more cheese and even a dash of garlic powder. I also added some sour cream to the noodle mixture and it comes out tasting creamy and delicious. Thank you for the recipe.
I made these for my son's Christening, as I wanted to serve comfort food, but not a box of store-bought mac and cheese! My husband and I did a few test runs before the big event, just to work out any kinks. We finalized the recipe by using 3 cups of sharp cheddar (instead of the 1.5 cups) and adding an extra 1/2 cup of milk (total of 1.5 cups of milk used), because we thought they were a little dry and bland with the basic recipe. I also added salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika to the mixture before putting it into the cupcake pan. To get the best results, we used foil cupcake liners, so they came out easily and were a little more individualized for our guests. They came out amazing, and were a huge hit with everyone! The were gooey and had great cheesy flavor! My mom (who is known for her baked mac and cheese) asked me for the recipe for Thanksgiving! Thanks for the fun twist on a classic family dish! :)
First I have to say my 6 year old son gobbled this up! He loved it! However it was a little bland for me and the breadcrumb topping was salty. I followed the recipe without any change. On the positive side it was creamy yet kept a good muffin form. Next time I will lessen the salt in the crumb topping and maybe add a little salt in the mac mixture instead. This was such a fun food! Thank you. EDIT: I'm back to add an afterthought. I heated these up the next day and I have to say they reheat very well. They weren't bland the next day. It seems to be that this is a great "make-ahead" meal. Delicious!
At first I was a little skeptical because of the other posts. I was expecting something super bland but I thought I would try it as is and I actually really liked it as did my kids. They usually do not like strong flavors/spices so this was perfect. real easy and fun too!
This dish is always a big hit - of course, I tweek it to make it a little more flavorfull by adding garlic pepper and seasoned salt to the eggs, chicken bouillon to the boiling macaroni water, and sub one cup of parmasean cheese. I also add half the bread crumb mixture to the macaroni mixture itself to help make it more "muffin-y". If you spray the crumb topping with cooking spray before baking, it will crisp up better.
For the most part I enjoyed these but there were less of a hit with the kiddos than I thought - a few of the pasta corners got crunchy which they did not like. I think that next time I will cover with foil until the last few minutes and see if they are more gooier.
The best mac'n'cheese recipe I've made. The only thing I added to the recipe was a Tbs. of ground mustard. So delicious!
I questioned the use of mozzerella cheese in this receipe but I tried it anyway. The mozzerella does not melt like cheddar cheese. I could not get it blended in. It is way too stringy to use in mac and cheese.
