Baked Mac & Cheese Bites
The perfect appetizer for holidays or football season. Try this as a side with your favorite meal.
Equipment
- 2 24 mini cup muffin tin or 12 standard cup muffin tin
- pastry brush
- large pot
- measuring cup & spoons
- Medium sauce pan
- whisk
- 1 1/2 inch cookie scoop
Ingredients
- 8 oz small uncooked pasta (elbow or shells work well)
- 1/2 TBS salt, for pasta
- 4 TBS butter, DIVIDED
- 2 tsp minced garlic
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
- 2 TBS all-purpose flour
- 1 cup evaporated milk or regular milk
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 1/4 cup italian bread crumbs
- dried or fresh parsley, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin tins with 1 TBS butter using a pastry brush.. (2 (24 cup) mini muffin tins or 2 (12 cup) standard muffin tins. Set aside.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add in salt & uncooked pasta. Stir for 1 minute. Cook per instructions on back of package for al dente. Drain pasta, set aside.
- While pasta is cooking, melt 3 TBS butter in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Stir in garlic for 1 minute. Whisk in flour, salt, pepper, and paprika for 2 minutes.
- Slowly whisk in milk and bring to a boil over medium high heat.
- Turn off the heat and stir in cheese until combined. (Mixture may be chunky, which is fine.) Stir in drained, cooked pasta.
- Place 1 scoop of mac & cheese into each mini muffin cup using a 1 1/2 inch cookie scoop or 2 TBS worth. Press mixture down. Sprinkle Italian bread crumbs on top of each mound of mac & cheese.NOTE: if using the standard muffin tins, fill all the way up.
- Bake in preheated oven for 18-20 minutes until golden brown for the minis. For the standard, bake for 25-30 minutes. Let sit in pan for 5 minutes before removing. NOTE: if they stick, use a buttered knife to remove them to a platter.
- Sprinkle with fresh or dried parsley for a garnish. Enjoy.