{"id":5669,"date":"2025-08-22T16:50:02","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T16:50:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breckas.com\/?p=5669"},"modified":"2025-08-22T16:50:02","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T16:50:02","slug":"creamy-baked-mac-and-cheese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breckas.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/22\/creamy-baked-mac-and-cheese\/","title":{"rendered":"Creamy Baked Mac and Cheese"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Ingredients<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>1 pound (450 g) elbow macaroni (or any pasta you like)<\/li>\n<li>4 tablespoons (55 g) unsalted butter<\/li>\n<li>4 tablespoons all-purpose flour<\/li>\n<li>4 cups (950 ml) whole milk (warm)<\/li>\n<li>1 cup (240 ml) heavy cream<\/li>\n<li>1 teaspoon salt<\/li>\n<li>\u00bd teaspoon black pepper<\/li>\n<li>\u00bd teaspoon paprika (optional)<\/li>\n<li>2 cups (200 g) sharp cheddar cheese, shredded<\/li>\n<li>1 cup (100 g) mozzarella cheese, shredded<\/li>\n<li>\u00bd cup (50 g) Parmesan cheese, grated<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For topping (optional, crunchy finish):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>1 cup (100 g) breadcrumbs (panko works great)<\/li>\n<li>2 tablespoons butter, melted<\/li>\n<li>\u00bd teaspoon garlic powder<\/li>\n<li>\u00bc cup Parmesan cheese<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Instructions<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Cook pasta\n<ul>\n<li>Boil macaroni in salted water until al dente.<\/li>\n<li>Drain and set aside.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><\/li>\n<li>Make the cheese sauce\n<ul>\n<li>In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat.<\/li>\n<li>Add flour and whisk for 1\u20132 minutes to form a roux.<\/li>\n<li>Slowly pour in warm milk and cream, whisking constantly until smooth and thickened (about 5\u20136 minutes).<\/li>\n<li>Season with salt, pepper, and paprika.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><\/li>\n<li>Add cheeses\n<ul>\n<li>Remove from heat and stir in cheddar, mozzarella, and Parmesan until melted and creamy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><\/li>\n<li>Combine pasta and sauce\n<ul>\n<li>Mix cooked macaroni into the cheese sauce until fully coated.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><\/li>\n<li>Prepare topping (optional but delicious)\n<ul>\n<li>Mix breadcrumbs, melted butter, garlic powder, and Parmesan.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><\/li>\n<li>Bake\n<ul>\n<li>Transfer mac and cheese into a greased baking dish.<\/li>\n<li>Sprinkle breadcrumb topping evenly.<\/li>\n<li>Bake at 375\u00b0F (190\u00b0C) for 20\u201325 minutes until golden and bubbly.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><\/li>\n<li>Serve hot &amp; creamy \ud83e\udd44<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Ingredients 1 pound (450 g) elbow macaroni (or any pasta you like) 4 tablespoons (55 g) unsalted butter 4&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5670,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"slim_seo":{"title":"Creamy Baked Mac and Cheese - Grandma Baking Recipes","description":"&nbsp; Ingredients 1 pound (450 g) elbow macaroni (or any pasta you like) 4 tablespoons (55 g) unsalted butter 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour 4 cups (950 ml) w"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/breckas.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/breckas.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/breckas.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breckas.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breckas.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5669"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/breckas.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5671,"href":"https:\/\/breckas.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5669\/revisions\/5671"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breckas.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/breckas.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breckas.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breckas.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}