Super Creamy Mac 'n Cheese

I sort of feel like Sandra Lee with this recipe: semi-homemade. It is much faster than making macaroni and cheese from scratch (make a rue, build a sauce, temper the egg(s), etc.), and is better than the boxed stuff. It's a great in-between recipe and has fewer mystery ingredients than the box. 

I found this recipe via Pinterest, and I'm a sucker for good mac 'n cheese, so it was really a no-brainer. Full recipe at Clever Crafty Cookin Mama, and fantastic photos of the process.

Gather your ingredients - pasta, cheese, cheddar cheese soup, evaporated milk, butter, and salt & pepper

Did you see that my salt is called "Magic Unicorn salt" in the picture? It is an awesome blend from Beautiful Briny Sea. This is my favorite of their blends since it goes well with everything.

Get the details after the jump

The rest of the directions are pretty much like making a box. Boil the pasta, drain and return to the pot, add the butter, then the components of the sauce (soup mix, milk, and cheese in this case), mix, and season to taste.

One of the things that makes this recipe great is that you can splurge on really nice cheddar cheese. I used Tilamook Aged White Cheddar, Extra Sharp of course!

Check out that creaminess

Aside from the salt and pepper, I added a pinch of mustard powder, because that's how I roll. (Plus it is the key ingredient in macaroni and cheese made from scratch.)

Verdict: delicious! It is creamy like a box mix with a foil packet (thank you cheddar soup and evaporated milk!) and has a depth of flavor like recipes made from scratch (thank you aged white cheddar). For me, this was the best of both worlds.

Now instead of keeping a few box mixes handing for emergency mac 'n cheese cravings, I will be keeping a few cans of cheddar soup and evaporated milk to whip up this recipe.