Baked Mac Cheese Cups Recipes

MAC & CHEESE CUPS (CUPCAKES)

Steps:

• Adjust oven rack to the middle position. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray your muffin tin with nonstick spray.
• Over low heat, melt butter. Once melted, add breadcrumbs, and garlic powder. Continuously stir crumbs until they are lightly browned. Remove from heat and set aside.
• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil, and add your macaroni. Cook for about 8-10 minutes or until al dente. You do not want to overboil your noodles or they will be gummy.
• Remove pasta from heat and strain out excess water. Return pasta to the pan. Add the butter, milk, spices, cheeses, and egg. Mix until cheese is melted and everything is evenly combined.
• Using an ice cream scooper, fill coated muffin tins with macaroni and cheese. Sprinkle on an even amount of panko crumbs to each muffin.
• Bake cups for 25-30 minutes. Cups will be golden brown and feel formed to the touch.
• Allow cups to cool for at least 15 minutes before carefully popping them out.

MAC AND CHEESE BITES

Steps:

• Grease a nonstick mini muffin pan very well with butter or nonstick cooking spray. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Bring a pot of salted water to a boil over high heat, then cook the pasta for 2 minutes less than the package says. My elbow macaroni said to cook for 7 minutes, so I drained it after 5.
• After you've cooked and drained the pasta, return the empty pasta pot to the heat and turn the heat down to medium. Melt the butter and add the paprika. Add the flour and stir the mixture around for 2 minutes. While whisking, add the milk. The mixture will be very thick, but that's intentional. Just make sure you have stirred out any lumps. Remove the pot from the heat and add the cheeses and drained pasta, stirring it all together until the cheese and sauce are well distributed.
• Portion your mac and cheese into the muffin cups, either with a spoon or a 3-tbsp cookie scoop. Pack the mac and cheese into the muffin cups with your fingers really well. If you don't pack the mac and cheese down, they won't hold their shape when you take them out after baking, and you don't want them to fall apart.
• Bake the mac and cheese cups for 15 minutes, until bubbling and gooey. Remove them to a wire rack to cool for at least 10 minutes, then carefully run a plastic knife or toothpick (assuming you need to not destroy the nonstick coating on your pan) around the edges to loosen. Remove the mac and cheese cups from the pan and garnish with chopped chives or scallion greens. Enjoy!

MAC AND CHEESE CUPS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a 12-cup standard muffin tin with paper liners or coat with nonstick spray; set aside. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; drain well. To make the topping, combine Panko, Parmesan and olive oil; set aside. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic, and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. Whisk in flour until lightly browned, about 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, whisking constantly, until thickened, about 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in cheese until melted, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in egg and pasta, and gently toss to combine; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Scoop the pasta mixture evenly into the muffin tray. Sprinkle with reserved topping. Place into oven and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve immediately, garnished with chives, if desired.

MUFFIN-TIN MAC AND CHEESE CUPS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 425°F. Place foil muffin liner in each of 12 regular-size muffin cups. Spray liners with cooking spray. Cook macaroni as directed on package; drain, and set aside.
• Meanwhile, in 4-quart saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat. Add flour, salt and pepper; cook and beat with whisk 1 to 2 minutes or until thickened. Slowly beat in milk. Heat just to boiling, stirring frequently. Remove from heat. Stir in cheese. Stir in macaroni. Divide mixture evenly among cups.
• In medium microwavable bowl, microwave remaining 2 tablespoons butter uncovered on High 60 to 90 seconds or until melted. Stir in bread crumbs and parsley. Spoon on top of mixture in cups. Gently press.
• Bake 18 to 22 minutes or until bread crumb mixture is golden brown. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.