Baked White Cheddar Mac and Cheese

There's not much better than a big bowl of hot, ooey-gooey macaroni and cheese.

The great thing about mac and cheese is how versatile it is. It's one of my favorite comfort foods during the cold winter months, but it's also a great side dish for summer BBQs.

While all mac and cheese is delicious, you're going to especially love this homemade white cheddar version. It's an easy recipe to follow that has a delicious rich white sauce all over the noodles.

Trust me, you won't even want the boxed version anymore!

• Tips for making the best homemade mac and cheese, including what cheese melts well.
• The French mother sauce that's used to make the creamy cheese sauce for macaroni.
• How to customize this recipe to make it your own with various mix-ins or toppings.

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• Fusilli pasta: Something about spiral fusilli pasta makes this white cheddar mac and cheese so much more fun! Another type of pasta such as elbow macaroni, cavatappi, or rotini would also be great noodles for this dish.
• Unsalted butter: The butter is used as part of the base for the béchamel sauce as well as the pretzel topping. If you prefer a saltier dish, you can substitute salted butter.
• All purpose flour: Flour is key to creating a thick and creamy sauce. A gluten free 1:1 flour substitute will also work in this recipe.
• Whole milk: The additional fat in whole milk is so important for the béchamel cheese sauce. Don't try to use a lower fat content or plant-based milk for this recipe.
• Gouda cheese: The key to good mac and cheese is high-quality cheese. Be sure it's freshly grated. The pre-shredded cheese at the grocery store has an anti-caking agent that doesn't allow it to melt as easily as freshly grated cheese.
• Sharp white cheddar cheese: A white sharp cheddar provides some of the best flavor; however, if you'd prefer, you can substitute for yellow cheddar cheese.
• Pretzels: This is the base for the mac and cheese topping. The pretzels add the perfect salty bite and crunch on top.
• Garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and onion powder: All of these spices go into the pretzel topping. It adds a great flavor to the entire dish.

Mise en place is a French word that roughly translates to 'put in place.' Before you begin cooking this recipe, you should get all of your ingredients prepared and 'put in place' on the counter, so you're ready to cook. These preparation tasks include:

• Grating the cheese.
• Measuring out all of the ingredients.
• Grabbing the kitchen tools you'll need.

Start out by cooking the fusilli pasta according to the package instructions until it's al dente. Don't overcook the pasta at this stage since the white mac and cheese will be baked all together in the oven.

The base of any macaroni and cheese is a classic French mother sauce called béchamel. It's one of the most basic sauces to master. With some practice, you'll be making delicious homemade mac and cheese in no time!

A properly made mac and cheese sauce is rich, creamy, and doesn't contain any lumps or graininess. In order to achieve this, we're going to make a béchamel sauce and add some cheese. Technically, this means we made a Mornay sauce, which is the French term for cheese sauce.

To make a béchamel sauce, we'll need to first melt butter in a saucepan. This whole process should be done over low to medium heat. Low and slow is important for making béchamel.

Once melted (make sure the butter doesn't brown), add in the flour and whisk together for a few minutes. We want to ensure the butter and flour are incorporated, and the raw flour taste can cook off.

From there, add in cold milk, and continue to whisk until the milk is steaming but not boiling. Remove the saucepan from the heat, then slowly add the freshly grated cheese. It takes some patience, but nothing about this process is hard - I promise!

This baked cheddar mac and cheese is topped with a unique crust that's made with pretzels. It adds a nice crust and texture to the dish.

To make the topping, simply pulse the pretzels, some spices, and butter in a food processor. Sprinkle that on top of the mac and cheese and then it's ready to bake!

Homemade macaroni & cheese is so rewarding. It takes some love and a little bit of work, but it's definitely worth the effort. Here are some tips for the best mac and cheese:

• Don't overcook the pasta. It should cook to al dente (still slightly stiff in the middle). The pasta will finish cooking in the oven. Overdone pasta will turn mushy when it absorbs the cheese sauce, so don't over-boil the noodles.
• In order to avoid gritty macaroni and cheese, you'll want to make sure you are adding cold milk to your hot roux (flour and butter mixture). Also equally as important, make sure you are continuously whisking the béchamel sauce throughout the whole cooking process.
• Keep a careful eye on the milk to ensure it doesn't start to boil. Milk boils really quickly compared to other liquids. To avoid a burnt, overcooked flavor, keep an eye on the milk the whole time.
• Remember to remove the saucepan from the heat before adding cheese. We want the cheese to melt nice and slow.

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