Mac & Cheese Pies

Macaroni and cheese is one of those old standbys that pretty much everyone with taste buds can love. I’ve had it so many different ways that when it was suggested to me that I make some as a side dish, I really had to dig to find something interesting to do with it. My digging yielded some tasty treasure in the form of baked mac & cheese pies – I’ve definitely never had mac & cheese like this before!

Recipe adapted from The Curvy Carrot

Difficulty: Relatively Easy
Active Prep Time: About 30 minutes
Total Prep Time: 1 hour
Special Equipment: Food Processor, Electric Hand Mixer (Optional)
Serves: 4 – 5

Ingredients:

• 1½ cups Ritz crackers, crushed (About 1 whole sleeve of crackers, crushed using a food processor)
• 2 cups white cheddar cheese, grated and divided
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 4 and 1/2 cups cooked elbow macaroni (about 8 ounces uncooked)
• 5 – 6 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
• 2 large eggs
• ½ cup milk
• ¼ cup sour cream
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• Pinch red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon crushed garlic
• 1 teaspoon Oregano
• Parsley, for garnish (Optional)

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF and begin boiling your macaroni.

2. Generously spray 4 cups of your muffin pan with cooking spray.

3. In a large bowl, combine the crushed Ritz crackers, 1 cup of the shredded white cheddar cheese, and the melted butter. Mix by hand until the mixture holds together and resembles coarse sand.

4. Divide the mixture among the 4 muffin cups and firmly press the crust into the bottoms and up the sides of each muffin cup.

5. In another bowl, add the cream cheese, 1 tablespoon of crushed garlic, and 1 tablespoon of Oregano. Mix until fully combined. Add ½ cup of the shredded white cheddar, the cream cheese, and the butter into the cooked macaroni, mixing well. You may need to add a small flame under the pot to help the cheese melt.

6. In a small bowl, combine the eggs, milk, sour cream, salt, and red pepper flakes, mixing well.

7. Add the egg/milk mixture to the cooked macaroni, mixing until all the ingredients are melted and smooth.

8. Place about 2-3 tablespoons of the macaroni mixture into each muffin cup (I put the leftovers in a casserole dish to be baked along with the pies)

9. Top each muffin cup with the remaining white cheddar.

10. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

11. Let cool slightly before removing from the muffin pan, garnish with parsley, and serve immediately.

Additional Notes:

• The original recipe calls for regular sized muffin tins, but I used extra large.
• The cracker crust seemed to crumble a lot when I removed them from the tins, so adding an extra tablespoon of butter may help with this. Alternatively, you could use mini ramekins.