Mini Baked Mac And Cheese

Mini baked mac and cheese is really a treat, the best part about them is no sharing necessary. I love making this mac and cheese recipe in the Staub cocotte’s because they are ridiculously cute! I eat with my eye first and presentation is everything so elevating my mac and cheese recipe to be presented in these cocotte’s was a dream!

i have several baked mac and cheese variations on my site already but I figured what’s another update? You guys seem to really love making mac and cheese in different ways just like me so I wanted to share my latest tweaks. There’s no shortage of boursin cheese going around lately and I’ve been picking up different flavors every time I see them in the grocery store. The latest one I discovered was the shallot and chive flavor.

Let me tell you something, the flavor was explosive! It really elevated my mini baked mac and cheese recipe to the next level. The depth of flavor was insane. The cheese makes the sauce super creamy without the need of adding a bunch of different shredded cheeses. Don’t get me wrong, that’s my favorite way to have traditional baked mac and cheese but for a quick switch up this was it! A lot of you guessed that I used boursin cheese when I asked on instagram in this post but no one guessed the right flavor. If you happen to come across the shallot and chive flavor it’s a must try.

I enjoyed making this recipe and I hope you will enjoy making it as well. If you don’t have individual cocotte’s to bake the mac and cheese in no worries, just use your regular 2 qt. baking dish and you’ll be ok. Regular oven-safe ramekins work great too for a nice switch up.

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Mini Baked Mac and Cheese

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 35 minutes minutes

Ingredients

• 2 cups elbow noodles
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1 cup regular milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tsp fresh rosemary
• 1/2 small shallot, diced
• 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar plus more to top each cocotte
• 1 Boursin Shallot & Chive Gournay Cheese package
• 1 tsp Brown Girl Spice Asili Glam Blend
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• chopped chives for garnish

Instructions

• Heat oven to 375 degrees
• Cook elbow macaroni noodles to al dente according to package instructions
• In a non stick skillet, melt butter on medium high heat and saute shallots with rosemary
• Add flour and mix throughly for a minute
• Turn heat to medium low and add miilk and heavy cream and bring to a light simmer, do not boil as this will seperate the cream and create an oily mess
• Turn heat to low and add cheese and stir until dissolved
• Season sauce with Brown Girl Spice Asili Glam blend plus salt and pepper to taste and stir
• Turn off heat and taste saue and asjust salt accordinly. To test if sauce is done, use a metal spoon and dip it in the sauce. Draw a line with your finger down the back of the spoon and if the line does not dissapear the sauce is done. If the line dissaperas continue to simmer the sauce on low heat until the line is achieved.
• Reserve half a cup of pasta water to use to loosen sauce as needed
• Combine strained noodles with sauce and stir gently to combine
• Fill 4 cocotte's with the mac and cheese, top with shredded cheddar and fresh chives and bake at 375 for 20 minutes
• Turn oven to broil and alllow the tops of the cheese to carmalize, about a minute
• Allow mac and cheese to cool and serve after 10 minutes

Notes

You can use any melty cheese you desire with this recipe but the boursin cheese really takes it up a notch, don’t skip that one! 

The key to a silky smooth cheese sauce is just to keep stirring. Be sure to stir at every step and keep the heat controlled. If the heat gets too high at any point the cheese sauce will separate and you will have an oily mess. 

Depending on noodle size you might have too little sauce, a trick to stretch the sauce is just to add a little more milk. Keep another cup of milk on hand for this. 

If you don’t have the Asili Glam blend use your favorite all purpose blend that you have on hand. 

Grab your Staub cocotte’s here. You can also shop the latest Brown Girl Spice box here.

P.S. Check out my last post here.