Mac and Cheese Bites: CRAZY COOKING CHALLENGE

CRAZY COOKING CHALLENGE #1
Macaroni and Cheese

This is the very first post of this brand new cooking challenge. If you are interested in learning more about it go here to the CRAZY COOKING CHALLENGE information tab. But, what it is, is that a group of exclusive bloggers come together one day a month and make the same recipe. And YOU CAN JOIN TOO! Just click on over and join the CRAZY COOKING CHALLENGE, next month we will be searching for the ULTIMATE Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe. Come on and join us... but now onto this month's challenge MACARONI and CHEESE.

I am so excited about starting this and equally excited that we have almost 70 bloggers taking part in this awesome challenge. This is the first month and we are on a quest to find the ULTIMATE MACARONI & CHEESE recipe. All 70 of us bloggers set out into "Blog World" in search of a macaroni and cheese recipe. We all cooked the same type of recipe, and are all posting at the same time. This is so that all of you can see so many amazing recipes for Macaroni & Cheese all in one place, and we need your help to VOTE!

I love reading blogs, I would say it's now one of my favorite past times. I can sit at work all day long and get lost in reading recipe after recipe in blog world. (yes, family business. as long as my work is done, all I need to do is man the phones) I read so many that I just print out recipes I want to make as I come across them because there is no way I would ever be able to find them again, as I click from one to another to another, with each one pointing me to a new and exciting recipe.

For this first challenge I decided that Macaroni & Cheese would be an all time favorite of almost any family and what better way to kick off the Crazy Cooking Challenge then America's Favorite side dish.

Now, I do have my families favorite Macaroni & Cheese recipes already posted here on MOMS CRAZY COOKING, Easy Homemade Macaroni & Cheese & Kraft Macaroni & Cheese with Sweet Potatoes, but the ENTIRE point of this CRAZY COOKING CHALLENGE is to look beyond your normal recipes and look out into blog world and find a NEW recipe to try.

I went directly to my cooking file (that extra large box of all the thousands of papers I've printed off. Yes this is it and that new pile on top is just from the last month or so). I went there and looked up Macaroni & Cheese and yep, I had two recipes just waiting to be made, by two awesome bloggers Mac and Cheese Bites from Dinners for a Year and Beyond and Ranch Mac & Cheese from The Cutting Edge of Ordinary, well for no other reason then just picking out of a hat (and just because they were a little bit different then the norm) I choose Mac and Cheese Bites from Dinners for a Year and Beyond.

I came across this blog over a year ago, I have been following ever since and I also am a facebook friend too, funny how we are friends with so many people who don't really even know we exist. Amy is the blog owner of Dinners for a Year and Beyond, and I've gotten to know her only through her, facebook page, her blog and her "about" page. I love her humor and I am always reading on facebook what her newest recipes are for her latest clients, she is a personal chef Eat! A Personal Chef Service. This has got to be the coolest job ever, when I grow up, this is exactly what I want to do, go into peoples house cook lots of meals for them and then vanish. It sounds like so much fun. But for now I will just continue to bake, cook and eat with my own family of 6.

Mac and Cheese Bites
found on Dinners for a Year and Beyond, she adapted from a recipe Food & Wine Magazine

1 1/2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
3/4 cup milk
1 1/2 cups, packed, sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated, plus more for sprinkling on top
3 large egg yolks
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp nutmeg, freshly grated
1/2 pound elbow macaroni, cooked and drained

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray a 24-count, nonstick mini muffin pan with cooking spray. Set aside.

In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook for about 1 minute. Whisk in the milk and bring to a boil. Cook, whisking occasionally, for about 2 -3 minutes until thickened. Add cheddar and Parmesan cheeses and stir to melt. Remove from heat and stir in egg yolks, salt and nutmeg. Stir in macaroni.

Spoon slightly rounded tablespoons of macaroni and cheese into the prepared mini muffin pan. Each cup should be filled to the top. Pack each one down gently. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese.

Bake for about 10 minutes, until golden and sizzling. Let cool for 10 - 15 minutes. Using a teaspoon, carefully loosen the mac and cheese bites and transfer to a platter to serve.

To make ahead, bake and cool mac and cheese bites. Sprinkle with a little more Parmesan cheese. Package and refrigerate. Place bites on a baking sheet and bake in preheated 400 degree oven for 5 minutes. Serve warm.

HELP US VOTE: Yep, this is how we will find the ULTIMATE RECIPE. There is a “LIKE” button on the blog-hop linky party and we want you to help us VOTE for the recipe that you think is the ULTIMATE MACARONI & CHEESE RECIPE. Next Wednesday, I will be featuring the ULTIMATE RECIPE voted on by all the readers.