Nothing quite says comfort food like a bubbly batch of homemade macaroni and cheese. The noodles in this recipe bake in a creamy two cheese sauce, topped with buttery toasted breadcrumbs. It is the perfect accompaniment to a holiday ham but if you’re a macaroni and cheese fiend like me, its great all by itself.

Serves: 4
You will need :

• 2 cups of dried elbow macaroni
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 4 tablespoons of butter, plus 1 for the bread crumbs
• 3 tablespoons of all purpose flour
• 2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
• 2 cups monterey jack cheese, shredded
• 2 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 2 slices of french bread cubed (about 1 cup)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cook the noodles in salted boiling water for about 5 minutes. (Note: They will be baking in the cheese sauce so you don’t want to over cook them. Mushy noodles are no fun for anyone.) Rinse with cold water. Transfer to a medium mixing bowl.
3. In a 2 quart sauce pan melt 4 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until slightly softened, about 2-3 minutes.
4. Add the flour and cook for 2 minutes.
5. Next add the milk, cheese, salt and pepper.  Cook over medium heat until thickened about 5-7 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, in a small skillet melt the remaining butter and add the bread crumbs. Cook until slightly toasted about 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
7. Once the cheese sauce has thickened pour it over the noodles and stir to combine. You want to make sure that all of the noodles are covered with the cheese sauce
8. Pour macaroni into a casserole dish and top with the toasted bread crumbs. Bake until the sauce is bubbly, about 20-25 minutes.

I did serve this with a ham and the next day diced up the ham and added it to the left over macaroni and cheese, it was delicious! Enjoy!