A few people had asked about the Mac & Cheese that I served with my fish cakes the other day and so today I thought I would share that recipe with you. Old Fashioned Easy Baked Mac & Cheese.
This is the type of Mac & Cheese our grandmother's would have made. Easy to make, no faffing about, simple ingredients, done well.
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It does not boast a creamy sauce, nor is it rich, but I can still promise you that it is filled with plenty of cheesy flavors! Its also incredibly easy to make.
You do want to make sure you use a really well flavored cheese for this. I wouldn't use anything less than an extra strong cheddar. The taste will really shine through, whereas if you used a milder cheese, the flavor might get lost.
I adapted the recipe from one I found here, on Rachel Cooks to suit the smaller family, so instead of making 6 servings it now makes 2 generous servings.
Its actually really close to a mac and cheese recipe I used to make years ago that I got from my friend Leona. It was basically just cooked macaroni mixed with cubes of cheese and milk which was then baked until the cheese was meltingly ooey gooey.
My children always loved that. I would mix cubes of velveeta with cubes of cheddar in equal parts and I always topped it off with more cheese and buttered cracker crumbs.
It really was very simple, even simpler than this one. This one uses dry mustard powder and some flour, in addition to the cheese.
The milk gets absorbed by the macaroni, which is why you only want to cook your macaroni to al dente. This means tender, but still maintaining a bit of a bite.
If you overcook the macaroni, once it absorbs the milk the macaroni will get mushy, which is not ideal.
I say that but then I remember my Mother In laws (2nd one) macaroni and meat. Her macaroni was not cooled al dente and cooked even longer in the baking dish, and was soft when it came to serving it up.
But nobody minded, because it was delicious. It was the same with my Aunt Thelma's macaroni casserole, which begs me to ask the question. When did soft macaroni become a bad thing?
A number of months back I made a version of macaroni and cheese that I got from the book, Hopes Table which was written by Hope Helmuth of Hopeful things. You can read about my experience with that tasty recipe here.
That slow baked Mac and Cheese, cooks in a very low oven for 3 hours. Yes the end result is a well cooked macaroni . . . but the flavour is amazing.
It almost takes you back to the nursery and has huge comfort appeal, so I had hopes that this one would as well, without a cheesy sauce.
The cheese kind of melts into the macaroni and the milk curdles a bit, which doesn't sound very appealing I guess, but you need to taste it to believe it.
It is incredibly delicious and the macaroni gets all crispy around the edges, almost crusty. Very buttery and moreish.
I am a great lover of Mac and Cheese. In fact of all the pasta dishes, I would consider Mac and Cheese to be amongst my top few favorites! High praise indeed because I am a real mac and cheese lover!
It is not something that my mother ever made for us when we were growing up. If we had mac and cheese at all, it was the stuff in the blue box, and that was very rare indeed.
My father had a huge dislike for "foreign" food. He had very simple tastes. Still does.
When I was married to my first husband, we were poor students at Uni. We used to buy the boxed macaroni and cheese. Quite often you could get it on special at 10 boxes for $1.
Quite the bargain compared to todays prices where it is often over a dollar just for one box. It was a real boon in those days to students.
My second husband and I often made it (the boxed variety) in the evenings to enjoy as a snack while we watched tv. I could never do that now. Indigestion would keep me up all night.
Its funny how your body and tastes change as you age, also your food tolerances. Its a whole different world!
In any case this is totally delicious. Very simple and easy to make. As simple as stirring together a few simple ingredients.
Cooked macaroni, milk, grated strong cheddar cheese, flour, mustard powder and seasoning. That's it. Not a long list of ingredients.
The end result is chewy in spots, creamy in others, and delicious in all. The past not too over cooked nor under cooked.
Just to perfection. I quite enjoyed this and I think you will too! Make it! You won't be sorry, and you may even discover a new favorite!
Easy Baked Mac & Cheese (small batch)
Yield: 2 -3
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 45 MinTotal time: 55 Min
Deliciously old fashioned. This is the type of mac and cheese our grandmother's might have baked.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup (170g) dry elbow macaroni
- 2 cups (240g) grated extra strong cheddar cheese
- 1 TBS all purpose flour
- pinch of salt and black pepper to taste
- 1/4 tsp dry mustard powder
- 1 cup (240ml) full fat milk
- 1 TBS butter, cut into bits
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375*F/190*C./gas mark 5. Butter a 2 cup casserole dish really well and set aside.
- Cook the macaroni, just until al dente according to the package directions.
- While the macaroni is cooking, stir together the 2/3 of the cheese with the flour, dry mustard powder and seasoning in a medium sized bowl.
- Drain the macaroni and rinse, then toss it together with the cheese mixture in the bowl. Pour this mixture into the buttered casserole dish. Pour the milk over top and then sprinkle the remaining cheese over all evenly.
- Dot with butter.
- Cover tightly and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for 10 to 15 minutes longer, at which point most of the milk will have been absorbed.
This has to be my favorite apple pie of all time, I kid you not! It is the best apple pie recipe and I think you best prepare yourself now to fall in love because I am pretty certain you will do just that!
The original recipe comes from an old recipe book of mine entitled Food that Really Schmecks, Mennonite Cooking by Edna Staebler, published in 1968.
I remember taking a copy of the book out of the library when I was a very young mother and living in London, Ontario. I painstakingly copied some of the recipes out into my Big Blue Binder. This would have been back in the early 1980's.
I eventually purchased a copy for myself many years later. It is a wonderful example of Canadian Mennonite Cooking, written by Edna Staebler who grew up in Waterloo county in Ontario, Canada, at the very heart of Canadian Mennonite Country.
I have been to the area many, many times myself. The farm market in Kitchener is fabulous and filled with an abundance of Mennonite cooking and quilts, meats, etc.
I also have been to Saint Jacobs many times, which is a very Mennonite town. We used to love to eat at a Mennonite Restaurant called Anna Mae's in Millbank which is in the same area.
I have eaten there many times and in my opinion it was the best home cooking you could get in a restaurant outside of a home! Everything was delicious. They have a different special every night of the week, along with their special Broasted Chicken, and of course the pies are to die for.
If you ever happen to have a chance to visit it and eat there, I highly recommend. Be sure to bring along a hearty appetite because they will be rolling you out of there!
Mennonites are known for being excellent cooks. I am not surprised. They are very similar to the Amish in origin and life style. We lived not too far from Mennonite country and often saw them in their horse and buggies.
Anyways, this pie is one of the best apple pies you could ever want to bake and to eat, and its very simple as well.
Schnitz usually refers to dried apples, but in this case it refers simply to sliced apples. I don't want to start any arguments here. I know people can be very pedantic about terminology, etc.
I am only giving you the name by which it is listed in the book. A rose by any other name and all that.
This is a single crust pie, composed of a delicious streusel crumb that is used in three separate ways. First as a base in the bottom of the crust beneath the apples.
Second mixed into sour cream or cream as a creamy custard that gets poured over the apples, and finally, third as a cinnamon streusel topping that gets sprinkled over top of the pie before baking.
There is nothing extraordinary called for her, unless you consider cream or sour cream to be extraordinary.
For me they are just staples and something which I always have in my kitchen. It is the same with buttermilk and plain yogurt. Trust me when I tell you that they always, always get used!
You will want to use a nice all rounder when it comes to apples. Today I used some Gravensteins that are now coming into crop.
The Gravenstein apple is one of the earliest croppers when it comes to apples in Nova Scotia. They are great all rounders making for both great eating and great cooking. Firm, crisp and juicy.
As you can tell they hold their shape well in cooking. They are also generally quite large. I used one and a half for this pie.
The other half I ate out of hand and it was delicious! Best apple I have eaten in a while. Not long since being picked I am sure. I bought them at Goucher's farm market on Friday.
I had forgotten just how delicious fresh picked apples are. My first husband's family were farmers. They had orchards as well as chickens, eggs, lamb, beef cattle, and farmed vegetables as well for the local processing plant.
My late Mother In Law knew what to do with all of these things and she did it really well. Nothing was wasted. I learned a lot from her. Lois was a real treasure. She passed away a few years ago at the age of 100.
Normally I would make my own pastry for this but had a really busy day today so used a frozen pie crust. A Tenderflake crust. They are the best when it comes to ready crusts here in Canada.
Normally I would make my Butter & Lard Pastry. It is the best, flakiest pastry you could ever want in a pie, single or double, sweet or savory. Trust me on this.
*Butter-Lard Pastry*
Makes 2 nine - inch crusts
Makes 2 nine - inch crusts
Printable Recipe
This is a beautiful pastry. Flaky just right. You can add a touch of sugar to it if you are making a fruit pie.
2 cups all purpose flour (280g)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter (76g)
1/3 cup lard (or white vegetable shortening) (74g)
5 to 6 tablespoons of ice water
(note: if using for a sweet pie, add 1 or 2 teaspoons of sugar.)
Mix flour with salt, and cut in butter and lard, until you have pieces of fat in the flour about the size of peas. Add ice water, one TBS at a time, tossing it in with a fork until pastry comes together. Form in to a ball and cut in two pieces. Form each into a round flat disc. Warp in cling film and refrigerate for 1 hour.
This is a beautiful pastry. Flaky just right. You can add a touch of sugar to it if you are making a fruit pie.
2 cups all purpose flour (280g)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter (76g)
1/3 cup lard (or white vegetable shortening) (74g)
5 to 6 tablespoons of ice water
(note: if using for a sweet pie, add 1 or 2 teaspoons of sugar.)
Mix flour with salt, and cut in butter and lard, until you have pieces of fat in the flour about the size of peas. Add ice water, one TBS at a time, tossing it in with a fork until pastry comes together. Form in to a ball and cut in two pieces. Form each into a round flat disc. Warp in cling film and refrigerate for 1 hour.
When the children were growing up, I always, ALWAYS had to make one of these for Thanksgiving along with the traditional Pumpkin Pie. The family loved it.
I also loved it. I would cut you a piece to show you inside the pie, but it really needs to stand overnight before I do that, and I am thinking I will bring it to my sister's tomorrow if I get invited for supper.
Do believe me however when I tell you that this is a DELICIOUS pie! (Sorry for shouting but I can't help myself when it comes to this pie.)
Crisp buttery crust, sweet, rich apple filling with a creamy sweet brown sugar custard and cinnamon brown sugar streusel on top. Now if that doesn't get your taste buds to tingling, I don't know what will.
I am only sorry it took me so long to share this with you! Now get off here and go and bake one for your family. This pie is guaranteed to make you one of their most favorite people ever!
Cream & Crumb Schnitz Pie
Yield: Makes one 9-inch pie
Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 50 MinTotal time: 1 H & 4 M
This is quite simply my favorite apple pie. I have been baking and eating it for many years. The original recipe comes from a book entitles Food That Really Schmecks by Edna Staebler, published in 1968.
Ingredients
- Pastry for one 9-inch single crust pie
- enough apples to fill the pie shell (I used 1 1/2 large gravenstein apples)
- 1 cup (200g) soft light brown sugar, packed
- 3 TBS cold butter
- 1/3 cup (47g) all purpose plain flour
- 2/3 cup (160ml) cream (sweet, sour or turning)
- 3/4 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425*F/220*C/ gas mark 7. Have your unbaked pie crust ready.
- Measure the flour, sugar and butter into a bowl and rub into crumbs. Sprinkle half of them into the bottom of the pie crust.
- Peel, core and slice your apple into slices (schnitz). Place them in the pie crust on top of the crumbs.
- Divide the remaining crumbs in two. Mix the cream into one portion and mix the cinnamon into the other portion.
- Spoon the cream portion over top of the apples to cover them completely. Sprinkle the cinnamon crumbs over top of all evenly.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 350*F/180*C/gas mark 4. Bake for an additional 35 to 40 minutes. The crust will be golden brown, the apples tender and the cream set and golden brown as well.
- Let cool to at least lukewarm before cutting into wedges to serve.
I was bringing supper over to Eileen and Tim today so thought I would bake them a little treat to go along with it. I had made Deviled Chicken for my sister and Dan when they came over for supper the other night and had two leg quarters leftover along with some potatoes and vegetables.
I thought Eileen and Tim would really enjoy it and so I messaged her to ask if she would like it and she said yes, they would. I also had some soup in the cupboard that I didn't really like that she did and a few cans of baked beans that they like so I added them to the bag along with these fabulously tasty cookies. Peanut Butter Nutella Cookies!
This is the most fascinating recipe to me. It uses only four ingredients and is totally gluten free. It also only makes six cookies.
Like me, Eileen needs to watch her weight. This was the perfect recipe to make for a treat for them. Not too much temptation hanging around.
The recipe is one that I adapted from Dessert For Two. Mine turned out quite differently from the photographs she had on her page.
Hers looked really puffy, whereas mine are flat, flat, flat. I wonder if the difference it because of the brand of peanut butter I used?
Mine spread out a lot and were really flat in comparison to hers, but they were really good. Quite sweet however.
That didn't stop me from eating one though. The edges are amazingly crispy, and the centers nice and chewy.
I used Kraft smooth peanut butter. I have made peanut butter cookies before using only peanut butter, sugar and egg. They were a bit puffier. I think I used Skippy or those.
We don't have Skippy Peanut Butter here, although I believe you can get it at Costco. I look forward to a day when I can go to Costco again!
As I said this is a small batch peanut butter cookie recipe. It makes only six rich cookies, with buttery crisp edges and chew middles.
They are riddled with Nutella, and even more Nutella is drizzle/dripped on top prior to baking.
The batter goes together quickly and easily. You just stir together the peanut butter, sugar and an egg white until everything is smooth and homogenous.
Don't worry about using up the egg yolk. I have quite a few different ways you can use it up. For one thing you can just add it to your eggs when you are scrambling them for breakfast or making omelets.
One recipe you can use the egg yolk in is the Tuna Patties I showed you yesterday. (No waste here!) I am sure you will find a perfect use for it however.
I often glaze my pies prior to baking by whisking together an egg yolk and some water. This makes the perfect glaze to brush over them.
Unlike most cookie recipes you do need to leave the cookies on the baking sheet to cool down completely prior to moving them. They are fragile while they are still warm.
Once they have cooled, however, as you can see above they are not as fragile. Do resist the temptation to move them any sooner.
Nutella is used in two ways in these cookies. Only two tablespoons, but one is folded/swirled into the cookie batter and the other one is dabbed/drizzled over top prior to baking them.
That way you get a cookie, that is nice and peanut butter flavored, but which also has ribbons of Nutella running through them.
Another tablespoon of nutella is dabbed/drizzled on top prior to baking, which gives you little pocket of chocolate fudginess.
I guess you could call these quite moreish! Crisp. Chewy. Lovely peanut butter flavors and the sweetness of chocolate Nutella, riddles throughout, from the inside to the outside!
They may not be the most beautiful cookie you have ever seen. But if you enjoy peanut butter and chocolate, then you will be sure to enjoy these!
If for no other reason than the ease of mixing and baking. Nothing could be simpler!
Some other cookie recipes you might enjoy are:
Coconut Lime Cookies - These crisp edged, soft and chewy oatmeal cookies are filled with coconut and the fresh flavors of lime. The glaze is optional as the cookies are delicious all on their own, but it does go perfectly with these delicious cookies!
Quarter Cup Cookies - Every mouthful brings you a taste of your favourite flavours. You get the savoury edge of peanut butter. The caramel-like sweetness of brown sugar. The rich chocolate chips. The sticky sweetness of raisins. Combine that with the wholesome nuttiness of oats and coconut, along with the crunch of toasted pecans, and you have a very moreish combination. And its there. In every tasty mouthful.
Levain Bakery Oatmeal Cookies - These cookies are huge in size and in taste! I have never had a real Levain Bakery Cookie, but if they are even half as good as these, they must be delicious!
Old Fashioned Molasses - These are Grammy cookies. The type of cookie that your grandmother might have baked for you!
Hermit Cookies - Nicely spiced with warm baking spices. Loaded with raisins and chopped walnuts. In short, deliciously old fashioned!
Soft and Chew Jam Cookies - Big soft sugar pillows, filled with sweet red jam centers!
Loaded Cowboy Cookies - Stuffed full of tasty things like coconut, chocolate chips, old fashioned oats. Crisp edges and chewy middles!
Apple Jack Cookies - Perfect for the Autumn, these cookies are like your favorite chocolate chip cookie filled with tasty bits of apple, nutmeg and brown sugar!
What are your favorite cookies and why? Do you favor homemade over store bought? (And who doesn't!) Is it a nice thick spicy molasses and ginger cookie? A sweet crisp sugar cookie?
Buttery cookies studded to the hilt with chocolate chips? Peanut Butter Cookies? Shortbreads? Chocolate Dipped? Coconut? Oats?
Or are you just like me and love cookies, any way, any kind? I have never met a cookie I did not fall in love with! I'm just like the Cookie Monster!
Peanut Butter Nutella Cookies (small batch)
Yield: makes 6 cookies
Prep time: 8 MinCook time: 12 MinTotal time: 20 Min
These peanut butter cookies are very easy to make and are swirled with Nutella Hazelnut spread. They are also gluten free.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (90g) creamy peanut butter
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1 large free range egg white (save yolk for another purpose
- 2 TBS Nutella chocolate spread
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/gas mark 4. You will need a large baking sheet. There is no need to butter it, but I do like to line it with paper.
- Stir the peanut butter, sugar and egg white together in a bowl until thoroughly blended. Stir in 1 TBS of the Nutella, very lightly. Just swirl it through the peanut butter dough without mixing it in too much. I use a skewer.
- Divide the dough into six and place onto the baking sheet quite well apart. They will spread a lot.
- Dot the remaining Nutella over top of the dough balls here and there, almost drizzle it.
- Bake for 11 to 12 minutes, checking to make sure the edges are set completely before removing the pan from the oven. Leave to cool completely on the baking sheet. They are very fragile when warm.
- Scoop onto a plate and serve immediately.
Notes:
You will want to use a creamy type of peanut butter for these cookies like Skippy or Kraft Creamy. Don't be tempted to use all natural brands as they will not work.
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