Mushroom Mac n' Cheese Cups

6 boxes of elbow macaroni later...

Mushrooms, both baby bellas and porcini, sautéed in butter and sherry with dried thyme.

Lots and lots of rounds of cupcake pans and muffin cups.

Note: environmentally friendly muffin cups to not stand up well to moisture buildup or reheating...

Whoops.

For the actual mixture I used 1/2 cup of butter, 2/3 cup of flour to make the roux. Then add 6 cups of milk and stir until thickening.

Add 3 cups of your favorite cheese. I used a mixture of sharp cheddar and gruyere.

Season with salt and pepper to taste, add 1 TBSP of truffle oil, and add cooked pasta (about 2 boxes).

Toss in the mushrooms and stir to encorporate.

If you're lucky, you'll have a friend to help you ladle out each portion of mac n' cheese into the muffin cups. Then bake them at 350º for 15-20 minutes.

If you have the patience, add a smidge of butter and bread crumbs on top of each cup before baking to create more of a crust.

Repeat the process three more times if you're feeding over 100 people...

I could easily have gone a much fancier route with this mac and cheese,  maybe combining goat cheese and herbed alouette for a more grown-up palate, but fancy cheese costs a lot more than standard sharp cheddar, so I just used the mushrooms and truffle oil to step it up a bit.

But it was tasty!