Let your tested mac and cheese recipe get a whole lot more attention with this interestingly new spin – a cheese-filled mac and cheese lava cake.
If you already have an excellent mac and cheese recipe, which you most likely do, you may totally skip to the finishing part of this recipe. If not, let me share a basic one.
Start by cooking your macaroni pasta according to the package instructions, extending the cooking time for about two minutes. You'll want your pasta a bit past al dente so they'll bind up better later.
Meanwhile, let's prepare our mornay, which is nothing more but a basic bechamel with cheese added in.
Let's start with a bechamel. A good starting ratio would be 1 tablespoon butter : 1 tablespoon flour : 1 cup liquid(milk in this case).
Melt butter in a pot, without allowing it to brown.
Then stir in the flour and roast it slightly in the butter to get rid of that raw flour taste. For darker sauces such as gravies, we'd typically roast that flour until slightly brown. But since we're going for a white sauce, we're not giving it any color for now.
Once the flour is evenly roasted and incorporated with the butter, whisk in your tmilk. The only secret to making lump-free thickened sauces is to have your roux and liquid at opposite temperatures. Since we're already working with that hot roux in the pot, you'll definitely want to use cold milk.
Allow your bechamel to simmer and thicken up, whisking continuously.
Stir in your shredded cheddar until it fully melts into your sauce. You may find this sauce a bit thicker than what you'd usually use for your mac and cheese. This consistency will be just right to bind our mac and cheese lava cakes.
You've just basically done two classic French sauces – the bechamel and the mornay!
Take the pot off the heat then fold in the cooked macaroni shells, going gently so as not to break them.
Divide the cooked mac and cheese onto your standard muffin tin. I was able to fill exactly 6 molds with the 250-gram pack of uncooked macaroni that I used.
Leave the muffin pan inside the chiller for about 4 hours to let it set.
Take a good sized block of Velveeta cheese(or any melting cheese that you prefer) and push it into the core of those mac and cheese cups.
It's time to give those lava cakes a good outer crust. Each cup goes into a dredging of flour, then a dip in eggs, then a coating of Panko.
Get creative on your final layer! Mix in some crisp bacon bits, chopped herbs, or spice mixes into that bowl of Panko.
Finally, deep fry your mac and cheese cups until they get a lovely golden crust.
Golden crisp on the outside with all that melted cheese oozing out from the core. Ain't that mac and cheese on a whole new level! 
Ingredients
For the Mac & Cheese
- 250 Grams Macaroni cooked to package instructions
- 2 Tablespoons Butter
- 2 Tablespoons Flour
- 2 Cups Milk
- 1 Cup Cheddar Cheese shredded
- Salt to taste
For Finishing
- 1/2 Cup Flour
- 2 Pieces Eggs beaten
- 1 Cup Panko Bread Crumbs
- 6 1"Cubes Velveeta Cheese
- Vegetable Oil for frying
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a pot.
- Stir in the flour.
- Whisk in the milk until thickened.
- Stir in the cheddar cheese.
- Fold in the cooked macaroni.
- Divide the prepared mac and cheese into a muffin tin and leave to set in the chiller for at least 4 hours.
- Unmold the mac and cheese cups.
- Stuff cubes of velveeta into the core of each mac and cheese cup.
- Coat the stuffed mac and cheese cups with flour, egg, and panko.
- Deep fry until golden brown.
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