Poole’s Diner Mac and Cheese

After Erika from Pancake Princess posted her Mac n cheese bakeoff, I knew I had to make the winning mac n cheese for Mark! he is working extremely hard on his dissertation, and was craving some comfort food, and I knew this would be the perfect thing.

In an Instagram story after the bakeoff Erika mentioned that she made the Mac n cheese with a garlicky ritz cracker topping from the blog Half Baked Harvest, so although there was no official recipe I put the components together and decided to give it a try!

The result? Mark said this recipe was an absolute keeper and I need to write it down. So although this a slight departure from the other content on the blog, I needed to record this recipe. Mark loved the Mac and cheese on its own, but said that the ritz cracker topping really took it to the next level. He loved the addition of the garlic and flavors from the Worcestershire sauce, and thought that those flavors really elevated the dish.

Recipe for the Mac and cheese:

https://gardenandgun.com/recipe/the-pooles-diner-mac-and-cheese-recipe/

Recipe for the garlic ritz cracker topping:

https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/cheesy-potato-casserole/

Tips: use a tall pot to make the Mac and cheese and grate all the cheese in advanced, the process goes quickly once it gets started!

I previously put the ritz crackers on top prior to broiling the macaroni, but I think it would be better to cook up the ritz on the stop and put it on the macaroni after broiling. This would allow you to still get the full effect of the crispy, broiled cheese, and remove my worries about burning the ritz crackers. I will try this method and report back!

sorry, Mac and cheese was devoured too quickly to capture a good photo :)