Have you ever traveled somewhere and three months after you returned home started craving something tasty you ate while you were away? Well, if you’ve ever visited Beecher’s Handmade Cheese at Seattle’s Pike Place Market, I bet this has happened to you.
Daniel and I were in Seattle after dropping off my daughter at her university and since he’d never been to Pike Place Market before, I knew we had to go! Being a Seattle native, I can appreciate a good cup of mac and cheese and I believe that Beecher’s version is quite possibly the tastiest mac and cheese available on this planet.
Beecher’s Handmade Cheese opened in Pike Place Market in 2003 and has been delighting Pacific Northwesters and visitors alike ever since. Their cheeses are made without any additives or preservatives and their claim to fame is their signature Flagship cheese. It. Is. Amazing. Sadly, this cheese is not available in the small town where we live in Northern California. We have been able to buy a frozen version of their mac and cheese – which is amazing – but at $12 for two servings, it just doesn’t go far enough for our family. Off I went on a quest to find a version of this recipe that I could replicate at home in Chico.
Beecher’s freely shares their recipe on their website and there are many other copycat versions out there. Here is my version of this amazing dish made from ingredients readily available everywhere.
Cheese Sauce:
- 1/4C butter
- 1/2C all purpose flour
- 3C milk
- 3 1/2C sharp cheddar cheese (we bought ours at Costco)
- 1/2C grated Monterrey jack (we used 3 slices of pepper jack from Costco)
- 1/2t salt
- 1/4t chili powder
- 1/4t garlic powder
Pasta Mix:
- 16oz penne pasta
- Cream sauce from above
- 1/4C grated sharp cheddar cheese
- 1/4C gruyere or jarlsberg (we used gruyere from you guessed it! Costco)
- 1/4t chili powder
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees, grease 13 x 9 inch pan.
- Cook pasta 2 minutes less than directions. Rinse pasta and set aside.
- Melt butter and whisk in flour. Whisk and cook for two minutes.
- Slowly add milk, whisking constantly, cook until sauce thickens, about 10 minutes.
- Remove from heat, add cheese, salt, chili powder, and garlic powder and stir until cheese is melted.
- Combine pasta and cheese sauce in pan and mix thoroughly. Sprinkle top with cheeses and chili powder.
- Bake uncovered for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
Have you tried a copycat version of this recipe? What other foods have you craved from your travels? Have you tried to replicate them? Let us know in the comments below!
This looks awesome! And I love me some good comfort food Mac and Cheese. But this is where it gets crazy!! Ever try a Mac and Cheese Bar? If you’ve got a group of folks for dinner (and by that I mean any “group” over 2!!) set up a Mac and Cheese Bar and you will be the talk of the town. I know there are purists out there that just love the MAC and the CHEESE. But if you start at one of the table and load some peas, red onion, ham, bacon, sausage, (are you feeling this?) in to your bowl and top it all off with hot Mac and then ladle some cheesy cheese sauce over the whole thing with a few croutons or pankocrumbs on top…..well now we’re talking. Let me know what you think!!
This is an AMAZING idea! My mouth is watering! Cant wait to try this out! Thanks, Robin!
This is an AMAZING idea! My mouth is watering just thinking of it! Thanks, Robin!