Cheesy Cupcakes

As I've mentioned in the past, my mac n' cheese has given me some notority in the office.  Not too long ago a coworker mentioned that his sister had made something that I may enjoy.  Because I was coming or going as he was mentioning it to me, I didn't catch what exactly it was, other than it was mac n' cheese based.  A few days later as I was getting a drink out of the fridge I saw a tray filled with what looked like cupcakes.  Mac n' cheese CUPCAKES.  Now that's the combination of two things I can get behind.  I was asked later that morning by EM if I had seen what he left in the fridge and he said to make sure that I got some before the rest of the office ate them all.  I made sure that I had them for lunch. 

The Review

Brand:

EM's Sister's Mac n' Cheese Cups.

One day some inventive chef decided to combine cupcakes and mac n' cheese.  I salute you chef!

Price:

Free

Packaging Description:

N/A

Preparation:

*Have a super cool coworker bring in tasty snackies for the office, or make your favorite homestyle mac n' cheese.  (If making your own, skip the pan/dish and get foil cupcake cups and bake as directed.)

*Pull some out of the fridge and get them to the oven.



This is the ONE time it's ok to take food out of the office fridge that isn't labeled as yours.

*Heat them at 350 for 10 minutes and check on them every few minutes to make sure that they don't burn.



See, EM's sister is smart.  She used foil cups.  Great for crispying up the edges of the whole cup of mac!

 *After these have heated all the way through, get them onto a plate and let them cool for a minute.


Crispy little brown tops...

 *Peel that cup back with a fork (trust me, eat these guys with a fork and not by hand).
*Commence with the nomming!

Taste:
Because i'm not a master of our toaster oven, I cooked these a bit longer than necessary (that and there is no timer on the oven, so I was ball parking how cooked they were based on smell.  These came out hot all the way through and extra crispy on top thanks to the closeness to the heating coils.  The mini shell pasta was cooked and firm.  The mac bites had a hint of cayanne through out, though most of it was what I'm sure was sprinkled onto the top of the individual cups.  The mac itself was quite cheesy and had crispy edges all around because of the foil cups.

Final Score:
I'm not a fan of spicy.  Those that know me, know that I avoid it like the plague.  It does bad things to my mouth and i'm a spicy wuss so I just tend to avoid it outright.  These had some cayanne and though it brought some heat, it didn't negatively affect the enjoyment of these bite sized treats.  The use of the foil cups made all of the mac that touched the sides crispy (save the bottom) which made even better.  I didn't even think that using the mini shells would make a difference, but they did.  By making the noodles smaller, it allowed for more noodles to get into the cup, be bite size friendly and just balance out the cup.  The only thing I could even find fault in was that there were little pools of oil that formed in the bottom of each cup.  Not the end of the world, but it was a pretty noticable amount.  I'm going to try this with the homestyle I make at home and see how it goes.  I expect good great things.

Nutritional Information:
This is a homestyle mac.  One that uses lots of cheese and butter and other good things.  Good things that make it less than healthy when consumed in quantity.  Fortunately it's in little portion controlled cups!   Win win for all!