We all have baking failures. Until yesterday, I considered Mac and Cheese Cookies one of mine. I mean, seriously. Mac and Cheese is delicious. Cookies are delicious. But when I tried to combine them into one unholy cookie foodstuff, it was so clearly a mistake. They're from different worlds! This is an ill-fated love story that really has no happy ending.
Until yesterday, that is, when someone spied the old photo of these cookies on Flickr and sent me an email imploring, "Please, please, please can you give me more info on these? Did you make them? Do you have a recipe? Were they as delicious as they look?"
Well, yes, dear reader, I can send you a recipe. But no, I wouldn't say they were delicious. They were strange, not rocking the sweet and salty thing the way that some cookies can, too savory to be dessert-ish but not sweet enough to be a true cookie experience. I think that maybe without the noodles they would stand a chance, might even be good...but...as much as I wanted it to work, no.
All the same, it is a fun memory for me. I remember how excited I was about the cookies; I remember how very badly I wanted them to taste good. They might be right up someone's alley--but I don't think they're quite ready for the masses yet. Or maybe they are? Just in case, from the archives, here's the recipe. Choose your own adventure!
Mac and Cheese Cookies (Printable Recipe Here!)
- 1 cup cooked elbow macaroni
- 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 3/4 cup light cream
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
For the icing
- 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
- 1/4 cup cream
- 2 cups confectioners' sugar
- more cream, to thin
- Make the cookies. Blend flour, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl; put off to the side.
- Mix butter, sugar and egg until fully incorporated; Stir in cream.
- Add flour mixture little by little, stirring well with each addition, until fully incorporated. Stir in the cheese and elbow macaroni.
- Allow the dough to chill for about an hour.
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Using a teaspoon or a mini ice cream scoop, drop rounds of dough on your lightly greased cookie sheet, leaving at least 2 inches around each dough ball.
- Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. The cookies will not be brown on top, but will have a slight toasty color on the bottom. Let them cool on the sheet for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Make the icing. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the cream and grated cheese. Once melted and liquid, begin to stir in the sifted confectioners' sugar. If it gets too thick, add a little more cream. Use to glaze over the cooled cookies.
