Fried Mac and Cheese Balls

Inspired by Marc Matsumoto

A couple months ago I went to Honest Johns and they had fried Mac and Cheese, which was absolutely delicious (and certainly not low calorie). So I was surfing the Internet, using StumbleUpon and came across this recipe. I think they turned out pretty well, though I did make a few mistakes. I think next time I make these I will add extra cheese, since I wanted more cheese flavor.

Ingredients:

Good Ole Kraft Mac and Cheese.

2 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoon flour
3/4 cup half and half
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup Mac and Cheese (I used Kraft, but using leftovers would work perfectly)
1 cup Panko breadcrumbs

1/2 cup flour
1 egg (beaten)

Oil for frying (I used Extra Virgin Olive Oil)

Directions:

1.      Melt the butter in a saucepan. Once melted, add the flour and whisk until the flour is mixed in and the mixture is bubbling.

2.      Whisk in the milk, making sure that there are no lumps in the mixture. Heat this mixture until thickened. Then add the Mac and Cheese and stir.

3.      The Mac and cheese now must be cooled to room temperature (or no longer hot) and then put in the fridge to chill.

4.      Once cooled take out mixture and take out about 2 Tablespoons of the Mac and Cheese. Roll to make a ball, and try to press hard in order to remove air.

5.      Preheat the Deep fryer to 320* F. Meanwhile get three bowls set up for the ½ cup flour, egg, and the Panko breadcrumbs. One bowl is for the flour, another for the egg, and the third for the Panko.

6.      Take one of the Mac and Cheese balls and roll it in the flour, then roll it in the egg, and finally roll it in the Panko. 

The Rolled Mac and Cheese Balls with flour, egg, and panko.

7.      Carefully put the rolled Mac and cheese balls into the deep fryer, turning a couple times and cooking until golden brown. This should take about 6 minutes or so. 

This is before the mac and cheese balls were flipped.

The Kitchen helper was banished from the kitchen during frying... She was not happy about that.

8.      Once cooked place on a paper towel to remove extra oil and serve.

Notes:

*I messed up the recipe by adding the butter/flour/dairy mixture to the entire box of Mac and Cheese, so when rolling them into balls they did not stick together well.

* I used skim milk instead of half and half, which may have worked fine if I only put it into 1 cup of Mac and cheese.

* Once my Mac and Cheese was cooled I put it into the freezer for about 10 minutes, in order for it to firm up more. This also helped later when rolling them.

* These can be served with Ranch or even with a cheese sauce, but are great plain.

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