Panera Mac & Cheese

I am in love with Panera Bread and it's not uncommon for me to eat there multiple time a day while visiting my boyfriend. His favorite meal is the macaroni & cheese which he always orders so when I found this pin on Pinterest I decided to try the recipe that was originally printed in People Magazine  because we had left over white cheddar cheese from the White Cheddar Stuffed Garlic Bread.

Ingredients:-1 (16-oz.) package small pasta shells
-¼ cup butter
-1/3 cup all-purpose flour
-2½ cups 2% reduced-fat milk
-6 slices white American cheese, chopped
-1 cup (8 oz.) shredded extra-sharp white cheddar cheese
-1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
-1 tsp. kosher salt
-¼ tsp. hot sauce
-Paprika (optional) 

Grate your white cheddar cheese and chop your American Cheese. 

Prepare a large pot of boiling water and cook the noodles according to package directions. My shells took 10 minutes to be al dente.

Towards the end of the cooking time start the other steps.

Melt butter in a large pot, stir in flour. Whisk for one minute.

Add milk and cook on medium heat until bubbly.

Stir in both cheeses, the salt, mustard and hot sauce.

Pour the cheese sauce over the pasta and stir until coated.

Top with paprika if desired and serve immediately.

This recipe was a pretty close match to Panera's, I think it needed a little more white cheddar, but overall it was a really good mac and cheese recipe.