black pepper + white cheddar mac & cheese

can you believe it is december this week?! WHAT. this weekend we put up our first ever christmas tree (a real one!) & decorated it with the cutest forest animal ornaments. it goes with the rest of the house since i have a slight obsession with foxes & deers. seriously though, fox figures everywhere. also, who watched the girlmore girls revival?! i pretty much spent all of friday binge watching it & not sure how i feel about the ending. BUT i don't want to spoil it for all you slow pokes so let's just skip on over to this mac & cheese!

this mac & cheese dish is SUPER cheesy because i used an extra old white cheddar cheese (& lots of it). since it is the holidays, i made it a touch richer with the addition of heavy cream but feel free to use whole milk for the whole recipe. instead of doing the traditional topping of bread crumbs tossed in butter, i used harvest snaps! they have so many flavours to choose from. i went with the black pepper blend but feel free be bold & use your favourite (wasabi?!?!). just make sure to have an extra bag on hand for snacking purposes cause i ate a whole bag in the process;)

happy ALMOST december! get those advent calenders ready.

ingredients

• 1 box of short pasta
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 tablespoon mustard powder
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 egg
• 3 cups grated extra old white cheddar, plus more for topping
• salt, to taste
• freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
• 1 bag of black pepper harvest snaps, crushed

directions

• preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• cook pasta as directed on box until al dente. strain & set aside.
• in a separate pot over medium heat add the butter, flour & mustard powder. stir constantly & cook until a smooth roux forms, about 5 minutes.
• add the whole milk, heavy cream & bay leaf. simmer for ten minutes.
• remove bay leaf & temper in the egg, followed by the grated old white cheddar cheese.
• add the strained, cooked pasta to the pot & stir until evenly coated. if the pot is not oven safe, transfer to a baking dish.
• top with additional cheese & crushed black pepper harvest snaps.
• bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly & golden brown.

this post was created in partnership with harvest snaps! thank you for supporting the brands that keep me doing what i love. xo

cheddar apple pie + MIGHTYFIX OFFER

it is finally time for that apple pie i have been promising you guys all month long! this time i mixed things up a bit by adding some freshly grated old cheddar cheese into the pie dough & on top because the two flavours go hand in hand (& cheese literally makes everything better). BUT before i get into the details of this pie i wanted to let you know about a special promotion that mightyfix is offering for my modest marce readers! this month only, mightyfix is offering the bee's wax wraps for only $3 for the first month after signing up for the mightyfix! it includes both a medium & large sheet of bee's wrap & retails for over $18 after shipping. the promo code for the bee's wrap is MODESTBEESWRAPFIX & if you click here the promo code will be placed directly into your cart. shipping is free & you can add any other items they carry to ship free too!

now i am obsessed with all sorts of aged cheeses. maybe it is the italian in me, but the stinkier the better! the natural bees wrap is favourite way to store cheese so it doesn't dry out & you aren't wasting plastic wrap every time you cut a slice. the natural bee's wrap from mightyfix is made in vermont from organic cotton muslin, beeswax, jojoba oil & tree resin. the combination of ingredients & the infused fabric create a malleable food wrap that can be used again & again. the simple warmth of your hands naturally creates a seal & as the beeswax cools the material stiffens to hold the seal intact. it also has antibacterial qualities that help to keep food fresh! while my favourite thing to use it for is cheese, it is also perfect for baked goods, vegetables & fruit.

over the years i have become all about searching for reusable materials for healthy kitchens because i hate spending extra money on things that end up in the garbage.. plastic wrap, foil, parchment paper, etc. i honestly find this bee's wrap the most genius way to store food & replace those expensive rolls of plastic wrap. it is the same idea as silicon baking mats & never having to buy parchment paper again! to care for it you just wash it in cool water with a touch of soap, let it air dry & store it folded up like a kitchen towel.

now back to that pie! the base of this pie dough would be so good for savoury pies as well, i will definitely be making myself a chicken pot pie very soon. ultimate comfort food. growing up i used to see classmates eat apples & sliced cheddar cheese together. while a completely normal thing to do, i thought it was the weirdest thing ever! now here i am, adding cheese to my pies & wishing i wasn't such a stubborn little kid who missed out.

happy baking! xo

ingredients

for the dough

• 3 cups all purpose flour, sifted
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, cold and cubed
• 1/3 cup shortening, cold
• 1 cup old cheddar cheese, finely grated plus more for topping
• ½ cup ice water
• 1 egg, whisked with 1 tablespoon of water for egg wash

for the filling

• 5 cups sliced apples
• 3/4 cup raw sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch

directions

for the dough

• in a large mixing bowl stir together the flour & salt.
• add the butter & shortening. using your hands or a pastry cutter, work in the solids until a pea-sized crumb mixture is formed.
• sprinkle in the one cup of cheese & toss to combined.
• add the ice water 1-2 tablespoons at a time until the mixture begins to come together. shape into disk, wrap in cling wrap & refrigerate for two hours.

for the filling

• in a large mixing bowl toss together the apples, sugar, nutmeg, vanilla, lemon juice and cornstarch. set aside while you begin to roll out the dough. drain excess liquids.

for assembly

• divide the dough into two equal potions; place half back in the fridge until ready to use for the top portion of the pie.
• roll out the remaining dough to 1/4 inch thick and transfer to pie dish, pressing down & cleaning up the edges.
• add the filling and evenly distribute throughout the baking dish.
• using the remaining dough, roll out to 1/4 inch thick and create desired design. i used little pastry cutter leaves & piled them on top.
• brush with egg wash & top with a little extra grated cheddar cheese. bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour. if the crust begins to brown too soon, simply cover the top with foil.
• let cool & set completely before serving.

this post was created in partnership with mightyfix. to get your own set of the mightyfix bees wrap for only $3 use the promo code MODESTBEESWRAPFIX or click the link here for it to be automatically added to your cart. thank you for supporting the brands that keep me doing what i love!