I've made my husband this mac and cheese so many times that I made him learn to make it himself. He loooves it, obviously, but I didn't want to share this recipe until I had tested it on a true Mac & Cheese connoisseur: my 13 year old nephew. After Toby asked for a third helping, I figured it's good to share with the world.
This Ooey Gooey Cheese Sauce is really a twice-blended version of the vegan cashew cheese I make for my pizza. Check that recipe out too!
This recipe makes enough sauce for 8oz of macaroni.
GOOEY CASHEW CHEESE
🧀 1/2 cup Cashews
🧀 1 cup Water
🧀 3 tbsp + 2 tsp Tapioca starch/flour
🧀 1 tbsp Nutritional yeast
🧀 1 tsp White wine vinegar
🧀 1/2 tsp Salt
Put cashews with water to cover into a little pot. Boil for 10 minutes.
At this point, I would get my macaroni started.
Put tapioca starch, nutritional yeast, white wine vinegar, and salt into a blender.
Drain the cashews and add to the blender with one cup of water. Blend.
Pour the mixture back into the little pot on medium heat and stir continuously. Within about 5 minutes, the very watery mixture will magically become melty and gooey!
Pour the mixture back into your blender and blitz again. Pour over your macaroni.
This is an extra step that I like to do: pan fry a bit of panko bread crumbs. When they're nice and toasty, mix with more nutritional yeast and salt (Smart Seasoning, if you have it, is amazing here). Top your ooey gooey mac and cheese with this mixture and dive in.
Sometimes I will add a grated carrot into the blender to give it a little extra nutrition and make it look more cheddar-y. You could use turmeric for the same effect, but turmeric has a strong flavor that's easy to detect.
The longer you cook this cheese sauce, the thicker it will get, which makes it perfect for stuffing jalapeños, dunking pretzels into, or pouring over nachos!
