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A home cook has offered her simple recipe for the ultimate mac and cheese bites covered in spicy Cheetos crumbs. 

Audrey Lim, from Perth, shared a video showing how she made the deep fried mac and cheese balls using a ‘special’ ingredient – Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Puffs.

To make the comfort snack, she used cheddar, mozzarella, parmesan, macaroni, butter, all-purpose flour, milk and garlic, onion and mustard powders.

‘They’re worth making, for sure. Typically, you’d coat deep-fried mac and cheese balls in panko breadcrumbs, which don’t have much flavour on their own so you’d need to add seasoning and spices,’ Audrey told Daily Mail Australia. 

‘Hot Cheetos already have a lot of flavour, so you can just crush them up and use them as is! It’s definitely an indulgent comfort food.’

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A home cook has offered her simple recipe for the ultimate deep fried mac and cheese bites covered in spicy Cheetos crumbs

A home cook has offered her simple recipe for the ultimate deep fried mac and cheese bites covered in spicy Cheetos crumbs

A home cook has offered her simple recipe for the ultimate deep fried mac and cheese bites covered in spicy Cheetos crumbs

Hot Cheetos deep-fried mac and cheese balls recipe 

INGREDIENTS

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp all-purpose flour

1 cup milk (or non-dairy alternative)

1.5 cups assorted shredded cheese (I used cheddar, mozzarella, parmesan)

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp mustard powder

Salt & pepper

1 cup macaroni

For coating

Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Puffs or Crunchy

1 egg

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Vegetable oil (for frying)

Chives (for garnishing, optional)

METHOD

In a pot over the stove, add butter and flour and mix until it forms a paste – this is called a roux. Then, add your milk and stir gently until thickened.

Add garlic powder, onion powder, and mustard powder (and salt & pepper to taste if you want). Add shredded cheese.

READ RELATED: Devoted care home chef brings haute cuisine to its elderly residents

Using KitchenAid Cordless Hand Mixer, mix over stove on lowest setting until cheese sauce is smooth and silky. (Cordless function allows you the flexibility to use the mixer anywhere in the kitchen.

Combine cheese sauce and cooked macaroni, then allow to cool and harden in the fridge for several hours.

Gently blitz Cheetos into coarse crumbs.

Scoop mac & cheese into balls (around golf ball sized), then coat in flour, egg, and then hot Cheetos.

Fry until crispy.

Garnish with chives (optional) and serve hot.

Source: @audreysaurus

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Audrey – who created the recipe to celebrate National Mac & Cheese Day – started by making mac and cheese from scratch.

In a pot, she mixed butter and flour to create a roux, then she added milk and stirred until the creamy sauce thickens.

Next she added the garlic, onion and mustard powders, along with the cheeses.

Using a KitchenAid Cordless Hand Mixer, Audrey blended the cheese over low heat until she created a silky, smooth sauce.

‘It’s a great hack using an electric mixer to get the silkiest, smoothest cheese sauce possible for an epic mac and cheese,’ she explained. 

Audrey, from Perth, shared a video showing how she made the deep fried mac and cheese balls using a 'special' ingredient - Flamin' Hot Cheetos Puffs

Audrey, from Perth, shared a video showing how she made the deep fried mac and cheese balls using a 'special' ingredient - Flamin' Hot Cheetos Puffs

Audrey, from Perth, shared a video showing how she made the deep fried mac and cheese balls using a 'special' ingredient - Flamin' Hot Cheetos Puffs

Audrey, from Perth, shared a video showing how she made the deep fried mac and cheese balls using a 'special' ingredient - Flamin' Hot Cheetos Puffs

Audrey (pictured), from Perth, shared a video showing how she made the deep fried mac and cheese balls using a ‘special’ ingredient – Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Puffs

In a pot, she mixed butter and flour to create a roux, then she added milk and stirred until the creamy sauce thickens. Next she added the garlic, onion and mustard powders, along with the cheeses

In a pot, she mixed butter and flour to create a roux, then she added milk and stirred until the creamy sauce thickens. Next she added the garlic, onion and mustard powders, along with the cheeses

She then combined the cheese sauce and cooked macaroni. Next she placed the mixture in the fridge for several hours to hardened

She then combined the cheese sauce and cooked macaroni. Next she placed the mixture in the fridge for several hours to hardened

In a pot, she mixed butter and flour to create a roux, then she added milk and stirred until the creamy sauce thickens. Next she added the garlic, onion and mustard powders, along with the cheeses. She then combined the cheese sauce and cooked macaroni. Next she placed the mixture in the fridge for several hours to hardened

She then combined the cheese sauce and cooked macaroni. Next she placed the mixture in the fridge for several hours to hardened.

Next, she used the hand mixer to blitz the Cheetos into coarse crumbs.

In three separate bowls, she prepared the flour, egg and Cheetos crumbs for coating.

Audrey then scooped the mac and cheese, and rolled them into the size of a golf ball, then coated it in flour, followed by egg, then Cheetos.

She fried them in hot oil until they were crispy.

‘If you’ve ever tried any sort of deep-fried mac and cheese, that’s basically what it tastes like. Creamy and cheesy on the inside, with a crispy exterior,’ she said. 

‘I actually think deep-frying the balls takes away the fiery spice of the Hot Cheetos, but the flavour is still there. These go perfectly with your favourite hot sauce.’

Audrey then scooped the mac and cheese, and rolled them into the size of a golf ball, then coated it in flour, followed by egg, then Cheetos

Audrey then scooped the mac and cheese, and rolled them into the size of a golf ball, then coated it in flour, followed by egg, then Cheetos

She fried them in hot oil until they were crispy

She fried them in hot oil until they were crispy

Audrey then scooped the mac and cheese, and rolled them into the size of a golf ball, then coated it in flour, followed by egg, then Cheetos

Audrey said she created her recipe after she was inspired by a late night dinner at a restaurant in LA during her trip from a couple of years ago.

‘A friend of mine told me I had to try the deep fried mac and cheese balls there. I did, and no regrets. That’s where the inspiration came from,’ she said. 

‘As for the Hot Cheetos coating, I’ve seen them floating around the internet as a trending food and I thought I’d try my hand at them, too.

‘One of my favourite things about cooking is taking a classic recipe and putting a fun twist on it. Sometimes it doesn’t work out, but sometimes it works out better than you thought. In this case, it’s delicious – so you should definitely try it.’

Source: Food Recipes and News