Cream cheese is a soft cheese that has a slightly tangy flavor and is often used as a spread on bagels or as a frosting for cakes. While store-bought cream cheese is readily available, making it from scratch at home can be a fun and cost-effective way to enjoy this delicious cheese. Additionally, homemade cream cheese can be made without any additives or preservatives, making it a healthier option.
In this article, I’ll take you through a step-by-step guide on how to make cream cheese at home.
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What equipment do I need to make a cream cheese recipe?
What ingredients do I need to make cream cheese from scratch?
- Full-fat milk
- Lemon juice
- Salt
Alright! Well I want you to make sure that you have a cheese cloth first because it is vital to our recipe. Buy one over here. You can also use a piece of muslin cloth. I used a piece of muslin cloth.
For the milk, I recommend full fat milk because we are here for the cheese and a full fat milk will yield it. In case you are wondering, no a double toned or skimmed milk will not work. You are also going to need lemons to make cheese at home to curdle the milk. Milk can be curdled in varying ways, but for cream cheese, we need to curdle it using lemon.
If you do not have lemon juice, just go and buy some lemons. I would not suggest using vinegar because it just isn’t the best alternative. If you want the best cream cheese, I want you to get that. Vinegar will still yield a good cream cheese but just not that good enough. If you are wondering still, I tried it and my family didn’t like it. There you go, taste test approved too.
The salt is just for to balance the flavor.
How to make cream cheese from scratch?
Pour the milk into a heavy-bottomed pan and heat it over medium heat until it comes to a simmer (when you start seeing fumes and little bubbles on the edges). Stir the milk continuously to prevent it from scorching.
In case you end up boiling the milk, maybe starting out with another fresh batch of milk would be a good idea. Boiling denatures the protein further to a level which is not suitable for cream cheese. Denaturing of protein basically means protein bonds breaking up making milk fat insoluble in milk water. Easy right? read more about it over here.
Once the milk reaches a simmer, add in lemon juice and stir. You will notice the milk curdling and separating into curds and whey.
Remove the pan from heat and let it sit for a few minutes until the curds and whey fully separate.
Place the cheesecloth or muslin cloth over a large mixing bowl or a strainer like I did and pour the mixture over it. The cloth will catch the curds while allowing the whey to drain away.
Once the curds are drained, transfer them to a food processor and add a pinch of salt. Blend until smooth and creamy.
Taste the cream cheese and add more salt if needed.
One of my favorite tips is in case you find that when you are blending and it doesn’t really resemble cream cheese, add in some whey water and blend. This should easily fix your cheese texture.
Transfer the cream cheese to an airtight container and store it in the refrigerator for up to 7 days.
Step-by-step pictures on how to make cream cheese recipe
Make it with me- Video Tutorial
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Frequently Asked Questions about cream cheese recipe:
What do I do with the whey water?
When I was trying out different cheese recipes and learning how to make ricotta, mascarpone and cream cheese, I was left with a ton of whey water nad I was wondering what am I supposed to do with it. That’s when I came to know that it has all the protein and is very beneficial. Here is a list of things you can do with whey water.
-Use it in your roti or chappati dough instead of water. This will bump up the nutrition levels of humble roti.
-Use it to wash your hair. Protein is good for your hair so rinsing with whey water will do wonders to your hair. Read more about it here.
-Use it in your smoothies and shakes. I am not a big fan of smoothies but if you are, consider adding whey in it.
-Use it in your pancake batter. So cool right? You an also use it to make your pancakes higher in nutrition value.
How do I store cream cheese?
Cream cheese is a very delicate cheese and therefore you need to store it in an air-tight container in your refrigerator. Make sure that the container has been locked properly.
How long will cream cheese stay fresh?
If you follow my storage instructions, The cheese will last for up to seven days. If you do not want to use it right away, considering freezing it. I t will obviously lose it’s soft and creamy texture, but will still be good enough to be used in baking. This is probably why I always love making fresh cream cheese at home so I can use it right away when I need it.
Where do I use cream cheese?
Cream cheese can be used as a spread on bagels or sour dough. You can also use it to make cheese cakes. It can used for recipe for cream cheese icing or glazes. It can used as toppings on cupcakes or to glaze your favorite cinnamon rolls. Usually when I make recipes absolutely from scratch, I also end up making cream cheese from scratch too to make them go well together.
Recipes you can try with your homemade cream cheese:
[ CLICK ON THE IMAGE FOR THE RECIPE]
Simple homemade Cream Cheese from scratch
Make simple homemade Cream Cheese from scratch at home using just lemon, milk, and salt. Use it in cheesecakes, and frostings.
Ingredients
- Full-fat milk- 1 liter
- Lemon juice- 3 tbsp
- Salt- 1 tsp
Directions
- Step 1 Take a heavy-bottomed pan and start heating the milk. Keep stirring to prevent scorching.
- Step 2 Bring the milk up to a simmering point, be careful to not let it reach boiling point.
- Step 3 Now add a tablespoon of lemon juice and stir.
- Step 4 You will start seeing the curds forming in the milk slowly.
- Step 5 Add another tablespoon of lemon juice now. Stir to mix.
- Step 6 Make sure the flame is low so that the milk doesn’t start boiling.
- Step 7 Add another tablespoon of lemon juice.
- Step 8 The curds would have formed by now and you can see them floating on top.
- Step 9 Strain the curds through a sieve lined with a muslin cloth.
- Step 10 Reserve the whey for other uses. I will soon be posting a blog post about how to use whey water.
- Step 11 Let the curds rest for about 15 minutes.
- Step 12 In a blender, blend the cream cheese using a tsp of salt. In case your cream cheese looks dry and well, doesn’t resemble cream cheese. Don’t worry, simply add in a little of that whey water. That should do the work.
- Step 13 Here’s where you can let your creative juices flow. You can add in garlic or herbs or olives to make flavored cream cheese. I simply add a teaspoon of salt and call it a day..haha. But yes garlic will add so much flavor to it.
- Step 14 If you wish to use it in desserts then simply add just some salt and that should do.
- Step 15 For storage, store it in airtight containers and it should be good for about a week.
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I hope you found my post “Simple homemade Cream Cheese from scratch” helpful. If you have any queries, feel free to post them in the comments.
Thank You
Approximately, how much cream cheese does this make? Or, how much is a serving size?
Hi, it makes about 250 grams of cream cheese from 1 litre milk.