African Vanielje on Jul 12 2008 at 2:39 pm | Filed under: dairy, how to...
Cream cheese, like Ricotta is a dead easy thing to make. I generally make my own yoghurt anyway, especially if I have a surplus of milk, and this cream cheese was made with a surplus of yoghurt.
- Line a sieve or perforated container with a piece of muslin.
- Mix the juice of 1 large lemon into 500ml of yoghurt
- I added two teaspoons of Orange Flower Water and the finely grated zest of the lemon too.
- Twist the top of the muslin (cheesecloth) together and weight down with a side plate.
- Stand the sieve in a bowl or container large enough to ensure that the bottom of the sieve does not touch the bottom of the bowl.
- Cover with a lid or foil so that the cream cheese doesn’t pick up fridge odours, and leave in the fridge to drain for 24 hours, pouring off any excess whey when it becomes too full.
- Once all the whey is drained you can compact your cheese slightly by twisting the muslin round.
- Unmould into a bowl, cover and keep in the refrigerator.
- Use within a week.
If you are wanting to use your cream cheese for savoury dishes you can add seasoning when you add the lemon juice, instead of the orange blossom water.
Thank you for trying a Vanielje Kitchen recipe.
I hope it fed you mind, body and soul.
Is there anything you cannot do? in the kitchen that is?
Nice of you to say so Marla, but this hardly qualifies as tough. It’s so easy and I almost never remember to buy cream cheese when I want to make a cheesecake so this is a next day solution
All this time, whenever we made “yogurt cheese”, we could’ve added more lemon cheese and get cream cheese! =D
oops, lemon JUICE, i meant. =)
ts, I’m not sure what you are doing but the lemon just acts as a catalyst and you just need to give the whey enough time to drain. I like to think of little miss muffet eating something like this, perhaps with a lovely berry compote…
I was wondering if its possible to use flavoured yogurt? Or add say coffee to it at the start?
Casi, I know when I make yoghurt that you can only add the flavouring after the yoghurt has been made, or the culture does not work. I have never made cream cheese with flavoured yoghurt but I don’t see why not as long as it is organic with no artificial preservatives etc. that might inhibit the cheese. Personally I would add coffee afterwards, as you would mix it for a flavoured cheesecake.
It may be dead easy, but if you are not even aware of this as a possibility, then it seems like pure magic when you come across this handy little tidbit from the sorceress herself! Thanks for sharing!
Marla, I like that. I’ll be signing off as the sorceress from now on!
I can’t wait to try making cream cheese. Your photos are fantastic!
I never would have known it is so easy! Thanks for this, I can’t wait to try it for myself.
Thanks J and Rosemary , hope you enjoy your efforts
Hi there, can you please tell me if I can use this cream cheese like the brick kind for baking/making cheesecake? If so, how do I alter the recipe for it. I need cream cheese like the philadelphia brick ones. Please drop me a mail at sharonfromvancouver@hotmail.com
Thanks!
Sharon