RECIPE: Homemade Simple Cream Cheese

I stumbled on this recipe while looking for something else, and decided to try it, because I often have a half-gallon jar of milk in the fridge that needs to be used. 

It's made just like paneer, but isn't pressed into a slab.  It took me about 45 minutes start to finish.

Original recipe: How To Make Cream Cheese

Homemade Simple Cream Cheese

Makes 2 cups

INGREDIENTS:

• 8 cups whole milk (one half gallon, approximately 2 quarts)
• 3 T. bottled lemon juice
• 1/2 - 1 t. salt

INSTRUCTIONS:

In a 4-6 quart heavy-bottom saucepan or stock pot, heat the milk on medium high.  Stir the milk constantly until it comes to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium.

Add the lemon juice 1 T at a time with a minute in-between each addition. 

Continue to cook and stir until it curdles, 4-5 minutes.  There should be fluffy white curds floating in whey, a light greenish-yellow liquid. 

Place a strainer over a large bowl and lay a piece of cheesecloth into the strainer.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer the cheese curds into the cheese cloth.  Discard the whey in the pot.  

Curds and whey in pot, curds removed from whey into cheesecloth-lined strainer.

 

After 10 minutes, all the whey still in the curds should have drained away.  Transfer the curds to a food processor or blender, (I used a food processor) add the salt and blend until smooth and creamy.

It took me one minute.  The cheese is very dense.  To use it as a dip I will need to add liquid, so I saved some of the whey from the bowl under the strainer.  To make it dip consistency, I added 3 T to one cup of cheese.

It does not taste like "cream cheese" because it's just milk.  If you want that cream cheese flavor, you will need to add a starter and allow it to culture.