A rich, creamy, and tasty cream cheese that you can make at home? Yes, you read that right! Your most searched recipe is out here and now, you can make your own cream cheese in the comfort of your home with minimal ingredients. As a baker, I know it’s a huge relief to have one perfect homemade cream cheese recipe that you can rely on.
As long as I can remember, I have been getting requests to give recipes for homemade cream cheese. Trust me, everyone out there wants a recipe for that. And they are not wrong also.
You see, cream cheese is an ingredient that is not always available at every store in different countries. Even if somehow you manage to get one, they are either expensive or need to be in the right consistency.
I’m a true fan of cream cheese. Its creamy texture paired with tangy flavor is something not to be missed. If you check the recipes I have put up, many of them would have cream cheese in them. Definitely, for me, I always needed a recipe handy with me so that I could make my own cream cheese whenever and wherever I would need.
After numerous trials, I have found the perfect recipe for homemade cream cheese with a bare minimum of just four ingredients. That’s it, and these are the ingredients that are always available in the kitchen.
Homemade Cream Cheese Video Tutorial
Why You’ll Love This Recipe?
- Easy: This recipe is one of the easiest one to make cream cheese at home. The process is relatively straightforward, and anyone can make this. In under an hour, you will have your cream cheese ready. Sounds to good to be true, right?
- Minimal ingredients: Who would have thought that making cream cheese would require just four ingredients? I did so that you could easily make it. Milk, cream, lemon juice, and salt- all these ingredients are always available in the kitchen. I had to make sure that I’m not using any ingredient that is rare and for which you have to rush to the market.
- Perfect Consistency: The homemade cream cheese has an ideal consistency. It’s smooth, rich and creamy. You can use it for all the desserts you need it for. The taste and texture are similar to the store-bought one.
Important Ingredients Used In The Recipe
- Milk: As usual, I have used full-fat milk for the recipe. It will provide the richness that toned milk cannot.
- Heavy cream: Cream is added to make the cream cheese more creamy and to balance out the fat. The cheese needs to have a good amount of fat in it. Hence, adding heavy cream helps us do that.
- Lemon Juice: For curdling the milk mixture, we need something acidic. Lemon juice is the most common acid available in any kitchen. You can also use white vinegar if you want.
- Salt: Salt is much needed for the flavor to come out and also to balance out the tanginess from the lemon juice.
How To Make Homemade Cream Cheese
Preparation: Collect and measure all four ingredients needed for the recipe. You can find the exact measurement in the recipe card below.
Heat Milk Mixture: Take milk, heavy cream, and salt in a heavy-bottom saucepan. Put this on medium heat and cook. Stir the mixture well.
Add lemon juice: Once the mixture starts to boil, add the lemon juice and mix it continuously until it curdles.
Strain the curd: After the mixture has curdled, strain it over a fine muslin cloth. Light squeeze and let the excess water drain through the cloth for 30-40 minutes.
Blend: Now that the draining is done, transfer the curd into a food processor along with some drained water. Blend this for a while until you get a smooth cream cheese.
Serve and Store: As the cream cheese is ready, you can immediately use it for the dish you need it for. Else, you can store in the refrigerator for later use.
Chef’s Tips For The Recipe
Heat Milk At Low Heat
Do not boil the milk and cream mixture at a high flame. Always prefer to use low to medium flame with slow heating. This will prevent the sudden separation of fat from milk and hence prevent grainy cheese.
Use White Vinegar
If at all, lemon juice is not available with you, then you can go ahead and use plain white vinegar as well in the same quantity or a little less.
How To Store Homemade Cream Cheese
You must store this freshly made cream cheese in an airtight box in the refrigerator. This will stay good for 7-10 days. We cannot store it for a long duration, unlike store-bought cheese, as it doesn’t contain preservatives for extended shelf life.
More Easy Recipes
Try these other homemade condiment recipes to ease out your hunt for ingredients in the market.
Frequently Asked Questions
Although the market cheese has stabilizers and preservatives that help it stay for months, the taste and texture of homemade cream cheese are the same as the market one. You can use it in a similar way you use the market one.
Whether you need it to spread on a bagel or for cream cheese frosting, or you want to use it for making cheesecakes, this homemade cream cheese can be used for all these types of recipes.
Cream cheese has at least 30-33% milk fat, whereas mascarpone contains higher milk fat of 60-70%. Mascarpone has a more buttery flavor as compared to the tangy flavor of cream cheese.
My recommendation would always be to use full-fat cream; however, you can use toned milk as well. But expect less curd while adding lemon juice to the milk mixture as it has less fat.
