You won’t believe how easy it is to make your own cream cheese. Perfect for all of your low carb and keto cheesecake recipes!
It wasn’t until just now that it occurred to me to look up the word “tuffet”. According to the almighty Wikipedia, it’s a kind of low footstool covered in cloth. I always imagined it as some sort of outdoor thing, like a little grass-covered mound or the stump of a tree. I envisioned Little Miss Muffett sitting outside under a tree from which the spider descended. I’ve read my fair share of English Lit classics and tuffet always seemed to go along with words like “heath” and “moors” and “hillock”. Words that conjure up images of a lonely, windswept English countryside with a single imposing stone house lording over it. With turrets, the house must of course have turrets. Turrets, tuffets…you can see where I am going with this, right?
I am now much more familiar with curds and whey. I am not about to sit down and eat a bowl of the stuff, but I know what both are and how to use them to advantage. And I’ve made my own yogurt and my own butter. It was time to step it up a notch and start making my own cheese. Which means making my own curds and whey, and then draining the whey away. A-whey!
I got this bee in my bonnet about a week ago and I googled how to make cream cheese. I came across a recipe from the Splendid Table and it seemed easy enough, so I gathered my cream, half and half, and milk, and away (a-whey?) we went. Except that as I was in the middle of it, I realized that the instructions from The Splendid Table were rather vague. Oh, and it said to gently simmer on medium-high heat. I don’t know about your stove, but on mine, medium-high usually results in a full boil. It did come to a boil, which I caught rather quickly and turned the heat down. I was so unsure of myself in the middle of the process that started looking up other resources. I found instructions for making ricotta, which said clearly to NOT boil the cream mixture. Uh oh. I also was worried that my curds weren’t forming properly so I added some vinegar. By the time I was scooping out my curds, I was quite certain this wasn’t going to work at all.
But I am happy to report that making cream cheese is quite a forgiving process! Once the whey drained out, I was left with a beautiful creamy cheese that tasted far better than any storebought version. I can’t believe how well it worked and I’ve corrected the instructions to reflect what I did, so that you can have the same results. This stuff is so good and it makes quite a lot (I think I got about 1 1/4 lbs of cream cheese out of the deal). We’ve been spreading it on everything. My husband used some to make his wonderful Boursin (recipe here) and I used a large amount of it to make some gorgeous mini pumpkin cheesecakes (recipe to come in a few days). And it was so easy, I am not sure I will ever buy cream cheese again.
Want to make more of your own cheese? Check out this recipe for Easy Homemade Ricotta from Texanerin Baking.
Homemade Cream Cheese
Ingredients
- 4 cups heavy cream
- 2 cups half and half
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp white vinegar
Instructions
- Line 2 medium sieves with cheesecloth or cotton tea towels and place over bowls.
- In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine cream, half and half, milk and salt. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium low and simmer gently.
- Stir in the vinegar and continue to simmer until cream mixture separates and curds appear and float to the top. Curds will begin to clump together.
- Remove from heat. Scoop out curds with a slotted spoon and divide between lined sieves. When you are getting to the bottom of the pan and it's hard to scoop them out, feel free to pour all of the mixture into the sieves.
- Let drain until whey is removed, at least 4 hours. This is faster if you divvy the curds up into two sieves, as opposed to one. You can also hang the cheesecloth/tea towels filled with curds to encourage it to drain faster.
- Once curds have the consistency of room temperature cream cheese, transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate.
- Keeps for about 1 week.
Notes
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Love the opening of the post brings back memories and invokes thoughts. Love cream cheese with bagels and your homemade version looks phenomenal!
Hi! It’s been a little while since I’ve visited your blog, and it looks amazing! I love the remodel. And the homemade cream cheese recipe. I’m definitely trying it.
I am definitely trying this!
love this!
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I would love to try this, but I use raw milk and cream. What is the point of using cream AND half and half AND milk? Is it to achieve a specific fat content?
Also, the whey is great to use in so many ways, so it shouldn’t just be discarded.
Yes, it is to achieve a specific fat content. Where do you get your raw milk and cream? I wish I could find some near me. If I were you, I’d just do another cup of cream and another cup of milk for this recipe.
I know the whey is useful, but I didn’t have any recipes with which to use it at the time, so I just let it drain out. I’ve made muffins and such before. The thing for me is that the whey is where the majority of the carb are so it’s not all that useful for me, personally 🙂
This is brilliant!
Thanks. I would love to try this. I am just wondering what half and half is. I am from New Zealand and we don’t have that. We may have something similar under another name, Is it milk with a certain fat percentage?
Hi, Carmen! Half and Half is what we put in coffee here. It’s Grade A Milk and Cream, but I know it’s not technically ‘half’. Of course, that also probably depends on if you’re using heavy cream or light cream. When I run out of Half n Half, I mix about one third heavy cream and two thirds whole milk. That comes out creamier than usual.
Oh my goodness! Who knew this was so easy!! I have been wanting to try homemade ricotta and now this is going on my list!
Does it have to be white vinegar? Would it work with a flavoured vinegar? Might that impart a flavour?
It needs to be an acid, but I found lemon juice wasn’t strong enough. A flavoured vinegar would be fine but might impart some flavour.
Oh I just love this post!! haha
I am so excited to see this! I have always wanted to try and make cheese at home. I wonder if there is a way to make it lower calorie and fat?? hmmm, wheels turning away (a-whey?) 😉
Ahh, I am so excited about this! I’m definitely going to make this one–I love cream cheese and I can just imagine how good it tastes homemade.
It’s so good. Make it. Make it!!!
I love making homemade ingredients like this. Amazing!
How is this different than making ricotta, which I have done for making my husband’s favorite pancakes? Is the difference in the fat content of the half and half and heavy cream, or just in the boiling? My ricotta isn’t as dense as cream cheese.
The Splended Table says it’s the fat content that makes the difference. When I first scooped out the curds, it reminded me of ricotta but as it drained it got much thicker and heaveier. And it ended up creamy, unlike ricotta.
DO you refrigerate while draining? This sounds great. Thnx
So, do you think this would work with coconut cream which is 16% fat? I have to be dairy free and so far haven’t found a substitute?
Honestly, I have no idea. The point is that with dairy, the addition of an acid like vinegar makes it curdle. You could certainly try and see what happens. What harm can it do?
What do you think the carb count is for this?
@ Deb, have you tried goat milk? If the girls are fed properly, the milk tastes sweet and fresh not “goaty” as most people think. just a thought 🙂
Honestly Carolyn, it has never occurred to me to try this. I bet it’s SO good fresh!
WOW! Just wow! 😉 Love your musings as well.
Carolyn… well, my mind is blown! I’m a bagel and cream cheese (and lox) guy, so I am going to have to give this a try!
How great is this? It has never once occurred to me in life to make my own cream cheese, until now.
Or ever once consider wiki’ing a “tuffet”. Love that!
What is half and half??
It is a lighter version of table cream.
I can’t wait to try this! Is there a recipe around for the mini cheesecakes?
Recipe for the mini cheesecakes will be up next week. They were phenomenal!