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
Nutritional Disclaimer
Please note that I am not a medical or nutritional professional. I am simply recounting and sharing my own experiences on this blog. Nothing I express here should be taken as medical advice and you should consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. I provide nutritional information for my recipes simply as a courtesy to my readers. It is calculated using MacGourmet software and I remove erythritol from the final carb count and net carb count, as it does not affect my own blood glucose levels. I do my best to be as accurate as possible but you should independently calculate nutritional information on your own before relying on them. I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained in this website.
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Hi, I was so happy to find this recipe BUT the vinegar just didnt do its magic and it didnt separate! Any idea why? I added some lemon juice to give it a boost and that didnt work so…..I ended up tipping it all away. I did taste it first and the vinegar taste was very strong! A total fail for me but I often make Ricotta so where did i go wrong???
I am lactose intolerant and I was wondering if I can use Lactose Free Whole Milk? If yes, do I use the same amount of liquid as stated in your recipe? Thank you.
I honestly have no idea, I have never used it and don’t know if it will curdle like regular milk.
Hello!
What could be used in place of the half and half?
Thanks!
Nevermind. I see that someone already asked this question above, and you answered.
Thank you!
This may sound strange to you but back in India, “curd” exclusively means yoghurt. Haha. It’s so funny how there are these little differences across the globe. : )
Homemade cream cheese sounds SO Healthy and delectable!
Isn’t this priceythough? On sale, Philly cream cheese is two for three dollars Am I missing something?
Do as you wish. I enjoy making my own and knowing I am getting real cream cheese, without additives.
Oh, no, don’t get me wrong, I’m with you on wanting to know what’s really in your food! Just curious how much per pound you would spend to make it, is all… I want to try it now!
I have a local creamery where I can buy a half gallon of cream for $7 so that helps. If you can source less expensive cream, I think this would be somewhat more expensive but not wildly so. A whole recipe of this makes more than a pound of cream cheese and you use milk and half and half too.
do you think this would turn out using only half and half?
It should, since it’s made from whole milk and heavy cream. But there might be something in the homogenization of half and half that affects it. Try a half-batch and see!
Can you freeze this??
Yes, but like any cream cheese, it’s going to change in texture a bit when you thaw it.
About how much cream cheese will this recipe yield? 8 ounces? 16 ounces? I’d love to try it.
It makes a lot. I weighed it last time and the full recipe makes about 1 pound, 12 ounces of cream cheese. 28 ounces!
Oh and on this note what about making ricotta is this possible would love to know how to make a lower carb ricotta for an eggplant recipe I want to try to convert to low carb…
I haven’t yet tried ricotta but I hear it’s not difficult!
I love your recipes and this looks great but what is the carb content wonder because you posted the fact that it is made with whole milk and half n half and the like. Thanks Sandy!
Hi Sandy…keep in mind that the majority of the whey from the whole milk gets drained out, and that’s where all the carbs are. So I estimate that the carb count is similar to store bought CC, but maybe less because I don’t add in any fillers like carrageenan. So I think 1-2 carbs per 1 ounce serving.
How much cream cheese does this make? What size container should I expect to use.
Really excited to try this.
It makes about 1 pound of cream cheese, I think.. Since I actually have some draining right now, I will weigh it out and let you know once it’s completely done. I use a medium sized tupperware, something that holds 3 cups or so.
Okay, so turns out that it made almost 2 full pounds of cream cheese! 1 lb and 11 ounces.
Can you taste the vinegar in the finished product & does it work well for cheesecake?
No you can’t taste the tang of the vinegar at all. It’s even sweeter and creamier than storebought cream cheese.
Thanks
Hey, I’ve seen the ingredient half n half around in many recipes but I’ve no idea what it actually is and I doubt they have it where I love, could there be a substitute for it?
Great recipe by the way! Could this be turned low fat?
Thanks a bunch for your amazing recipes
Hi Asma – half n half is basically half cream/half milk, meant for coffee and other hot drinks. It’s homogenized so it doesn’t separate. YOu could easily take that quantity and do half cream and half milk and get the same thing for the cream cheese. I am not at all sure about making this low fat, though. The consistency relies on the fat content…but you could probably give it a go. Try a half batch and see if it works. In reality, it will be Neufchatel cheese.
Quit being afraid of FAT!
Not sure what this is in reference to?
Asma’s low fat request. Lori is obviously keto.😇
Can i use this homemade substitute of heavy cream to make this cream cheese?? Please help..
No, I am sorry, I don’t think that would work very well at all. The flour would really gum up in the cream cheese.
It worked! I, like you, was concerned I had done something wrong, but low and behold, I now have cream cheese. I’m going to use your husband’s boursin recipe for dinner party tonight.
I have terrible reactions to the stabilizers used in commercial cream cheese (carrageenan, guar gum, locust bean gum) so haven’t been able to eat cream cheese in YEARS, which is devastating because I love it. I was so excited about finding this recipe, I went out and bought the cream (another challenge: finding cream without the stabilzers), came home, and went right to work. It’s now draining in bowls on my counter. I’m excited beyond excited to taste the results! I didn’t want to use a cheese with rennet, or one using a culture. Of all the recipes I searched, this was the right one for me. THANK YOU!
So glad, Lori! We actually just made another round of it this weekend, and it worked beautifully. It’s so creamy and slightly sweet, and the only ingredients are cream, milk and some vinegar!