How to Make Cream Cheese

Make your own quick and easy cream cheese with just two ingredients. Create tasty variations by adding fresh herbs, garlic, spring onions or wild herbs like nettles, sorrel or dandelion.

two slices of bread with homemade cream cheese, cucumber slices, carrot sticks and spring onion on a wooden board - how to make cream cheese

Cream Cheese is one of those things that I will probably never buy in a shop again since we started making our own.

It’s so easy to make and very tasty.

All you need is one liter of full fat milk, the juice of a lemon, some salt and a few herbs from the garden (we chose chives). You could also use garlic powder or leave it plain with just salt.

two jugs of milk, a lemon, a wooden spoon, a pot and a sieve with a dish towel - ingredients for how to make cream cheesem
You only need whole milk and a lemon to make your own cream cheese

5 Easy Steps to Making Cream Cheese

Step 1

Heat the milk in a pot but don’t bring it to the boil.

Step 2

Once it is hot take the milk off the heat and pour in the lemon juice while slowly stirring the milk with a wooden spoon. Leave it to stand for a few minutes. You can watch the milk curdle and separate from the whey.

curdled milk dripping through dish cloth and sieve

Step 3

Pour the curdled milk into a sieve covered with a clean dish towel (and a pot underneath to catch the whey).

childs hands chopping spring onions - how to make cream cheese
scissors cutting chives into a bowl - how to make cream cheese

Step 4

While the whey is dripping through the sieve you can prepare your herbs. The first time we washed and chopped a handful of chives. Another time we used spring onions to add flavour to our homemade cream cheese.

squeezing out the whey through the dish cloth - how to make cream cheese

Step 5

If you get too impatient to wait for the last bit of whey to drip through (like me) you can squeeze it a little. But don’t squeeze out all the liquid or the cheese will come out too dry.

Now you should be left with something like this:

cream cheese in dish towel - how to make cream cheese

You can add sea salt, pepper and your herbs or just leave it plain.

What can I do with all the leftover whey?

It’s packed with protein so it would be a pity to throw it out. Maybe you want to drink it or use it for other recipes like a rich vegetable stock or instead of water when baking bread.

Let me know how it goes for you if you try this recipe!

two slices of bread with homemade cream cheese, cucumber slices, carrot sticks and spring onion on a wooden board - how to make cream cheese

Homemade Cream Cheese

Yield: 1/2 cup
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Additional Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes

Make your own quick and easy cream cheese with just two ingredients. Create tasty variations by adding fresh herbs, garlic or spring onions.

Ingredients

  • 1 liter / 4 cups of whole milk
  • 1 lemon
  • 1 tsp salt
  • pepper, fresh herbs, garlic powder, spring onions, wild herbs like nettle, sorrel, dandelion (optional)

Instructions

    1. Heat the milk in a pot but don’t bring it to the boil.

    2. Once it’s hot take the milk off the heat and pour in the lemon juice
    while slowly stirring the milk with a wooden spoon. Leave it to stand
    for a few minutes. You can watch the milk curdle and separate from the whey.

    3. Pour the curdled milk into a sieve covered with a clean dish towel (and a pot underneath to catch the whey).

    4. While the whey is dripping through the sieve you can prepare your herbs.

    5. If you get too impatient to wait for the last bit of whey to drip
    through (like me) you can squeeze it a little.

Notes

What to do with all the leftover whey? It’s packed with protein so it
would be a pity to throw it out. Maybe you want to drink it or use it
for other recipes like a rich vegetable stock or instead of water when
baking bread.

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 109Total Fat: 5gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 16mgSodium: 45mgCarbohydrates: 10gFiber: 1gSugar: 9gProtein: 6g

Pin it for later

how to make cream cheese pinterest image - milk, lemon and wooden spoon, bread with cream cheese and freshly cut vegetables on wooden board #foodfromscratch #wholefoodrecipes #homemadecreamcheese

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *