Homemade cream cheese recipe. How to make cream cheese at home? Cooking with kefir

Probably, each of us has recipes that are interesting to us, but we always put off preparing them for one reason or another. I have a whole list of them!

For a long time, the cream cheese recipe topped this list. There were a lot of simple ways to make cream cheese at home in the notes, but I kept putting it off. I decided only when I got excited about the idea of cooking it for the New Year’s table. The appetizer is simple and interesting, but it needed cream cheese to make it.

So, let's try to make cream cheese at home from the simplest and most affordable ingredients...

Option 1: Homemade sour cream cheese

You will need 400–500 ml of good fat sour cream. I prepare a double portion at once, and by “good sour cream” I mean the one that contains only cream and sourdough, and the taste of which you like in its natural form. I don’t think it’s worth saying that the fattier the sour cream, the tastier the cream cheese will be?!

A piece of gauze and, if desired, a pinch of salt will also come in handy.

Fold the gauze four times and place in a deep plate or sieve. Place sour cream on cheesecloth. If desired, you can add a pinch of salt.

I don’t add salt so that the cheese remains neutral in taste, and in the future it can be used to make both a dessert and a salty snack.

Tie the ends of the gauze and hang the resulting bag over the container for collecting the whey. If the apartment is not hot, you can hang it up and leave the “bag” in the kitchen. I'm a big believer in putting cheese in the refrigerator anyway. If the refrigerator has wire racks, you can hang the cheese on them. I have glass shelves, so I assemble the structure, which you can see in the photo below.

Leave the cheese for 20–24 hours until all the whey drips out. I age the cheese for at least a day, but the cheese can be used as a spread on sandwiches after 16–18 hours. After 24 hours, homemade sour cream cheese is ready!

From 800 ml of sour cream with 21% fat content, you get 600–630 grams of cream cheese and approximately 200–250 ml of whey.

In its natural form, as a light aftertaste, you can feel the slight sourness inherent in sour cream, but once you add a little herbs, seasonings and spices, you won’t be able to distinguish it from the original!

You can add herbs and spices to the cheese to taste and use it as a sandwich mix. I made a “Monkey” cheese ball from this cream cheese (see link above).

Option 2: Kefir cream cheese

Another simple and affordable way to make cream cheese at home is to freeze and weigh out kefir.

Place the kefir packet in the freezer and leave for 4-8 hours until the liquid freezes completely. Kefir, of course, is better to take tasty, fatty, with a good composition (milk + kefir starter).

Fold the gauze 4 times and place on a sieve. Place the sieve in a container to collect the whey. Transfer the frozen kefir to cheesecloth and leave at room temperature for several hours.

Gradually, the block of ice into which the kefir has turned will melt. The whey will drain into the container, and almost creamy cheese will remain in the gauze, only while it is soft and still watery. Then the procedure is the same as in the first option - tie the gauze tightly in a knot and hang the cheese for 16-24 hours.

After about 20-24 hours, the soft, creamy cream cheese is ready. True, the yield of the product is much more modest than that of the sour cream version. From 950 grams of kefir with a fat content of 2.5% - 300–320 grams of cream cheese and 600–650 ml of whey.

Consistency and taste – delicate, creamy, creamy. As in the first variant, in its pure form there is sourness in the aftertaste. But considering how simple and inexpensive both options are, I think this is not critical.

The first thing I did with this cream cheese was make "". The homemade cream cheese cheesecake turned out great and my family couldn't even tell the difference.

Bon appetit!

Most people love cheese, preferring to use it not only during morning breakfast, but also in other dishes, both cold and hot. After all, cheese is a unique product - nourishing, tasty, healthy, and easily digestible.

But finding cheese suitable for vegetarians in retail chains is not easy; enzymes of animal origin are added to almost all types of cheese during production.

You shouldn’t give up your favorite product, there is always a way out.

Therefore, today we offer you a step-by-step recipe for making cream cheese at home, without chemicals, without animal enzymes, without preservatives.

Homemade cottage cheese made with your own hands guarantees not only the quality of the product, but also its excellent taste. Everyone you treat with your culinary creation will feel loved and cared for. There is no doubt that everyone will appreciate such a dish, because you need to put effort into its preparation.

And don’t be afraid of difficulties; making cream cheese at home with the step-by-step recipe that we present to you is not at all difficult. Even at home it is possible to make “hard” cheese.The main thing is that all the products necessary for making cheese are at your fingertips.

Homemade cream cheese is a high-calorie product, about 350 kcal.

100 grams of hard cheese contains:

Proteins – 26.0 mg;
Fats – 26.0 mg;
Carbohydrates – 3.5 mg;

And a large number of vitamins B, A, E, PP, essential macro- and microelements for the body - iron, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sodium, phosphorus, as well as a whole complex of amino acids.

Homemade cream cheese: recipe and ingredients

Ingredients:

Full-fat milk (not canned) – 1 liter;
Natural dry cottage cheese 0% or 5% – 1 kilogram;
Butter – 250 grams;
Sea salt – 1 teaspoon (slightly heaped);
Baking soda – 1 teaspoon (small heaped).

Preparation:

Before you start cooking, pay attention to important explanations:

To make cheese, the cottage cheese must be natural, as dry as possible; the hardness of the cheese depends on these qualities of the cottage cheese.
Next, utensils for making cheese - under no circumstances use utensils with a non-stick coating - the cottage cheese turns into a shapeless mass, far from the type of cheese. In enamel dishes, of course, you can make cheese, but the bottom burns very badly, washing the dishes is very problematic, and the cheese absorbs the burning smell. The best option is to make homemade cheese in a metal pan with a double bottom (5 liters) - the bottom will be slightly fried by the curd mass, but then it will easily wash off if you let the pan sit with water.
In the beginning, until you gain the necessary experience and good results, try making cheese by reducing the ingredients in the proposed recipe, i.e. Divide the amount of each ingredient by 4 and take 1/4. A saucepan, accordingly, is enough for 1.5 - 2 liters.

So, making homemade cream cheese

Pour the milk into the pan and set it to heat, but without bringing it to a boil. As soon as the pan becomes hot and steam comes from the milk, add cottage cheese to the pan and quickly knead it with a slotted spoon so that there are no large lumps (small ones are allowed).

As soon as the milk has turned into whey, remove the pan from the burner without bringing it to a boil - this is very important.

We cover the colander with a triple layer of clean gauze so that the edges of the gauze hang down from the colander and place it in another pan/bowl (which is more convenient), but the container must be selected so that the colander is suspended and does not stand on the bottom.

We leave the cottage cheese for two or three hours in a colander to drain from the whey, covering it with the edges of gauze. Occasionally, use a slotted spoon to lightly press on the curd bag, helping the whey to drain. We take the bag by the edges of the gauze and squeeze the cottage cheese with our hands. The more whey drains, the harder the cheese will be.

While the curd is draining from excess moisture, prepare a mold for the cheese - it can be a round bowl with high edges (20 cm in diameter and 8 cm in height) - grease it with unrefined vegetable oil, this will give the cheese a special aroma.

Squeeze out the cottage cheese again, carefully grasping the edges of the gauze and rolling it into a ball.

So, the cottage cheese has stacked and become dense.

To make the cheese beautiful, you can grind the cottage cheese through a meat grinder, then its texture will be more uniform. If you do not twist the curd, the finished cheese will acquire a marbled color, which also looks attractive and appetizing.

Transfer the cottage cheese into the pan where the milk was, add butter, salt, soda, stir until smooth and begin heating at low temperature (there is no need to use high heat, otherwise the cottage cheese will immediately start to burn).

We immediately begin to knead the mass and do not leave the pan for a second - constantly knead the mass. The cottage cheese gradually begins to acquire a yellowish tint, its texture changes and begins to resemble a cheese mass. Knead while heating for about ten minutes until the texture of the mass approaches a homogeneous mass. Why about ten minutes? All housewives have different stoves with different temperature conditions, so it is necessary to monitor the cheese mass and as soon as it begins to turn from white cottage cheese into a mass with a light, amber tint, the cheese preparation is ready.

Very quickly pour the hot mixture into the cheese mold. We do this very quickly, because... the cheese immediately begins to harden. Leave the mold with the cheese to cool and harden for 6 - 8 hours on the kitchen table, at room temperature, but not in the refrigerator. It is necessary that the cheese cools naturally, without a sudden change in temperature.

Your delicious, healthy, homemade cheese is ready.

Have a nice meal, friends!

Recipe by Larisa Yaroshevich

In fact, “Philadelphia” is not the name of the recipe as such, it is just the name of a brand that appeared in America somewhere in the 70s of the 19th century. In terms of its organoleptic characteristics, it is similar to many cream cheeses, for example, mascarpone, Boursin, etc.

The first mentions of cream cheeses are found in English and French cookbooks of the 17th and 18th centuries. During this time, thanks to their versatility, they quickly spread throughout the world and significantly expanded their scope of application. Having a neutral, not pronounced, taste of its own, cream cheese goes well with both fish and vegetable appetizers and sweet desserts. It adds tenderness, sophistication to dishes and, by playing on the flavor contrast of ingredients, makes them more expressive and sophisticated.

The big advantage of such cheeses is that they do not require aging. This significantly reduces cooking time and makes them accessible for home production.

Since all the products used for cooking are fresh, and the pasteurization process is quite difficult to carry out at home, it is better to prepare cheese in small quantities. From 0.5 liters of liquid you get approximately 200-300 grams of cheese mass. Any dairy or fermented milk product is suitable as a raw material for cheese. Moreover, the fattier it is, the more soft cheese you will get at the end. It is recommended to store homemade Philadelphia in the refrigerator for no more than 5 days.

Skillful housewives have already come up with quite a large number of recipes for this delicacy using completely different ingredients. All these recipes have one thing in common - as a result, we get an incredibly tasty creamy cheese mass, which is in no way inferior to its store-bought counterparts and is also universal in use.

So how do you make cream cheese? Here are some options for use at home:

Homemade cream cheese a la Philadelphia

The advantage of this recipe is that it uses only fermented milk products, and they do not require additional fermentation, such as milk or cream.

Philadelphia cheese, prepared at home, is great for making snacks and sandwiches, and as a cream for a cake or filling for a cheesecake. Using a step-by-step recipe with photos, you can easily master all the subtleties and intricacies of cheese making.

List of ingredients:

fermented baked milk 2.5% -200 ml.;
kefir (2.5% - 3.5%) -200 ml.;
sour cream 20% - 100 gr.

Cooking method:

Soft cream cheese for cheesecake

Amazing recipe! The taste of the cheese is no different from mascarpone or Philadelphia. Just as light, creamy, melting in your mouth. It simply cannot be replaced for cheesecakes and other sweets. And if you add a little salt or herbs to it, you will get a wonderful ingredient for snack dishes.

Products:

cream 30% - 250 ml;
sour cream 20% - 200 ml;
milk 3.6% - 0.5 l.

Description:

In a saucepan, mix all ingredients until smooth.
Cover and leave in a warm place to ferment for at least 8 hours (overnight is possible).
Then put the pan on the stove and bring to a boil. Important: under no circumstances do we stir the resulting clot or let it boil, otherwise it will turn into flakes.
Remove the saucepan and, covering it with a lid, put it in a warm place for another whole day (12 hours).
When our cheese is ripe, we transfer it to a linen towel or multi-layer gauze and hang it so that all the liquid drains. Leave it in this form again overnight (7-8 hours).
By morning, the delicate and amazingly tasty cream cheese will be ready. It should only be stored in the refrigerator for no longer than a week.

From the stated amount of ingredients you get about half a kilo of soft cream cheese.

Cream cheese made from yogurt

Another option for preparing the most delicious buttercream is cheese. Here we will use yogurt as a base. It should be classic (without additives) with the highest percentage of fat content. The milder the taste of the yogurt itself, the more tender and mild the taste of the cheese will be. Well, let's get started.

We will need:

classic yogurt - 250 ml;
sour cream - 100 gr.;
salt (to taste);
lemon juice – 1/2 tsp. (optional).

How to cook:

As in previous versions, combine all the products and mix well until smooth.
Don’t be afraid to add lemon juice and salt, they will make the taste brighter and more interesting.
We cover the colander with gauze folded in several layers or a waffle towel and place it in a suitable bowl. Pour the resulting mixture there. Let's wrap it up.
Now cover with a lid or a plate of smaller diameter and place a jar of water on top.
Under pressure, our future cream cheese should stand in the refrigerator for at least 12-14 hours, until all the whey is released.

When the cheese is ready, it is better to transfer it to a glass or ceramic container. And of course, consume within 4-6 days. Although such yummy food is eaten instantly.

In what dishes can it be used?

I would like to say a few words about what goodies you can prepare using cream cheese.

Firstly, these are all snack rolls (vegetable, fish), in which the recipe contains mayonnaise. Feel free to replace it with salted cream cheese, add herbs or your favorite spices. You'll see, the taste of the snack will only benefit from this!

Secondly, ordinary sandwiches, if you replace butter or the same mayonnaise with cheese, turn into an incredibly tasty, sophisticated and healthy dish. Sandwiches with homemade cream cheese can be filled with herbs, tomatoes, salted fish, half-smoked sausage and much more.

Thirdly, thanks to its airy and delicate texture, cream cheese will be an excellent replacement for fatty cake creams. And it’s not worth mentioning that it’s basically impossible to prepare such a famous dessert as cheesecake without it!

By following the step-by-step instructions with photos described in the recipe, you can easily prepare the famous Philadelphia cheese at home. After all, tasty does not mean difficult! Bon appetit!

Cheese making is a difficult process for the most part, but not in the case of preparing a product from delicate sour cream.

To make cream cheese at home, you need a minimum of ingredients and even less effort, since it is incredibly quick and easy to prepare. If you are just learning the basics of cheese making, then this recipe will come in very handy; follow it step by step and everything will work out.

How to make homemade cream cheese

Ingredients

— 500 ml + -
— 400 ml + -
— 1 l + -

Making your own soft cream cheese

In this recipe, to make homemade cream cheese we will need milk, sour cream and cream. This combination will ensure a soft consistency of the cheese product and a refined taste, which cannot but please lovers of soft cheeses.

Choose the fat content of the main ingredients yourself, but keep in mind: the fatter they are, the fattier your cheese will be.

Place all prepared ingredients into a deep saucepan with a thick bottom.
Mix all the ingredients thoroughly until we get a liquid, homogeneous mass, without lumps.
Cover the pan with a lid and leave the container with the contents warm for at least 6-7 hours (maximum fermentation can take 8 hours).

A kitchen table near a cold radiator or a switched off stove on which something was recently cooked is suitable as a warm place for fermenting the milk-sour cream mixture. You can also place the pan with the milk mixture in a bowl of warm water and change it periodically when it cools down. Just don’t overheat, our goal is not to heat the sour cream and milk, but to create favorable conditions for ripening.

While the mixture is fermenting, it cannot be stirred, nor should it be allowed to sit for a long time. This threatens to peroxidize the product and, accordingly, produce tasteless, sour cheese.
After standing in the heat, you will form a solid plastic clot, which, when pressed, should also spring back. But despite all this, the mass will still remain soft and easily destroyed, so be careful.
The whole cheese curd will take the shape of a pan, but keep in mind that you cannot mix it, this will ruin the structure of the delicate product.
Place the container with the contents on a very low heat and slightly warm the cheese cream mass. While the pan is on the stove, keep an eye on it and make sure that the cheese mixture does not overheat, much less boil.

If there is a lot of creamy mass, just make neat cuts with a knife, but do not mix the future cream cheese.

During the heating process, the whey will gradually begin to separate. Keep an eye on it, it should heat up well, in a word, bring it to a boil, but do not boil (do not confuse cheese and whey: the liquid should begin to boil, the cheese mass should not). As soon as you see that the whey has begun to “gurgle”, remove the pan from the stove.
After the whey boils, cover the heated pan with the contents with a lid and put it back in a warm place for at least 12 hours to allow the product to ripen. Make sure that there are no drafts in the room where the delicate cream cheese is ripening.
After half a day, transfer the settled mass into clean multi-layer gauze (3-5 layers) or a waffle towel.
We hang the gauze (or towel) with the cheese mixture over the bowl so that the whey can drain there.

In terms of time, the process of draining the serum can take from 6 to 7 hours, this is quite a long time, but it is worth it.
As soon as the whey stops dripping into the bowl, cream cheese at home can be considered ready.

On average, from the amount of ingredients indicated in the recipe, you can get up to 1 kg of soft cream cheese. And you decide for yourself how to find a use for such a delicate product.

What to serve with cream cheese

The creamy homemade product can be eaten as an independent treat, or it can be used as a filling for rolls, pancakes, rolls, pies, cakes and other baked goods.

With a salty and spicy (i.e. unsweetened) filling, soft cream cheese also goes well in any dish.

In addition, delicate cream cheese made from sour cream and cream can be included in all kinds of desserts, salads, mousses, sandwich spreads and other delicacies.

Here, no matter what, no one can limit the flight of your culinary imagination in this matter.

How to make cream cheese from sour cream at home

Cream cheese at home is prepared from different amounts of ingredients: some combine milk with cream and sour cream - as we did in the previous recipe, some make delicate cream cheese from cream alone, some like the taste of cheese, made on the basis of kefir, and for some the best taste comes from sour cream.

It is this cooking option that we will consider step by step below.

Ingredients

Sour cream (15-21% fat content) – 500 g.

How to make cream cheese: homemade recipe with sour cream

Fold clean gauze into 4 layers, place it on the bottom of the bowl and pour in sour cream.
We lift the gauze by the edges, tying them into a strong knot, this will make it easier to hang.
We hang the resulting bag over a bowl, into which, in fact, the whey will flow.
We leave the delicate creamy product in this “suspended” state for 1 day.
Every other day, we take the resulting cheese head out of gauze and serve it on its own or with any addition (fruits, vegetables, herbs) to the table.

The calorie content of soft cream cheese is 246 kcal per 100 g of product.

Despite this, homemade cream cheese is deservedly considered a vegetarian treat, because it does not contain any special starters, especially rennet, obtained from the last stomach of a cow.

The fermentation process in our case occurs naturally. If you have problems during fermentation or simply don’t have time to wait for the sour cream to ferment itself, then add a little lemon juice to it (1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice per 800 ml of sour cream).

As you can see, getting cream cheese (homemade) is as easy as shelling pears. You should not transfer money to a low-quality and tasteless store-bought product; it is better to spend a little time and make cream cheese at home with your own hands - it will turn out both tastier and cheaper.

It’s not difficult to feel like a cheese maker, the main thing is to want to be one, and strictly follow the recipe, then your efforts will definitely be crowned with success.

Bon appetit!

Cream cheese is an ingredient that has recently been increasingly used by chefs and confectioners to create their masterpieces. It’s just that you can’t find this product in every store yet, and the price for it is often steep. But there is good news: cream cheese that is not inferior to the store-bought product can be made at home.

Making cream cheese at home is not a quick and labor-intensive process. But with a certain amount of patience and effort, you can get a sufficient amount of a delicate creamy product, which in terms of taste will leave the store-bought product far behind.

For approximately one kilogram of finished cream cheese you will need:

1000 ml milk 3.2% fat;
500 ml sour cream 20%;
400 ml cream 20% fat.

Recipe for making homemade cheese step by step:

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan with high walls and a thick bottom. Stir to obtain a homogeneous rare mixture, which should be left warm for 6 - 8 hours for fermentation.
The result will be one solid clot that will spring back slightly when pressed. Next, you should be very careful not to damage the integrity of this clot in the next stages of preparation.
Place the container with fermented raw materials on the fire and heat until the whey separates and begins to boil. After the first bubbles in the separated liquid, the fire should be turned off.
Next, the cheese must be left in the pan for another 12 hours in a warm place to ripen. After this time, it must be transferred to an improvised bag made of a waffle towel or multi-layer gauze and hung to drain the whey. After 6 – 7 hours the product will be absolutely ready.

How to make a soft cheese product

Soft cream cheese is often used to layer cakes and decorate cupcakes as part of cream cheese. It can also be the main ingredient in making cheesecakes. And if you add fresh chopped herbs and spices to it, you get a delicious spread for sandwiches.

To make such a product at home you will need:

400 g sour cream 25% fat;
450 g ryazhenka 4%;
450 g of kefir, the fat content of which is 3.2%.

Cooking technology:

The first stage is freezing all ingredients. Therefore, for the convenience of further extraction of frozen products, it is better to use sour cream, fermented baked milk and kefir in plastic bags, which are simply placed in the freezer for a while.
Frozen fermented milk products are removed from the packaging using a knife or scissors and placed in a thick fabric bag. Then it is placed in a colander placed over a container where the whey will drain.
Leave frozen foods in a fabric bag at room temperature for 8 - 10 hours. After the specified time, all that remains is to transfer the soft cheese into a storage container and mix. The released whey can be used for baking, such as pancakes and pancakes.

Mascarpone at home

Mascarpone cream cheese, which has won the hearts of gourmets far beyond the borders of its homeland (Italy), is produced by fermenting cream. In industrial production, tartaric acid is used for this, and at home, lemon juice is used.

For homemade Mascarpone you should take:

500 ml cream 25% fat;
500 ml cream 30% fat;
45 ml lemon juice.

Sequence of cooking processes:

Pour the cream into a saucepan with a thick bottom and put on fire. The goal is to heat them to 85°C, but under no circumstances bring them to a boil. Here, as they say, a thermometer helps.
Remove the cream from the stove, pour in fresh lemon juice and stir quickly. The mass will thicken a little.
Return the pan to the heat, bring it back to 75 - 85°C and hold for three minutes. Then cool to room temperature.
Line a colander with a linen towel or gauze in 5-6 layers, pour the cooled cream and collect the gauze (towel) in a bag. Hang it over a bowl or pan, for example, on a spoon.
Place the resulting structure in the refrigerator for 24 hours. During this time, all excess moisture will drain, and only thick cream cheese will remain in the bag.

Creamy curd cheese

In just half an hour you can prepare a small portion (about 300 g) of cream cheese using a slow cooker or a thick-bottomed pan.

The proportions of ingredients for this recipe will be as follows:

1000 ml milk (3.2%);
200 ml kefir (2%);
60 – 70 ml cream (30% and above).

Cooking method:

Pour all the ingredients of the future cheese into a multi-pan (or regular pan) and mix thoroughly so that the mixture becomes as homogeneous as possible.
Turn on the multicooker in the “Stew” mode or place a regular saucepan on medium heat. Without covering the milk mixture, watch carefully until it begins to curdle. This will happen at 85 degrees, i.e. in about 20 - 30 minutes.
Then you should throw it into a colander lined with gauze and let the serum drain. The humidity of the finished product can be adjusted independently to your taste by holding the raw materials in a colander a little longer or a little less.

From milk with cream

You can make cream cheese at home from milk and cream without going through the lengthy procedure of warm ripening. To do this, you will need to use a few drops of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice. Don’t worry, the taste of vinegar will not be noticeable in the finished product, and the fermentation process will speed up, regardless of the fat content of the cream.

List and quantity of products needed in this case:

1000 ml milk;
600 ml heavy cream;
30 ml apple cider vinegar.

Progress:

Place the milk and cream, stirred until smooth, over low heat and heat almost to a boil, but do not boil.
Pour apple cider vinegar into the dairy products and stir over low heat for about 10 minutes until the mixture has completely curdled.
Next, filter the whey by hanging the mixture in a linen bag for 12 hours.

The shelf life of such homemade cheese in the refrigerator is 3–4 days, since the product is natural and does not contain preservatives.

Cooking Philadelphia cheese

Philadelphia is a cream cheese that does not require long ripening.

The popularity of its use for preparing various desserts and snacks was the determining factor that influenced the appearance of the following recipe:

500 ml of natural yogurt without fillers (can be replaced with kefir 3.5%);
250 ml sour cream with a fat content above 20%;
5 ml lemon juice;
salt to taste.

Prepare Philadelphia cream cheese as follows:

Combine sour cream and yogurt. Add lemon juice to this mixture and add salt to taste.
Place a colander over the pan, cover it with a white linen or waffle towel.
Pour the fermented milk mixture onto it, fold the edges of the towel inward, and place a fairly heavy pressure on top. Leave everything like this for a day.

To prevent the product from spoiling, it is better to put the structure in the refrigerator. After the specified time, homemade Philadelphia will be ready.

Sour cream option

Weighted sour cream is the simplest version of cream cheese. To prepare it, you only need one ingredient and time to separate the whey. The taste of the final product will depend entirely on the taste of the starting raw materials, so sour cream should not be sour or have any aftertaste.

For one serving of homemade cream cheese you need to take 500 ml of sour cream with a fat content of at least 20%.

Cooking sequence:

Fold a piece of thick sterile gauze into five or six layers and place in a bowl. Pour sour cream on top. Gather the ends of the gauze in the center and tie in a knot.
Hang the resulting bag over a deep container of the appropriate size so that the whey can drain into it. You can use a large spoon or wooden spatula as a hanging bar.
When the liquid disappears, and this usually happens after 10 - 12 hours, the cheese can be beaten a little to make it fluffy and used for its intended purpose.

How to replace cream cheese in cooking

Since cream cheese prepared according to any of the above recipes does not replicate the exact industrial technology, it can only be considered an alternative to store-bought Mascarpone, Philadelphia and other popular types of cream cheeses.

But if you don’t have time to prepare a homemade analogue, because even the simplest recipe requires a significant amount of time, you can use another substitute. Soft, not very fatty cottage cheese is suitable, which must be very carefully rubbed through a sieve or blended with a blender. For a more “creamy” taste, you can add cream to the resulting mass.

For sweet baked goods, for example, for cream cheese or cheesecakes, you can use sweet curd mass or curd without fillers (such as raisins or dried apricots). Of course, in this case, the taste and texture of the finished dish may differ slightly from the original ones. But it is worth noting that many people like this option even more than the classic one.