Homemade Cream Cheese

I just had to try making homemade cream cheese since seeing it on my social feeds. So easy, so fresh, and so delicious! 3 ingredients! 24 Hours! Once made, you can add flavours of your choice – herbs is a popular one, garlic, dried minced onion, so many options. My favourite is a piece of toast (on homemade bread is perfect!), with a generous amount of the cream cheese and fresh berries or a dollop of chia jam on top – tastes like cheesecake!!

Greek yogurt is higher in protein than regular yogurt, is a good source of calcium, Vitamin B12, Riboflavin (Vitamin B2) and selenium as well as Vitamin A, zinc and potassium. It is low in carbs and has little sugar.

Lemons are a good source of Vitamin C which protects your heart from disease and stroke, support kidney health as it increases pH making a less hospitable environment for the formation of kidney stones, the citric acid in lemons help absorb iron better in the body, and studies have shown that citrus fruits help to fight certain cancers.

Give it a try! You’ll be glad you did!

As always, when you make this recipe, I would love to see your creation so please post a photo of your Homemade Cream Cheese goodness and tag my IG account #RenataCollective or leave a comment with your thoughts!

Prep Time: 10 Minutes / Wait Time: 24 Hours / Makes: ~1 1/3 Cups

Ingredients

1 1/2 Cup Greek Yogurt
3 Tablespoons Fresh Lemon Juice
Pinch of Fine Sea Salt - to taste

How It’s Made

You’ll need a measuring cup, a bowl, a strainer to put on top of the bowl, a thin tea towel, cheese cloth or paper towel, another bowl to put on top of the lined strainer and something heavy - I use am unopened jar of something or a can of beans.
In a measuring cup, mix the yogurt, lemon juice and salt together.
Put the strainer into the bowl.
Put the one end of a tea towel, a piece of cheese cloth or paper towel into the strainer. (In the photos I use paper towel as everyone usually has those.)
Add the yogurt mixture into to strainer, on top of the tea towel, cheese cloth or paper towel.
Fold the tea towel over the yogurt mixture, or place another piece of cheese cloth or paper towel on top of the yogurt.
Put another bowl on top of the cloth.
Put something heavy in the bowl to squeeze the liquid out of the yogurt mixture.
Put in the fridge for 24 hours.
After the 24 hours, you will see the liquid in the bottom bowl.
Remove the heavy object, the top bowl, the cloth and you will see your beautiful cream cheese!
Drop the cream cheese into a container or form into a ball onto a plate to serve right away.
If you wish a flavoured cream cheese, add your flavours and mix it in - a sprinkle of Italian herbs and garlic powder is a favourite!
Store in the fridge. As there are no preservatives eat up your cream cheese in a couple of days.