This Homemade Cream Cheese Pairs Perfectly With Bagels

Homemade Cream Cheese

Sometimes, there’s truly nothing better than starting your day with a bagel. Especially a homemade one. But you can make that morning meal even better by DIYing your cream cheese, too. It’s easy to pull off, so long as you plan ahead — the recipe below needs to sit overnight, so you can whip it up and enjoy the next day.

Homemade Cream Cheese

What You Need

  • 1 liter heavy cream
  • ½ cup whole milk
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • ¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon white vinegar (more or less to taste)
  • Instructions

    1. In a clean, heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat the cream, milk and salt on medium heat, stirring gently but constantly to discourage scorching. Heat until the mixture registers 180 F on an instant-read thermometer. The mixture will not come to a boil, but you may see some gentle bubbling.

    2. Once it reaches 180 F, remove the mixture from heat and let it rest for 5 minutes. Add ¼ cup of vinegar and stir gently, just to combine. Taste the mixture: if it’s not as tangy as you’d like, add a bit more vinegar. If you prefer it saltier, add more salt.

    3. Cover the mixture with a towel and let it rest at room temperature for at least 8 hours or overnight. When uncovered, you’ll see some separation occurring: a thick curd layer on top and a thin, watery liquid whey underneath. This is normal.

    4. Place a cheesecloth or cloth in a bowl and pour the mixture on top. Gather the edges of the cloth to form a pouch.

    Pro Tip: You want to suspend the cheesecloth so it can drip excess liquid into a vessel. You can use masking tape to secure the top of the bundle to the side of a bowl, allowing the liquid to drip down.

    5. Leave the mixture to drain for several hours or overnight. Keep monitoring the mixture: when it has stopped dripping whey and feels firm, you can remove it from its pouch. Now it’s ready to spread!

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    8 Responses to “This Homemade Cream Cheese Pairs Perfectly With Bagels”

    1. It says heavy cream on the bottle or carton in dairy section/it says heavy cream on the bottle or con

      It says heavy cream on bottle or container in dairy section

    2. Laurrie

      I plan to make the cream cheese

    3. Karen

      Would this be appropriate to then use in cheesecake?

    4. Diane Michaelis

      Sounds good

    5. Yvonnie Love

      So, what is the answer to refrigeration and how long will it last once refrigerated?

    6. Janay

      When mixture is draining through the cheesecloth overnight (Step 5) should it be refrigerated? This would be the 2nd day without refrigeration. Thank you for clarifying.

    7. Aggie Stratman

      Sounds good!!!

    8. Joan

      What exactly is heavy cream? Can I use a can of Nestle reduced cream instead?