I had never made Cheesecake till last week. Can you believe it? I love baking and have tried all kinds of things, but for some reason, the thought of making a cheesecake from scratch always gave me cold feet. Its ridiculous isn't it?
But sometimes these things happen, where for some indescribable, strange reason you can't bring yourself to do something. Even though you know its easy, and you know you can. And then the day you attempt it, you realize that there was nothing to fear. It almost came naturally.
Well the same thing happened to me last week. It all started with me attempting to make cream cheese from scratch. In fact that's what I'm going to share with you today. But let me finish my cheesecake story first.
So I tried making cream cheese, multiple times of course, and every time with great success. At the end of all my experiments, I had a big bowl of cream cheese waiting to be used. I spread it on toast, had some with pita dipped in Olive Oil (mmm, I still can't get over it) and even spread it on plums and apples (before you call me crazy, try it and you'll be amazed). But there was still lots of cream cheese left. Naturally, you'd think of cheesecake. I did too. But ahem, it was like a monster sitting in the cupboard.
I turned to my friend Aditi. I like to call her The Cheesecake Queen. She has flooded my Instagram feed on many occasions with, you guessed it - Cheesecake and I will never forgive her for it. But she came through. Her recipe was a hit. I fed it to friends and they loved it! Light, creamy, tart and more - just the way a good cheesecake should be. By the way, no more cheesecake fears. In fact I have another batch of cream cheese in the making, for some more Cheesecake.
I know I've gone on and on about the end product, but before that, let's try some Homemade Cream Cheese. The wonder of this recipe is that there's no cooking required, and the result is a great cream cheese substitute which cannot be differentiated from the regular Philly variety. The process is similar to making Labneh and slightly long, but give it a try.
Also, see my tutorial on How To Make Homemade Paneer (Cottage Cheese) In 15 Minutes
If you try this out, I'd love to know what you thought about it. Connect with me on Facebook and Twitter
Also follow me on Instagram for more drool-worthy updates ๐
Recipes With Cream Cheese:
- Mini Mango Cheesecakes
- Caramel Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake Dip
- No Bake Mango Cheesecake Mousse Jars
- 8 ingredient Passion Fruit Cheesecake Jars
- No Bake Strawberry Cheesecake Jars
Homemade Cream Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 Kg Yogurt (I used commercially available curds)
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- layers of Muslin or Cheesecloth
Instructions
- Place the muslin over a colander or sieve large enough to hold all the yogurt. Pour yogurt into the lined colander. You will notice a whitish liquid dripping out. This is called Whey.
- Bring up the sides of the cloth, and tie tightly with a string to form a sort of a bag. Tie the string around a wooden spoon and place it in a deep bowl in such a way that the spoon is resting across the bowl and the bottom of the bag does not touch the bowl. This leaves space for the whey to drip into the bowl.
- Place this apparatus in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Keep checking every few hours to remove any whey that may have collected. The idea is to ensure that the bag does not get submerged in the whey. Do not discard the whey, which is quite useful. For starters, it can be used instead of water to knead dough.
- Once 24 hours are up, remove the bag and untie it. The yogurt should have thickened up considerably and should start to look like cream cheese. Transfer this to a bowl and add salt. Mix well.
- Take the same cloth and line a bowl with it. Transfer cream cheese to the lined bowl, and wrap with cloth on top to cover the cheese. Place a heavy weight on top of this. You could use a heavy plate, or another bowl filled with water. Leave this in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
- After 2 days remove, unwrap and Voila, your cream cheese is ready!
- Makes 2 Cups.
aditigoyal says
I was looking at something on the blog and wanted to go back to my moment of glory and realized that I haven't commented. Sooooooooooooo!
Anyway, the blog isn't reaching my inbox for some reason - what to do?
Richa Gupta says
Dude you can't be seeing this now! That means you don't visit the blog often enough ๐
aditigoyal says
Woohooooo! I feel famous ๐
Thanks bro!
Richa Gupta says
Hey Indu! Thanks for stopping by ๐ yes this is just my version of cream cheese. Works really well for cheesecakes.
indugetscooking says
Wow Richa! you made cream cheese. Awesome ๐
Richa Gupta says
Hey Neharika! Thanks for writing in. I hope you use the recipe and I'm sure you won't be disappointed ๐
The use of agar agar or china grass depends on what you are using it in. I prefer Gelatin as it gives better results. But here's a general rule of thumb while using Agar Agar -
Use 2 tsp of agar flakes to every cup of liquid in a recipe. Like gelatin, it needs to be dissolved in liquid by bringing it to a boil over medium heat and then simmering until thickened, approximately five minutes. To avoid granules, you can sieve it before adding it to the ingredients. Set and chill in refrigerator before use.
In a recipe which asks for Gelatin, you can substitute the same amount of Agar Agar. Hope this helps and do keep visiting!
Neharika says
Thanks for the recipe ๐ atlast I can make a healthy cheesecake.
Can u pls guide me in using agar agar or china grass - the procedure and the quantity, both. In my last attempt, I messed it up big time and had rubberish granules in the whole cheesecake.
Richa Gupta says
Awesome thanks!
seems2me says
Cool, sounds good. Will keep you posted on the end result. Thank you. ๐
Richa Gupta says
Hey Seema. Once you put the weight on top, more whey shouldn't come out because all the whey has already drained out. However, there will still be some moisture in the cheese.
seems2me says
Hi, this sounded so good and easy, I am trying out this recipe currently. Had a doubt - after mixing with salt, when you place the yoghurt with a weight on top, does more whey come out? Will it stay dry?
Richa Gupta says
Thanks Ashima. I've only made unbaked cheesecake with this, but I think it should work for baked ones as well. I'm going to try this soon, and will let you know. In any case, if you end up trying it, do let me know how it turned out ๐
Ashima Chawla says
Hey, its a really nice recipe! Just wanted to know if I can make a baked cheesecake with this cream cheese and would it be the same? TIA
Richa Gupta says
Thank you Hrishi
Hrishi says
Nice and easy recipe.. Thanks ๐