Cream Cheese

• servings: 1 serving
• active time: 30 minutes
• total time: 3 hours

Ingredients

4 cups (920 mL) unsweetened soy milk*

1/3 cup + 1 tbsp (75 mL) lemon juice*, divided

1/3 cup (76 g) salted vegan butter*, melted and cooled

Directions

Heat:Â

In a large saucepan, add in the soy milk and 1/3 cup (67 g) of  the lemon juice. Stir to combine. Then place the saucepan on medium high heat, and let the soy milk mixture heat and boil until the curdles have bubbled to the top and puffed up (see photos). This will take about 5-7 minutes.

While the soy milk is heating:Â

Grab a large bowl and place a sieve over the top of it. Place your cheesecloth in the sieve (see blog post photos). Make sure you have enough cheesecloth to twist the ends together and squeeze the cream cheese mixture liquid out.

Strain:Â

Once the soy milk mixture has boiled, remove the saucepan from heat, and pour the mixture into your cheesecloth lined sieve over the bowl. Allow the liquid to drain from the clumps of soy milk, and let the mixture cool off for 10 minutes before squeezing out more liquid. The soy milk curds will be really hot, so allow it to cool first for 10 minutes before straining anymore.

Squeeze the remaining liquid from the cheese curds:Â

Once the mixture is cool enough to handle, clump the top of the cheesecloth together with the curds inside and gently squeeze any remaining liquid from the curds into the bowl. Remove the cheesecloth from the bowl. You’ll see that the curds inside should almost resemble a cottage cheese appearance, but a little drier.

Blend:Â

Add the soy milk curds to a food processor or high speed blender, along with the melted vegan butter and remaining 1 tbsp of lemon juice. Blend until creamy, about 1-2 minutes, scraping down the sides as needed. It should be super silky smooth. Taste the mixture to see if you need a touch more lemon juice or if it’s just right for your taste preference. See blog post for flavor variations!

Chill:Â

Scrape the mixture into a glass storage container and seal with the lid. Place the vegan cream cheese into the fridge to chill for at least 3 hours, but preferably overnight.

Spread, blend, bake, and enjoy!Â

When ready, your vegan cream cheese will be perfectly spreadable for bagels, toast, or to use in both sweet and savory recipes!