Cream cheese forms the base for many desserts such as cheese cakes and cake frostings. But I couldn’t get it here in Madurai. Once I saw the box of cream cheese at Nilgiris in Coimbatore, I was shocked at the price. So I was going through the web for a nice recipe to substitute cream cheese. Curd cheese is a great substitute for the cream cheese but I came across this recipe at Sharmi’s Passions. The preparation was quite easy and it actually has cheese in it. So when preparing Lemon Coconut Bread for the Baking Eggless group challenge last month, I used this home made cream cheese for the filling and was astonished by the result. It is surely a keeper. You can use it as a spread on breads and crackers by adding a little salt and herbs to it.
The two ingredients you need to make cream cheese are cottage cheese and curd/ yogurt. It is best to use homemade paneer instead of store bought, as the latter is harder.
First boil a litre of milk and add 1/2tsp of citric acid/ a tbs of lemon juice to it. Switch off flame when the milk starts curdling. Place a muslin or cotton cloth on a metal sieve and drain the paneer into it. Wait for 15-20minutes.
Take the prepared paneer in a mixer jar and add equal amounts of thick curd to it. Grind them together to a fine paste.
Pour the mixture into the cloth lined sieve again. Cover the mixture with the cloth itself. Place it on top of a bowl and place the bowl along with the sieve in fridge for 2hours.
Once all the water content has drained, transfer to a bowl and use it in the recipe.
Linking this to Tell Your Kitchen Secret hosted at Gayathri’s Kitchen Basics. Please send in your little kitchen secrets to me. You can win a book by Tarla Dalal.
I love painting, dress designing and of course cooking. This blog which started as an online cookery book has given me a great insight into baking and has transformed me into a home baker who is now thriving to learn a lot about cakes and decorating techniques. This blog has thousands of tried and tasted vegetarian recipes around the world and eggless bakes.
