Center: Thrive Strawberries; Top Left: Cinnamon & Sugar; Top Right: Honey & Vanilla;
Bottom Left: Parmesan & Italian Herbs; Bottom Right: Maple Extract & Sugar
1 Container Plain Yogurt (regular, low fat or non fat)
Cheesecloth
String
Salt
Flavorings and mix ins
This recipe leaves you with a lot of options. You can make as much or a little as you want depending on how much yogurt you start with. I would suggest using a large container the first time so you can divide your cheese and flavor it a variety of ways. Lay your cheesecloth in a bowl (to contain the mess) and pour the container of yogurt into it. Gather the corners of the cheesecloth together and use some twine or string to tie it together, making a pouch. The goal here is to suspend the pouch over something (sink, bowl, pot) overnight and let it drain all of the liquid out. Rig this up however it works best for you - I tied mine on the handle of my microwave and put a bowl on the stovetop underneath it to catch the liquid.
In the morning, discard the liquid (or keep it if you have a use for whey) and untie your cheesecloth. Remove the solid cheese to a large bowl and add some salt. The amount of salt you add depends on how much yogurt you started with - 1/4t for 6oz, all the way up to 1t or more for 32oz. If you would like to try some different flavorings, divide the cheese into smaller containers and experiment. Here are a few ideas:
Extracts: maple, almond, vanilla
Spices: garlic powder, onion power, Italian seasonings, taco seasonings, cinnamon, sugar, pumpkin pie spices
Fruits: rehydrate your favorite Thrive fruits and mix them in! You could also use the powder out of the bottom of a can.
Other: dry onion soup mix, dry ranch dressing mix, Thrive sour cream powder, cocoa powder, chocolate chips, peanut butter, jam or jelly
Refrigerate your homemade cream cheese in an air tight container for up to two weeks.
Tomorrow: homemade bagels!
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ReplyDeleteIt sounds delisious and easy, even though the thought of having yogurt out of the fridge all night makes me a little nervous (if I understood all this right)... Just one question remains. Cheesecloth? Where do I get those???
ReplyDeleteI know - I was worried about having yogurt out all night, too. I looked it up online and found quite a few recipes that require the same thing! I ended up asking the dairy guy about it and he said there is nothing wrong with leaving an already cultured dairy product out because it will just grow more cultures and that's good! As for cheesecloth, you can find it in the baking section of the grocery store - near the kitchen utensils.
ReplyDeleteToo fun. I'm going to do this soon. Just got some cheesecloth shipped in from online. Thanks for the recipe!
ReplyDelete