Cream Cheese Recipe

Goaskmom — Sat, 23 May 2009 16:04:22 +0000

This ancient recipe is so easy and delicious we had to pass it along. In Lebanon it is called lab’-nee, and it’s often served for breakfast on pita bread. It also is delicious spread on bread with cucumbers and/or tomatoes. And then you can put olives with it…The other cool thing about making this cream cheese is that you can see what Little Miss Muffet is all about: curds and whey. Any time you eat cheese, you’re really eating curds. Ordinarily the whey is drained out, and this recipe is no different. We don’t know what Little Miss Muffet was thinking!Ingredients and other Equipment

1 large container plain yogurt
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil plus 2 or 3 drops
1 yard cheesecloth (available at Wal-Mart)
WIRE colander or very large strainer (see picture)

Instructions:

Fold the cheesecloth into a layer of four, and use it to line the wire colander. It is important to use something with larger holes than a regular colander, so the whey can drain. We found ours at the Dollar Store. For a dollar.

Mix the salt and 2 or three drops of olive oil into the yogurt. Dump the yogurt into the cheesecloth. Cover the yogurt with the top of the cheesecloth. Put the yogurt in the sink to drain. It won’t spoil. We usually leave ours overnight, but sometimes it takes a bit longer than that. You’ll see the whey begin to drip out the bottom almost immediately.

When the yogurt feels like cream cheese, it’s not yogurt any more, it really is cream cheese! Take it out of the cheesecloth and put it into a bowl. Use a fork to mix in 1 tablespoon olive oil.

Look at the picture to see how beautiful the cream cheese looks on a table! We drizzle a bit more olive oil over the top to make it pretty.

Summer Fun 101 » cream cheese

Cream Cheese Recipe