Rich, creamy, and cheesy -no one will guess that you made it yourself! With just a few simple ingredients and less than 5 minutes of your time, you can have any flavour of cream cheese you like. Just perfect for spreading, snacking and dipping! It is a great option for anyone looking to reduce the amount of saturated fat they consume, while still indulging themselves with this goodness.
You will LOVE this vegan cream cheese recipe because it …
is the closest thing to real cream cheese that you can make
has less calories than regular cream cheese
contains less than half of the saturated fat
contains more than double the protein
is made with simple ingredients you can find at most stores
is quick and easy to make and can be whipped up in less than 5 minutes.
is vegan & gluten-free
is high in protein
is easy to make in any flavour that you wish, like garlic herb, chives, or even strawberry
is great for replacing cream cheese in other recipes
is suuuuuuuper delicious!
Ingredients
For the plain cream cheese:
Extra-firm tofu (water-packed), about 500 gr
Coconut oil, 50ml (melted but not hot ... measure while liquid)
Apple cider vinegar, 1 tablespoon (or white wine vinegar)
Nutritional yeast, 1 tablespoon
Fresh lemon juice: 3 tablespoons
Salt, 1 teaspoon
Optional (but highly recommended)
Walnuts (or peeled almonds), 75 g
Dried dill, ½ teaspoon (the final recipe won't really taste of dill, but it does add a certain something)
Garlic, 1 clove
Note
Below the recipe, more ideas for sweet and savoury flavours.
Instructions
To a food processor add tofu, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar (or white vinegar), nutritional yeast, coconut oil, 1 teaspoon of the sea salt and the dried dill. Process until completely smooth. I
t will take 2 to 3 minutes, longer in a less powerful food processor.
Spoon out into a container. It can be eaten right away but is best if refrigerated for at last 1 hour so it firms up a little.
Keep in a sealed container in the fridge. It will keep for 5 -6 days.
This recipe serves a large quantity so you can either cut the recipe in 1/2 or freeze part of it (I've done it using a sipper bag, it worked like a charm).
Spice it up !
You can also divide the cream cheese in 3 or 4, and make different recipes!
Garlic Herb - A clove of minced garlic plus 30 gr of your favorite fresh herbs like parsley, chives, dill, green onions. You can really do any herb combo that you like. The sky is the limit!
Veggies - Add 30-50 gr of steamed & chopped veggies of choice like carrots, courgette, tomatoes, etc.
Sun-dried Tomato Basil- Add about 30 g of chopped sun-dried tomatoes and 2 tbsp chopped basil or 1 tbsp pesto. (Use the oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes or soak the dry ones in some water for a few minutes before adding to the cream cheese).
Olive - Add 30 g or more of chopped olives or olive tapenade.
If you want to go for sweet, here some other ideas.
Berry (Strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries work deliciously for this. I often use frozen berries). Cut or mash the berries and sprinkle. For a bit more sweetness, you could sprinkle a bit if coconut sugar or any other healthy alternative.
Cinnamon – Add 1 teaspoon 1/2 of cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice.
Chocolate – Add 2 or 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder (not the Nesquik non sense obviously, some good raw organic stuff) plus an additional 2 tablespoons of coconut sugar. (The additional sugar is optional, but you might find cocoa is too bitter).
There you go! Have fun and let me know what you think !
Comments