Time to get some cream cheese on your sandwich!
Vegan cream cheese, homemade! It’s just like tofutti… with some extra awesomeness, of course!

Making your own cream cheese is really easy. I always though that it must be really complicated, or at least a big mess, but, well, lets say… the mess wasn’t bigger than usual. It’s okay when you can tell from a glance in the kitchen that you just prepared something delicious!

Plus, it’s really fun to see the milk curdle. It makes cream cheese making really special. Cream cheese is not just cream cheese anymore. You’ll actually know how it’s made… and how to make it, too! And it’s cheaper than tofutti…

So, here’s how to make your own cream cheese!

• 4 1/4 cups (1 liter) soy milk (NOT low fat!)
• 4 Tbsp Lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp oil
• white vinegar
• Salt
• Optional: dried tomatoes, herbs, spices…
• Optional: 1 pinch guar gum

Put the soymilk in a big pot and bring it to a boil.  Once it boils, stir in the lemon juice. Wait for the curd and the whey to separate. This could take a few minutes… Line a strainer with a dish towel or cheese cloth. Once the whey and curds are completely separated put everything in your strainer and let the whey drain off. It’s tofu now!
Put your homemade tofu in a food processor or blender, add the oil, vinegar, salt, and any spices, herbs or optional ingredients you want. You can make any cream cheese flavor! Use guar gum if you want your cheese to be less smooth. I like the texture when you add just a little guar gum, but you don’t have to add it. Blend until smooth (if it’s not smooth enough add some whey, oil or soy milk)

Do NOT use low fat soy milk in this recipe, it won’t work! Check for the protein content in your soy milk, it should be at least 3%, otherwise the recipe won’t work!
Let your cream cheese cool down before you use it. Store in the refrigerator.

Yummy. Homemade cream cheese. If you leave it plain and just add salt it will taste like tofutti cream cheese! I used sun dried tomatoes (from a jar, otherwise you might have to soak them), pepper, oregano and basil for this version.

Edit: As I caused some confusion by using the words whey and curd for this non-dairy cream cheese: It’s soy curd and soy whey… quite the same thing except for that it’s from soy! I use the words whey and curd rather functional. When making the cream cheese, the soy protein (curd) firms up and separates from the liquid soy whey (which might be greeenish, that’s normal). You can pour the soy whey away and make your cream cheese from the curd. (Tofu is nothing elso but soy curd!  )

One photo of the plain version: