Creamy Homemade Cottage Cheese
Author Notes: Cottage cheese is made from extracting curd byproduct from the whey and the addition of cream, yogurt or milk makes it creamy. A great breakfast side, and if served stand alone with fruit, it is a simple, lighter fare; perfect on a busy morning. —lapadia
Makes 1-1/2 cups (give or take)
- WHAT YOU WILL NEED
- 1/2 gallon of whole milk
- Candy Thermometer
- 4 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
- Long stainless or wooden spoon
- Large Pot
- Colander and a deep pot to drain in
- Cheesecloth or other loosely woven material
- Kosher salt
- Plain yogurt, cream or milk, to make the creamy mixture
- Pour milk into a large pot. Insert candy thermometer - heat to 175-180 degrees, or until the edges start to foam and it just starts to bubble. Stir now and then to help keep the milk from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
- After the milk is heated to temperature; take off the heat, add the lemon juice while stirring to mix thoroughly. Cover with a paper towel (or something to catch the dripping moisture) and let sit for 30 minutes – until you see that the curds have separated.
- Line a colander with cheesecloth or other loosely woven material. Slowly pour the curds and whey into the colander allowing the whey to drain away – about 5 minutes. Discard the whey.
- Tie the four corners of the cheesecloth around the curds; rinse under cold water until cool enough to handle and then squeeze and rinse the acid taste out…although I don’t mind a little of the lemon flavor.
- After completely cooled and squeezed, transfer to a container, break up into pieces and salt to your taste.
- If serving immediately, salt to taste and stir in cream, milk or yogurt to make a creamy mixture, otherwise, place it in a covered container, refrigerate, salt and make it creamy later. Add fruits after creaming. NOTE: use Crème fraiche for special recipes or occasions!
- *My cottage cheese idea started after seeing a recipe on a FaceBook food group, reading additional information, and then testing it out to come up with this recipe.
- This recipe was entered in the contest for Your Best Holiday Breakfast
More Great Recipes: Side Dishes|Condiments|Cheese & Dairy
over 5 years ago mrslarkin
This sounds great, lapadia! Thanks so much for the recipe! When do you add salt?
over 5 years ago lapadia
Thanks, mrslarkin! oops...I add the salt to taste in step 6...will fix that! :)
over 5 years ago dymnyno
I just made this and it turned out perfect! I love that I can control the salt the the creaminess and can make my own clabbered cottage cheese. Have you used the whey to make ricotta?
over 5 years ago lapadia
Hi!
So glad this recipe worked for you, I just love it, esp. being able to control the fat and sodium, too.
I tried making ricotta with this recipe, but the whey seemed too watery. So now I discard my cottage cheese whey. But, I save my ricotta recipe whey (see link). I infuse it with herbs and freeze portions until needed for sauce, bread and soup recipes.
http://www.food52.com/recipes...
Here is a link to the ricotta recipe I make although the one here on F52 is great too.
http://lapadia.wordpress...