Cream Cheese Substitute

New potatoes with cream cheese filling. Cherry cream cheese pie. Cream cheese pie. Cream cheese brownies. Should I go on or is that enough to drive your salivary glands nuts? Yes, I totally agree that cream cheese or queso crema can totally make any dish delectable and can be devoured without any coercion. But besides that tongue which can't stop salivating while you reach the heaven of taste, cream cheese prepares your body on the sly for a visit to the real heaven real fast. If obesity doesn't bother you, then a deteriorating cardiovascular health should. So, the option? Simple, just switch to alternatives that are safer and comparatively healthier. Believe me there are plenty of cream cheese alternatives out there and all you need to do is look for them. Let us see some good and viable cream cheese substitutes in the following segment.

Cream Cheese Alternatives

You can opt for one of these cream cheese substitutes when you're out on cream cheese and going to the grocer's seems too cumbersome. The following alternatives do not negatively affect the taste of the delicacy at all, but the taste might vary just a tad. But as I said earlier, food is not always eaten to cater to tongue tantrums alone. So, here it goes.

Ricotta Cheese

You can use equal parts of yogurt and ricotta cheese. Try using ricotta cheese made from partially skimmed milk for best results. Ricotta cheese is rich in calcium and sweeter in comparison to cottage cheese.

French Neufchâtel

Substitute for cream cheese with an equal amount of crumbly, grainy French Neufchâtel, if you want a spread lower in fat content. Neufchâtel is more moist that cream cheese.

Italian Marscapone Cheese

You can also opt for an equal helping of Italian triple-cream marscapone cheese. But in case you are using marscapone, know that one cup of cream cheese has 810 calories and marscapone has 814. So, health wise it is of no help at all.

Cottage Cheese

Take cottage cheese with not more than 1% milk fat and purée it in a mixer until it froths and becomes smooth. Chill it in the freezer for a while and voila! 250 grams of low-fat cottage cheese will have about 180 calories. But the saturated fat content is negligible and it has essential vitamins, such as vitamin A, B6, B12, C, D, and E and minerals, like sodium (507.5 mg), potassium (107 mg), other than calcium, folate, and copper in it.

Kefir

You can use a bowlful of the organic variety of thin yogurt known as kefir to which you have to add ¼th cup of organic chia seeds. These potent seeds shall absorb all the water from the yogurt and in just 20 to 25 odd minutes. Just do not agitate the arrangement once you add the seeds and allow it to stand still. This again is a cream cheese substitute which makes for a good spread. Replete with beneficial bacteria, kefir aids treatment of gastrointestinal issues, variant allergies, candidiasis, and even atherosclerosis, whereas the chia seeds are omega-3 essential fatty acid sources that also double as antioxidants and a storehouse for myriad vitamins and minerals. This has only about 15 calories per tablespoon which is nearly one-third of the number present in regular cream cheese. And the taste? You wouldn't know the difference. However, try to avoid making dishes which require heating with kefir as the heat will kill all the useful microorganisms in this preparation.

Fat-free Yogurt Cheese

Then another very good cream cheese substitute is fat-free plain yogurt cheese. So, how do you go about obtaining this? Simple. Just take a strainer and place four to ten layers of cheesecloth or white absorbent paper towels or clean, white cotton dish towel (flour sack) with a fairly fine weave on it. Place plain stabilizer-free yogurt on the cheesecloth layers and then place the strainer on a big bowl. Tie the ends of the cloth around the yogurt. Keep this arrangement in the refrigerator for a minimum of 8 hours so that the water drains out completely. You will see that the volume of the yogurt will have decreased considerably (almost by half). Your fat-free plain yogurt cheese is ready to substitute for fattening cream cheese. You can also add a desired amount of salt to it and store it in the fridge for a week to use it in installments. This is a low-calorie, low lactose, high protein, high calcium, dream cream cheese substitute for those on a low-calorie diet. Also makes for a delicious bagel spread!

Tofu
Option 1	Option 2	Option 3
Here is another very interesting concoction that you can try to replace a cup of cream cheese with. Take about ¾th cup of firm tofu, about ¼th of a cup of margarine, and a tablespoon of lemon juice. Blend it in a mixer until smooth and creamy. You may need to keep scraping the tofu bits off the sides of the mixer and pushing it towards the central blade until the desired texture is achieved. After it is done, place the mixture in a glass bowl and refrigerate till firm.	Take a cup of the extra-firm variety of silken tofu, 1½ tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice, ½ a tablespoon of brown rice syrup, 1½ teaspoons of low-sodium tamari, ¼ a teaspoon of ground nutmeg, and ½ a teaspoon of nutritional yeast flakes. Begin with hanging the tofu in a muslin cloth for half an hour to drain out the excess water. Then place all the ingredients in a blender and blend until the desired creamy, smooth consistency is obtained. Place the mixture in a glass bowl and refrigerate for 8 hours at least. this will help in melding in all the flavors. If you are not using the entire concoction at one go, store the remaining in a bottle in the fridge. Also, if you do not want the aroma of nutmeg in this, you can avoid adding it.	The third variation will require you to take a cup of firm tofu, 3 tablespoons of either freshly squeezed lemon juice or an equal amount of vinegar, 2 tablespoons of either mild olive oil or canola oil, 1 tablespoon of sugar, and ½ a teaspoon of salt. Now pour all the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. Follow the "scraping and pushing the tofu to the center" action as instructed in Option 1 for this method as well. Once creamy, place the mixture in a bowl and refrigerate.

Now, if you wish to experiment a little and add different flavors to your tofu cream cheese or yogurt cheese, you can try adding some of the ingredients stated below. Try your own permutations and combinations to add some zing to your bagel spreads or even chips, fries, and cracker dips!

Tofu Cheese avec Herbes	Tofu Cheese with Capers	Tomato Tofu Cheese	Veggie-delight Tofu Cheese	Either - Or
Just add ¼th teaspoon each of dill (dried), parsley flakes, rosemary (dried), and thyme (dried) along with a minced clove of garlic. Add this to the blender itself after the tofu mixture smoothens and give the concoction a final spin just before you refrigerate the smoothened tofu mixture. OR Sprinkle some oregano (dried) and chili flakes to go all Italiano! You can either add this to the blender or sprinkle it on the tofu cream cheese alternative just before applying it on your bagel.	For this, mingle in a tablespoon of chopped capers, a clove of minced garlic, and 2 teaspoons worth of freshly ground caraway seeds. Add this to the blender itself after the tofu mixture smoothens and give the concoction a final spin just before you refrigerate the smoothened tofu mixture.	This will require you to add just a pinchful of cayenne, 3 tablespoons of tomato paste, a single teaspoon of onion powder, half a teaspoon of garlic powder, ¼th teaspoon each of paprika and thyme (dried), and ⅛th of a teaspoon of freshly ground dill seeds. Add this to the blender after the tofu mixture smoothens and give the concoction a spin just before leaving it to set in the fridge.	Take a finely chopped scallion, a small, finely grated carrot, a clove of crushed garlic, ¼th cup of very finely chopped capsicum, and ¼th tablespoon of freshly chopped parsley and place them in the same glass bowl in which you plan to set the tofu mixture. Now pour in the creamy cream cheese alternative from top and use a spatula to mingle the veggies very well with the tofu concoction. Then refrigerate to chill. This will help all the flavors to commingle with one another.	A Date with Nuts: Sprinkle ¼th cup each of roasted, chopped walnuts and chopped up pitted dates on the tofu cheese and lightly mix in with a spoon. Yum! Creamy-pineapple Delight: Add ¼th cup of unsweetened pineapple which has been drained well. Add it to the blender after smoothening the tofu mixture. Give the concoction a final spin just before you refrigerate the entire thing.

Buttermilk Cheese

You can also opt for tangy buttermilk cheese to replace cream cheese with. This too is lower in fat content than cream cheese and works wonders when used for making lasagna and stuffed shells. Begin by placing a gallon of whole milk on the stove. Remember to use a steel container for heating the milk. Now place a cheese thermometer in the container, such that the tip of the thermometer remains steeped in the milk by 2 inches. In order to keep from burning the milk, slowly raise the temperature to 180°. Refrain from doing so at one go. The rise in heat should be gradual. The heat setting should never go beyond medium-low to medium. At 180°, take the pan off the stove and pour in about half a cup of low-fat buttermilk into the pan. Use a wooden ladle to mix the two liquids well. Some people also add about 2 teaspoons of coarse salt to this. Once the pan has been allowed to sit undisturbed for a minimum of 15 minutes, check for tiny cheese globule formations in the milk. Now place 4 - 10 layers of cheesecloth on a strainer, place the strainer on a bigger bowl, pour the milk into the strainer, and tie up the ends of the cloth, bundling up the curd. Once you see that the maximum amount of whey (the liquid by-product that drains out when curd or buttermilk is hung) has drained out into the bowl (after about 90 minutes), lift the cheese bundle and squeeze out the remaining water in the sack. Of course, you can regulate the consistency of the cheese by retaining some water in the cheesy residue. after that, you will need to place the cheese in a lidded container and refrigerate it for 48 hours. Those who like their buttermilk cheese sweet, add some vanilla and sugar for a sweeter spread. Others can experiment by adding a teaspoon of dry herbs (tarragon, oregano, or basil), or a teaspoon of coarsely ground pepper, or a teaspoon worth of freshly grated lemon zest to the cup of buttermilk itself, before it is added to the hot milk. The last combination with the zest tastes like heaven when served with some freshly hacked thyme and scrambled eggs or with a loaf of French bread, seasoned with some salt and mizzled with some nice aromatic olive oil!

Soy Milk Cheese

Made from soy, salt, and oil, soy cream cheese is the perfect cream cheese alternative for individuals who are lactose intolerant, including mothers breastfeeding lactose -intolerant babies. There are multiple brands, such as Bagelworks, Tofutti®, Soyco, and Follow Your Heart® among others, that offer variations of this non-dairy cream cheese. While Follow Your Heart® has gone ahead and made their product "Vegan Gourmet Cream Cheese" perfect for vegans, Galaxy Nutritional Foods® has come out with products for both vegans and vegetarians. The products are called Vegan® Soy-based Cheese Alternative and Veggie® Soy-based Cheese Alternative. They also have a Vegan® Classic Plain Cream Cheese Alternative. All the products are not only lactose-free but also cholesterol free, are rich sources calcium, and boast of containing 0 g Trans and saturated fat per serving. The one for vegans also happen to be preservative free, gluten-free, and casein free which makes it fit for vegan diets. Other than being used as a spreadable, these alternatives can be used for making desserts, cheesecakes, and for the purpose of frosting. Finally, Tofutti not only offers its product "Better than Cream Cheese" in Plain as well as French Onion, Herbs and Chives, and Garlic and Herb flavors but it also markets a variation which does not contain any hydrogenated oils. This effectively means that it does not contain any animal fats. This particular product is sold in a container with a yellow label with "No Butterfat!" written on it. This product is very widely available all over the U.S.

Use a light cream cheese or low-fat cream cheese if you need to use it while baking. Absolutely non-fat cream cheese substitute in baking is not recommended because it cannot stand heat and has a variant taste. But low-fat cream cheese has a similar flavor and feel to that of normal cream cheese and curtails the fat content down by at least 50%.

So, now you no more have excuses to gorge on harmful cream cheese when you have so many cream cheese substitutes that are equally tasteful but so much more nutritious. Think healthy and take a wise step forward by opting for one of these cream cheese alternatives, today!