The Highlights
- Vegan (dairy-free)
- Six simple ingredients
- 1-blender recipe (quick & easy clean-up)
Almond Vegan “Cream Cheese”
Over the last few months, I’ve been sharing my experiments with different vegan nut-based “cheeses.” My family misses cheese the most and not having cheese has been one of the harder sells in getting us to go plant-based. My focus is to recreate vegan cheese recipes that are as satisfying as their cheese counterparts. I’m pretty pleased with my vegan cashew cream sauce. I use it so often that I’ve taken to making a basic version of it, dividing into it smaller portions and then freezing it so that I have it when I want it. After that, it’s a simple thing to add the seasonings I need for whatever dish I am working on. The recipe is posted here.
Six Simple Ingredients to Vegan Cheese
Today I’m very pleased to finally share my nut-based, vegan “cream cheese.” I spent a lot of time tinkering with this one. Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best as it turns out. With just 6 ingredients, two of which are salt and water, this recipe will be a staple in our house. Almonds are the base ingredient in this recipe. They are more mild than cashews, which I was finding a lot of in other recipes. In addition to soaking the almonds overnight, I used a few key ingredients to get the creamy texture as well as the slightly sour tanginess that one would expect from a cream cheese. (Those being a dairy-free almond yogurt (I like Kite Hill) and just a touch of lemon juice).
Keep The Mess To A Minimum
Best of all, this vegan “cream cheese” is a 1-blender recipe that’s ready to serve immediately unlike a lot of vegan cheese options which require some time to set. When it’s done, I typically top a bagel or a piece of toast with it. Then I top that with traditional cream cheese favorites like scallions, chives or Trader Joe’s Everything But The Bagel.
The Recipe
Vegan Almond "Cream Cheese"
Ingredients
- 1 cup blanched almonds soaked for at least 8 hours
- 1 5 oz container almond milk yogurt I like Kite Hill's yogurt
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- In a glass measuring cup, soak the one cup of almonds in 2 cups of water for at least 8 hours (it's often easier to do it overnight). Rinse and drain the soaked almonds. Add the almonds, almond milk yogurt, nutritional yeast, water, lemon juice and salt to your blender. Blend until creamy and smooth. When serving, top with your bagel favorites: chives, scallions, Everything seasoning.
Notes
- Blanched almonds can usually be purchased in the bulk section of your local grocery store. If you cannot find them, you can blanch them yourself by briefly putting them in boiling water (about 1 minute), rinsing them dry and then removing the skins.
- Soak your nuts in a covered container at room temperature.
- If you soak your almonds overnight, but won't be able to get to making your cream cheese until later in the day, you can drain and rinse the soaked nuts and store them in the fridge.
- Nut-based "cheeses" are a workout for your blender. You may need to coax the mixture along, adding more water in very small amounts as you go. I use the tamper that came with my Vitamix.
- This cream cheese should stay fresh in your fridge for 3-5 days. It never lasts that long in my house!
- Trader Joe's makes a great seasoning called "Everything But the Bagel." I like to sprinkle it on and then add some chopped chives or scallions.