I wanted to make cream cheese. I love cream cheese. For the most part, I try to stay away from the stuff. Technically, I just don't buy it. But I eat it (when the opportunity presents itself in the form of bagels and cream cheese in the office, mail order cheesecake, etc).
Between two books, I've got five recipes. Hmmm, where to begin. Naturally, I thought the more cream the better, so I chose the recipe for Swiss-style cream cheese. This particular recipe is a bit more complicated than some of the others, but I let the ingredients lead the way, nothing but cream. Don't you make cream cheese out of cream? It's not called half-and-half cheese.
As instructed, I heated the cream to 65 degrees using the ol' microwave method that I love so much (it is my preferred method for making goat cheese; we'll go into more detail later). I then added the necessary starter culture and rennet, covered the bowl of cream with plastic wrap and set it aside for 24 hours (or so). After that period of time, the cream was ready to drain. Half the cream goes in the cheese cloth, then a sprinkle (well, a teaspoon) of salt, then the remaining curds, and another teaspoon of salt. I was leery of the salt. I couldn't imagine salted cream cheese tasting good, but the recipe indicated it was present to help the cream drain, so I did as I was told.
After draining the curds required a short amount of time under pressure, though not much (time or pressure). Then it was time for the unveiling. I should've taken a picture; it was so pretty. But as anyone who loves putting that first dent into the fresh jar of peanut butter knows, I couldn't resist getting a taste before the cheesecloth was even off. Wow. Rich creamy, and buttery. Really buttery. In fact,
I shouldn't have done what I then did: stirred vigorously. While my intentions were good (make it smooth and creamy) I wasn't thinking that when you beat cream (as I did, essentially) you get butter.
I kept eating it, thinking, "This tastes kinda like butter." Hmm. Them I toasted some crumpets and applied generously, thinking, "This kinda melts like butter." I don't know, maybe I just made butter. Given that I don't know what "Swiss-style" cream cheese tastes like and I gave a good whipping to a batch of cultured cream, I think that's precisely what I made. Cultured butter, I decided.
Note to self: not only was the salt in the recipe undetectable, I would've liked more.
And what does one do with slightly sour, very rich, yummy butter? Why, bake, of course! I decided to play up that tang and make buttermilk scones. Now I don't pat myself on the back often, but hoo! Th
ese were (are) probably the the tastiest, most tender, moist, delicious scones I have ever made. They even had that slightly crispy outer crust holding in all that soft, steamy goodness. Add a slap of that cultured butter, and you've got something magical. And gone.
Between two books, I've got five recipes. Hmmm, where to begin. Naturally, I thought the more cream the better, so I chose the recipe for Swiss-style cream cheese. This particular recipe is a bit more complicated than some of the others, but I let the ingredients lead the way, nothing but cream. Don't you make cream cheese out of cream? It's not called half-and-half cheese.
As instructed, I heated the cream to 65 degrees using the ol' microwave method that I love so much (it is my preferred method for making goat cheese; we'll go into more detail later). I then added the necessary starter culture and rennet, covered the bowl of cream with plastic wrap and set it aside for 24 hours (or so). After that period of time, the cream was ready to drain. Half the cream goes in the cheese cloth, then a sprinkle (well, a teaspoon) of salt, then the remaining curds, and another teaspoon of salt. I was leery of the salt. I couldn't imagine salted cream cheese tasting good, but the recipe indicated it was present to help the cream drain, so I did as I was told.
After draining the curds required a short amount of time under pressure, though not much (time or pressure). Then it was time for the unveiling. I should've taken a picture; it was so pretty. But as anyone who loves putting that first dent into the fresh jar of peanut butter knows, I couldn't resist getting a taste before the cheesecloth was even off. Wow. Rich creamy, and buttery. Really buttery. In fact,
I shouldn't have done what I then did: stirred vigorously. While my intentions were good (make it smooth and creamy) I wasn't thinking that when you beat cream (as I did, essentially) you get butter.I kept eating it, thinking, "This tastes kinda like butter." Hmm. Them I toasted some crumpets and applied generously, thinking, "This kinda melts like butter." I don't know, maybe I just made butter. Given that I don't know what "Swiss-style" cream cheese tastes like and I gave a good whipping to a batch of cultured cream, I think that's precisely what I made. Cultured butter, I decided.
Note to self: not only was the salt in the recipe undetectable, I would've liked more.
And what does one do with slightly sour, very rich, yummy butter? Why, bake, of course! I decided to play up that tang and make buttermilk scones. Now I don't pat myself on the back often, but hoo! Th
ese were (are) probably the the tastiest, most tender, moist, delicious scones I have ever made. They even had that slightly crispy outer crust holding in all that soft, steamy goodness. Add a slap of that cultured butter, and you've got something magical. And gone.Buttermilk Scones
adapted from Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan
3 cups AP flour
1/3 cup sugar
2½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¾ tsp salt
6 oz cultured butter, cold
1 cup buttermilk (approximately)
2 oz cultured butter, melted
¼ cup sugar, for dusting
Preheat oven to 425°
In a medium bowl, stir the dry ingredients together with a fork. Cut or break apart the cold butter into small pieces with a fork (or knife) and add to the dry ingredients. Using your fingertips, work the butter into the dry ingredients by pinching and flattening it together until it resembles coarse cornmeal. Don’t worry about a few stray pieces of butter larger than the others, this will add to the scones’ flakiness.
Pour in 1 cup of buttermilk and mix with a fork just until the ingredients are just moistened. Though dough will look rough and soft, but if it looks dry, add another tablespoon of buttermilk. Gather the dough together and turn out onto a floured surface. Knead gently (gently!) and briefly, only about a dozen times (or less, even). Divide the dough in half and pat the dough into a ½” thick circle, brush with melted butter, sprinkle with sugar, and cut into triangles. Repeat with the other half. Place the scones on an ungreased baking sheet and bake until the tops are golden 10-12 minutes (if you follow the recipe, or longer if you weren’t paying attention like I wasn’t and patted the whole sum of dough into a 1” thick shape of some sort cut into triangles of various sizes that took much longer to bake but turned out beautifully just the same).
Serve warm. And if you must keep longer than one day (impossible!) freeze airtight and reheat on a baking sheet at 350° for 5 minutes.
adapted from Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan
3 cups AP flour
1/3 cup sugar
2½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¾ tsp salt
6 oz cultured butter, cold
1 cup buttermilk (approximately)
2 oz cultured butter, melted
¼ cup sugar, for dusting
Preheat oven to 425°
In a medium bowl, stir the dry ingredients together with a fork. Cut or break apart the cold butter into small pieces with a fork (or knife) and add to the dry ingredients. Using your fingertips, work the butter into the dry ingredients by pinching and flattening it together until it resembles coarse cornmeal. Don’t worry about a few stray pieces of butter larger than the others, this will add to the scones’ flakiness.
Pour in 1 cup of buttermilk and mix with a fork just until the ingredients are just moistened. Though dough will look rough and soft, but if it looks dry, add another tablespoon of buttermilk. Gather the dough together and turn out onto a floured surface. Knead gently (gently!) and briefly, only about a dozen times (or less, even). Divide the dough in half and pat the dough into a ½” thick circle, brush with melted butter, sprinkle with sugar, and cut into triangles. Repeat with the other half. Place the scones on an ungreased baking sheet and bake until the tops are golden 10-12 minutes (if you follow the recipe, or longer if you weren’t paying attention like I wasn’t and patted the whole sum of dough into a 1” thick shape of some sort cut into triangles of various sizes that took much longer to bake but turned out beautifully just the same).
Serve warm. And if you must keep longer than one day (impossible!) freeze airtight and reheat on a baking sheet at 350° for 5 minutes.
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