Homemade nut cheese
Whenever I see a food that looks AMAZING, I can’t.get.it.outta.my.mind until I get my fix. It happened recently when a green smoothie -I’ve been thinking about the blended salads I used to make so often!- and again when I read Gena’s post about nut cheese. It’s been quite a while since I’ve had nut-based cheese -it’s particularly incredible with this raw onion bread- but when I was big into my raw kick, it was a favorite snack. I scoured our Whole Foods looking for some, and even though I had no luck, I DID find goat cheese string cheese sticks. I put them in my cart and decided to glance at the price tag. $12! Derp. Back on the shelf they went, haha.
Since they didn’t have the nut cheese in stock, I decided to make my own.
And while I’m at it, maybe I’ll get into goat string cheese making, too…. 😉
Here’s what I did:
(supplies: high speed blender, cheesecloth, large bowl, lemon, nuts of choice -cashews, macadamia nuts and almonds all work well- and seasonings)
I soaked 2 cups of cashews and 1 cup of almonds overnight.
In the morning, I peeled the almonds -on life’s PITA list I’d rate it quite high, but it’s worth it- and added the almonds to a blender with the juice of 1/2 lemon, 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast, 1/4 teaspoon sea salt, 1 clove of minced garlic and 1/2 cup of water.
Blended it up, and then poured the mixture into some cheesecloth in a bowl:
I did the exact same thing with the soaked cashew mixture, but left the flavors fairly basic. The only thing that went in was 2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast, juice of 1/2 lemon,1/2 teaspoon of sea salt and 1 cup of water. I thought it would be fun to do a sweet cheesy mix with the cashews, so I wanted my base to be plain. (Note: you can also blend probiotic powder like acidophilus into your nut cheese mixture to get probiotic power you’d find in traditional dairy cheeses. Of course, talk to your doc before trying any new supplements.)
After the cheese mixtures drained for about an hour in the cheesecloth, I packed each one tightly to remove as much mixture as possible.
Then, the fun part: adding the flavors!!
I split the cashew mixture in half, and made a lavender-honey cheese as well as a berry variety. For the berry, I added chopped dried cranberries and orange zest. For the lavender-honey, dried lavender and a drizzle of local honey were absolutely perfect– this was my favorite flavor.
The almond cheese was destined for spice city with chopped fresh basil, rosemary, dried oregano, dill and pepper.
Once all of the cheese were flavored, I molded them into flat disks and put them in the dehydrator to harden a little bit (at about 105 degrees). They had a sleepover in the dehydrator, and are perfectly tangy and decadent today. I have a couple of good vegan friends that I CAN’T WAIT to surprise with these little treats. (If you don’t have a dehydrator, no worries. You can store them in the fridge as is, or put in the oven at the lowest setting with the door slightly ajar to create a “rind.”)
Have you made homemade cheese before? What’s your favorite type?? Please let me know if you give this a try!!
xoxo
Gina
More of my favorite vegan treats:
39 Comments
Leave a Comment
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Oh yum! I had never even heard of nut cheese until this past week when my cousin was telling me about it. I don’t know if I’d have the patience to make my own cheese, but maybe one of these days I’ll have to give it a whirl. 😉
You make the most amaznig looking foods! I wish I knew half of what you do about cooking! I am really trying to learn but you make it look so easy 🙂
Although the entire process covers some time, it looks like this is fairly simple. I had actually been wondering how difficult (or easy) this was. Doesn’t seem bad at all. I am going to give this a try soon. Would the Almonds work the same if you got all natural almonds without a shell?
i think they would! just make sure they’re not roasted or salted.
I’ve heard of making nut cheeses like this a few times now, now I really want to try it! I don’t do well with dairy and I feel like these would be fantastic. I also have a ton of raw almonds.
Oh this is so cool! I’ve never made or tried nut cheese before, but it sounds amazing!
Omgeeee such a fabuolus treat! I neeeeed to try to make nut cheese!
Ohh what a delicious eat! I had no idea you could make them yourself at home! YUM!
Interesting combo. I’ve never heard of nut cheese before. I bet I would be a fan of the salty combo.
This looks so good! But don’t have a fancy enough blender- boo!
Omg, $12 for cheese sticks! I would have put them back on the shelf as well! But goat cheese sticks sound so good!
I never thought nut cheese would be so easy to do yourself at home! That will surely be one of my next foodie experiments – I do also have some dried lavender sitting in my cupboards for months, since I never knew what to do with it. So thanks for the inspiration 😉
That looks amazing! I’m too scared of how I could mess that up to try making it myself, but maybe I’ll get up the nerve to try!
Thanks so much for this awesome tutorial! I’ve been wondering how to make nut cheese for awhile. I’m excited to give them a whirl, and the lavender honey one sounds especially amazing!
Looks great! Thanks for the tutorial- Are you thinking of trying any other flavor combinations?
I have never made cheese…or even thought of making it! The lavender honey one sounds soo good though!
This is totally fun!! I love making vegan cheeze sauce from Oh She Glows and this looks spectacular as well. Have you used it in any way other than just as a dip for crackers? I’d really like to find a homemade cheese alternative for topping on pizzas.
Ain’t nobody got time for dat! 😉
I’ve never made homemade cheese before. Not gonna lie–the reason for this is pure laziness. It just seems like so many steps to do when I can go buy some instead. That sounds so bad! Haha. Making food at home is always the better (and often healthier!) way to go. Your cheese looks delish. It’s amazing what nuts can accomplish. What would we do without them?!
Clearly I’m not vegan because I’ve never even heard of nut cheese! Sounds yummy!!
Looks wonderful! I’ve tried a few nut cheeses, but it’s been too long since!
This is seriously on my list of things to do soon because I just scored big on raw cashews at the grocery store (they were 50% off for some reason, so I snagged the last 3 bags). Nut cheeses are something I’ve wanted to attempt for a while now, and I think it’s about to happen VERY soon 😉
This looks so much easier than I thought and the possibilities are endless! Putting this one on the recipe bucket list
Lavender honey ‘cheese’? I had no plans to make nut cheese any time soon, but you may have just changed that…. In to this Thursday’s shopping list folder this recipe goes!
Thanks for sharing 🙂
So I told my husband about nut cheese and he said “I’ve got some nut cheese right here for you, baby.” Yeah, so now I am too grossed out to eat it.
ummm i wish i could say i didn’t hear a comment like that while making the cheese hahah
Lol!
I am super lactose intolerant so I would love to try this!
How can you make something that should be so hard to do look SOOOO easy?? 😉 I’m starting to think I need to try making this nut cheese.
it wasn’t hard at all! let me know if you try it 🙂
Great idea!
Thanks for sharing!
I’ve never made nut cheese before, but I bought a lime cherry almond one at my farmer’s market back in September and it was so good! I definitely want to try making my own now that you’ve posted this.
I have been dying to make nut cheese for years but don’t have a dehydrator! 🙁 Can I be one of the vegan friends that you gift a delicious nut cheese round to?? haha. 😛
I absolutely NEED to try this… I’ve never made cheese before but my boyfriend and I keep talking about how we want to try it sometime. These are ingredients that I usually have on hand to. So excited!!!
BABE I AM SO IMPRESSED!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously, so impressed! I actually have a dehydrator here with me at home and should really start using it!! This would be the perfect place to start I think 🙂 I LOVE CASHEWS and would love love love to make my own nut cheese!
Oh my goodness, THANK YOU! I have reached obsessive levels about wanting to make my own cheese, and this looks like the simplest variety. Can’t wait to try it out!
Oh my gosh….can’t wait to try this! I’m vegan and I’m a bit freaked out by all the fake ‘cheeses’ out there. Finally, a substitution with real ingredients!
I have never heard of nut cheese before. This is definitely on my recipes to try list!
This is such a cute and helpful site! We are making nut cheese as a project in our school and we had so much fun 🙂 We all tried each other’s recipes and they were all so good. Can’t wait to keep making more!!