I Can’t Believe It’s Not Cream Cheese
You didn’t think I would stop at one recipe with coconut cream, did you?
And you must’ve known that I have no restraint when it comes to nutritional yeast, right?
I’ve been looking for a good dairy-free cream cheese replacement for a while now, and as appealing as Tofutti sounds, its expensive and I can’t find the non-hydrogenated kind in our stores.
Plus, it’s much more fun to make your own!
Mae’s Vegan Coconut Cream Cheese
- 2/3 cup cold coconut cream, packed*
- 1.5 tsp nutritional yeast
- 2 tsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp agave**
With a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat all ingredients together for 2-3 minutes until fluffy.
*To find coconut cream, open a can of cold, regular coconut milk. The solid top layer is the cream.
**Substitute 1 packet of NuNatural’s stevia, if desired.
This coconut cream cheese melts at a lower temperature (about 85*) compared to dairy cream cheese, so if you’re putting it on toast give it a minute or two to cool down. The texture and melting point are similar to butter, while the flavor is similar to cream cheese.
Ideas:
- Peanut butter cream cheese sandwiches
- Cream cheese on celery with raisins and walnuts
- Cream cheese on bagels
- Cream cheese frosting and brownies, recipes to come!!
- Flavored cream cheeses… patience grasshopper.
I was so excited! This actually has the tart flavor of cream cheese with all the creaminess. I can’t wait to use it on a smoked salmon red onion sandwich.
It’s raw (if you’re into that), vegan, dairy-free, full of medium chain triglycerides, and can give your good cholesterol levels a helping hand.
Try it now! (Imagine that in an Arnold Shwartzanager voice, S.V.P.)
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Cacao Bliss vs. Cacao Euphoria
I should have made plain oats so you could see the difference. Cacao Bliss is on the right and Euphoria is on the left.
Cacao Bliss:
- Solid at room temperature
- Little bit of a gritty texture
- Light chocolate flavor
- Melted nicely in oatmeal
Cacao Euphoria:
- Spreadable even when refrigerated
- Rich and sweet chocolate chocolate flavor
- Smooth, mousse like texture
- Melted a little quickly in oatmeal, but the melted cream was really good too.
The best part about Cacao Euphoria? It melts into coffee and makes the best mocha in the world. Try it now!!!
*PS I made a change to the recipe, it now calls for 1/3 c. + 2 tbsp coconut cream. I made more today with the extra cream and I think I like it better. Enjoy!
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What is your favorite cream cheese application? I haven’t had it in so long, I don’t even remember all the ways I used to use it!
Ohh May... 
Ants on a log!! This coconut cream cheese recipe is super creative and sounds delicious!! Now I just need to track down some coconut cream. My favorite way to eat cream cheese is on top of a blueberry waffle with some strawberry preserves on top of the cream cheese!! YUM!! 🙂
The waffle combination sounds AWESOME!!!!
Coconut is probably my most favorite flavor, so these last 2 posts have just sounded phenomenal to me! I am a cream cheese fanatic, so I think I would love this on just about ANYTHING! 🙂
Oh girl.. peanut butter and cream cheese??!! Um YUM!!! I heart cream cheese like crazy, oh goodness. I will have to try that recipe.
Adding coconut milk to my Whole Foods list now…
Oh wow! So excited to try your coconut creations!
You should try your cream cheese + white chocolate peanut butter(blizzard I think is the Saratoga brand one?) I do it with PB&Co’s and it tastes like PB Cookie dough
That sounds good! Unfortunately I can’t eat our blizzard butter because it contains milk, but I love the sound of PB Cookie dough sandwiches/oatmeal!
I can’t believe you came up with a cream cheese recipe! This is SERIOUSLY incredible, and even if I’d had the time to do some experimenting, I doubt I would have come up with such a fab method. I can’t wait to try it! You are officially my new hero. Officially. This is so going on some brownies asap.
–Mon
I used to LOVE cream cheese! Unfortunately it was one of those foods that I just couldn’t stop eating once I started, and dairy isn’t good to my tummy or sinuses.
I never thought a “replacement” could be any good so I’ve never even tried to look up the Toffutti kind, but, man, I should’ve thought of a coconut version! I love coconut products and I’m sure I’ll like this. 😛
Do you think it would work with Artisana coconut butter subbed in for the cream?
I have to say, your cacao euphoria looks better than the much more expensive cacao bliss! I’ll have to try it out!
Why are you so freaking brilliant!?! I am loving cream cheese on everything Mae, and I totally need to try your version. Again, pure genius!
Hahaha, THANK YOU for the Ah-nold infusion. It has pumped me up. I’ll be bahhck.
So when are you publishing your own cookbook?
Haha I would love to have Ah-nold as my governor. The gov of NY doesn’t like his job too much…
This looks delicious! I’ve loved your creations so far so I can’t wait to try this too!
Oooh, I really want to try Cacao Euphoria!!
The only thing I seem to eat cream cheese on is a bagel. If it were coconut cream cheese, on the other hand, I think I’d find a lot of other uses for it! Sounds delicious!
I can’t wait to get a bagel this weekend… I haven’t had cc+bagel in so long!
Yum! I’m always looking for more ways to incorporate more coconut into my diet!
Hi Mae… I found you through HEAB. I have bookmarked a bunch of your recipes including this one and can’t wait to try it! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Hmmm, so I have a mild (read: extreme) addiction to cream cheese, and I’m thinking your au natural version might be a better alternative? I bet your coconutty concoction would be aaaamazing stirred into oats!
Ooh! I can’t wait to try it. It would be a little sweet, a little savory… Yumm!!
Peanut butter cream cheese?? I’ll go for that!
I keep seeing nutritional yeast everywhere — I think it’s a sign that I’ve got to find it in the stores 🙂
Jessie, it’s my obsession. I found it in bulk and it’s so much fun to “play with”.
Hhaha I just pretend I eat food for nutrition. It’s really because I have fun experimenting with them and things like nut. yeast, coconut cream, protein powder, xanthen gum, and chia seeds preform awesome tricks!
It’s kind of like playing with a puppy. Except not. 😛
coconut euphoria – looks amazing. I love coconut and I am a huge advocate of the coconut as a healthy fat in my diet!
I loveee creamcheese on celery sticks! But I love it even more on freashly baked carrot cake! 🙂 yum!
Hey Mae,
I’ve been a lurker for a while but am posting my first comment because I really want to try making your coconut cream! I was wondering how much coconut cream I can expect from one can of coconut milk. Also, if I wanted plain Euphoria, would I just use all the other ingredients except for chocolate???
Thanks! I can’t wait to see what else you come up with. The cream cheese was SO creative and I’ll have to make it because I am a bit lactose intolerant myself.
Gasp! I want this now! 🙂 Too bad i dont have any coconut creme.
I have two cans of the same coconut milk in my pantry right now, and since my house is basically an ice box I’m sure there’s plenty of creme to be transformed into Cocoa euphoria!! I know what I’m devoting my afternoon to tomorrow 😉
I attempted to make this today–but for some reason my coconut creme wasn’t cold enough (or something) because it just turned out to be more pudding-like in texture. Which wasn’t exactly a bad thing, because I wound up eating it with a spoon…all of it! The taste was amay-zing! I’m obviously going out to get more coconut milk, and then maybe putting the can in the freezer for a bit to get a firmer creme. This is seriously delicious stuff!
Oh I am so excited! Thank you for this!
Oh wow, this looks really good. I’ve never really heard of vegan cream cheese, but I’m sure its healthy than normal cream cheese, (which I eat a lot of) Any suggestions for where to find coconut milk? Does it need to be refrigerated?
OK, I just made this and modified it a bit to make Coconut Cream Cheese frosting. 2 cans of coconut milk gave me 1 cup of coconut fat (on top). I added 2T lemon juice, a touch of sea salt, 1/4c tapioca flour and 1/2c powdered sugar. I hand mixed with a wooden spoon for a few minutes, and the longer I mixed/rested/mixed/rested, the thicker it got. Then, refrigerate it the night before you need it for cake. Frost the cake right before you serve it = delicious!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You don’t need a lot of sugar because the coconut fat is very sweet. The tapioca flour thickens it up to a frosting consistency, which would probably be helpful for just cream cheese too! YUM!!!!!
I just found this recipe and I am really REALLY excited about it! Thank you so much for posting it!
If you happen to see this comment, I have a question – what purpose does the nutritional yeast serve in this recipe? What would happen if I didn’t use it?
The nutritional yeast is for a little bit of a “cheesy” flavor, if you don’t add it the recipe will still work!