Homemade Ricotta Cheese

We love cheese! Ricotta is nice because you can use it for sweet and salty recipes. We usually buy ricotta cheese, it's pretty expensive, and it doesn't taste like anything special. This time we decided to make it, more time consuming than buying a tub, obviously, but so worth it. The flavor is more creamy, a little more salty, and delicious. Obviously we don't have cows in our backyard, the real ricotta is made with raw milk, which can also be bought, but pasteurized works fine. Try it. It only needs 4 ingredients, bring the milk to a simmer, wait 25 minutes, then chill it. Done. Thus begins our ricotta cheese craze, as we have to use it!

In a large pot add:
4C whole milk
1C heavy cream
Bring to a simmer don't stir, just leave it, and add:
1t kosher salt
2T fresh lemon juice. Loosely stir gently with a large spoon. Now let it sit for 15 minutes.
Curds will start to form. Add 1 more tablespoon of lemon juice, again stir loosely, let it sit for 5 minutes.

Milk and cream simmering.

After 15 minutes.

Now set up 2 layers of cheesecloth (or a thin, clean, kitchen towel), and secure it halfway in the bowl, so the center hangs inside the bowl, without touching the bottom. Now scoop the ricotta with a large spoon into the cheesecloth. As the cheese cools, whey milk will drop to the bottom (a lighter version of buttermilk that is very healthy, and can be used instead of buttermilk for other recipes). Let the cheese cool in the cheesecloth, then cover it with plastic wrap for at 2 hours, or overnight. All the moisture has to drip out, also it will add more flavor to the cheese, but too long will dry out the cheese, so find a happy medium.

The cheese the next morning. Perfect. Use it in cakes, pancakes, doughnuts, or eat on some toasted bread with lemon zest, honey or meats. Now see the upcoming recipes we used for the whey milk and the ricotta cheese. It makes about 2 cups. Use it in 2-3 days.