If you know any Brazilians, chances are you know how crazy we are about our Requeijão. You probably heard us complain about American cream cheese and how thick it is. You see, our Requeijão – which I’m taking the liberty to call “Brazilian Cream Cheese” – is creamy and smooth with a consistency similar to that of condensed milk. We use it in pretty much everything you can think of: on bread, pasta, crepe, pão de queijo, coxinhas, pastel (Brazilian empanadas), enroladinhos, casseroles, with dulce de leche, with guava and, of course, on pizza. ??? ? Brazilian pizza recipe coming your way in the very near future!!! But before you get intimidated by the thought of making cream cheese at home, let me tell you this recipe is easy peasy and your Brazilian cream cheese will be ready in 15 minutes or less. All you need is: a pot, your blender, shredded mozzarella cheese, grated parmesan cheese, milk, corn starch, butter, heavy cream and salt. That’s it! 7 ingredients that you probably already have at home and minimal clean up. You might wanna run to the store to get a warm, freshly baked baguette, though, because I guarantee you will want to eat this requeijão as soon as it’s out of the blender. (I may or may not have eaten it by the spoonful…?)
The traditional requeijão is made with queijo branco (white cow’s milk cheese) and processed into a creamier/smoother texture. The taste is mild and the consistency can vary from creamy solid (catupiry), to almost liquid (requeijão cremoso). The softer version is usually sold in glasses which are commonly reused in most households as actual cups. Maybe a little tacky, I know, but I guarantee there is no Brazilian that hasn’t drunk from a requeijão glass! ❤️ In fact, all the glasses at my grandmother’s beach house are reusable requeijão glasses. Who needs to spend money on drinkware when you can just reuse what you already have at home? #zerowastelifestyle
Not so fun when you drop your grocery bag on your way home, though… Can’t even tell you how many requeijões never made their way to the fridge!
Most recipes for homemade requeijão will call for ricotta. However, ricotta in Brazil has a solid consistency, while here in the U.S. the kind you will probably find at your grocery store is the factory-made ricotta, like the Polly-O brand, which has a fine-grained curd. I was afraid the cream cheese would never reach my desired consistency – creamy, yes, but not too liquidy – if I used the store bought ricotta, so I used a mixture of shredded mozzarella cheese and parmesan instead. You guyzzzzzzzzzz!!! Is it too cliche if I tell you the results were BETTER than the requeijão I grew up eating? Because it totally was! I actually squeaked when I opened the blender lid and tried a little bit. Then I proceeded to send pictures to everybody in my family, saying: “Can you believe I made this???”
The recipe makes a fairly large amount of cream cheese, but you gotta believe me when I say it will be gone long before it can go bad. You can substitute it pretty much wherever regular cream cheese is asked for and it will last a little longer than a week in the fridge. Or you can freeze some for later. If you think that the requeijão thickened too much after being in the fridge for a couple of days, just pop it in the blender with a few splashes of heavy cream until it is smooth again! And, by the way, if you’re looking for a good blender to add to your Christmas wish list, may I suggest my new obsession? The new Nutri Ninja® Auto-iQ™ Compact System is amazing and I’ve been using it for EVERYTHING. I haven’t touched my food processor since I got this blender. Nope, this is not an affiliate link. It is pure love! Because who doesn’t love making delicious creamy requeijão conveniently in a blender?
