YOCHEESE
2 cups plain full-fat yogurt
About 2 feet of cheesecloth or a large coffee filter
Set a small colander over a bowl so that the bottom of the colander is suspended over the bottom of the bowl by 3-4 inches. Line the colander with the cheesecloth by folding the cheesecloth in thirds. Spoon the yogurt into the cheesecloth-lined colander and set in the refrigerator for about 6 or 7 hours or until about 1 cup of liquid (whey) has drained into the bowl. Scrape the thick yogurt "cheese" into a small covered container and store in the fridge.
Makes about 1 cup or 2 servings
Do not freeze
Per Cup: 218 Calories; 15g Fat; 14g Protein; 9g Carbohydrate; 0g Dietary Fiber; 9g Net Carbs
Per Serving: 109 Calories; 7g Fat; 7g Protein; 4g Carbohydrate; 0g Dietary Fiber; 4g Net Carbs
This method turns regular yogurt into a very thick, rich treat. I don't care for it plain, but it's very tasty with some flavored sugar free syrup or sweetener added. I can see how it would be difficult to keep from eating too much of this. Half a cup would be a reasonable serving size. You can also drain the yogurt in a large paper coffee filter instead of cheesecloth. I haven't tried that yet so I don't know how long it would take to drain. When I used cheesecloth, about 1/2 cup of whey had drained off in about 30 minutes. Here's a photo so you can see how thick it gets. The spoon stands up straight. My friend, Nancy, took the photos on this page.
Here's a photo of my yocheese "maker". I've seen colanders like mine at the dollar store, that's an 8-cup measuring cup and a standard size coffee filter. I can fit a 32 ounce container of yogurt in the filter. It will be very full but it will "shrink" as the whey drips out. I cover the colander with a piece of plastic wrap and a pan lid to keep it snug. After a few hours, I just very carefully pick up the coffee filter by the edges and plop the yocheese into a bowl. I tried it once using cheesecloth but it was a messy job and I had to scrape most of the yocheese out of it. Cheesecloth is also expensive and not easy to find and coffee filters do the job perfectly.
