Homemade American Cheese

By Pattywak

Your favorite yellow, salty, ultra-meltable cheese—now in customizable form. You get the taste and texture of American cheese using pantry ingredients.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons powdered gelatin
• 12 ounces Colby cheese, shredded
• 1 tablespoon whole milk powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons whole milk

Details

Servings 1
Preparation time 10mins
Cooking time 180mins

Preparation

Step 1

Line 5-by 4-inch disposable aluminum loaf pan with plastic wrap, allowing excess to hang over sides.

Place water in small bowl, sprinkle gelatin over top, and let mixture sit for 5 minutes. Pulse cheese, milk powder, salt, and cream of tartar in food processor until combined, about 3 pulses.

Meanwhile, bring milk to boil in small saucepan. Off heat, stir in softened gelatin until dissolved, and transfer mixture to 1-cup liquid measuring cup. With processor running, slowly add hot milk mixture to cheese mixture until smooth, about 1 minute, scraping down bowl as needed.

Immediately transfer cheese mixture to prepared pan, pressing to compact. Wrap tightly and chill at least 3 hours, or overnight.

NOTE:
This recipe calls for whole dry milk powder; don’t mistakenly buy nonfat milk powder, which is the far more common of the two. We order our whole dry milk powder from King Arthur Flour Company.