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Homemade American Cheese
Your favorite yellow, salty, ultra-meltable cheese—now in customizable form.
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Classic Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
The technique and the ingredients you choose make the difference between a good grilled cheese sandwich and a great grilled cheese sandwich.
from: CooksCountry.com
October 2005
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Do you have any tips for finding whole milk powder? I’ve been to 4 grocery stores and can’t find it.
Dried whole milk is available from King Arthur Flour at http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/dried-whole-milk-8-oz
This looks so interesting. I too think I may have a problem finding the whole milk powder. I’m going to try Wegmans first, they have all sorts of unusual products that I can’t find anywhere else.
How long will this last in the fridge?
Hi troublemaker – Yvonne says should be able to keep it in the fridge a few weeks. Wrap it well to prevent it from drying out, but watch for mold growth.
You should be able to find whole milk powder in the baking aisle of any grocery store…you just have to buy it in crazy big quantities but I guess it keeps, right? It is almost always on the bottom shelf (or close to it) and it is with the dried egg whites, dried buttermilk…just trying to help!
well, i feel kinda stupid now bc all i see is part skim or nonfat milk powder but i have some good natural grocery stores and I KNOW I have seen whole milk powder there!
Nestle makes a whole milk powder called Nido, in a round yellow cardboard container. I found it at Publix, in the coffee creamer section, bottom shelf. Good luck!
It’s a great recipe! I didn’t realize that american cheese was really just colby with a few additives. I plan on trying it as soon as I find the elusive whole milk powder.
I can’t wait to try it with different cheeses
I think it sounds great. Can’t wait to try.
I wonder if this is freezable?
Why do you need the whole milk powder anyway?
Try low fat powdered milk….hence 2% velvetta!
will skim milk powder work?
Going to try this with Instant Milk Powder from Shelf Reliance
Def will try it!!!!
I was thinking of using nonfat powdered milk, too. (Just don’t tell anybody!) ;o) It probably won’t make a lick of difference anyhoo!
)
Is that much salt a necessity? I love Velveeta but it is so salty!
Does anyone know if this would work with agar? I would love to make some, but I don’t eat gelatin. :/
I like this recipe. I love cheddar cheese. How would I make it?
From the research I’ve done substitute equal portions of agar with gelatin to make it vegetarian friendly. haven’t tried it yet though.
Can’t wait to make rotel dip with it!
Would other cheese work as well or slighty less better than Colby?
I found whole milk powder in the Latin section of my local Walmart. Hope that help!
NIDO is whole milk powder in a can (like coffee can). The ‘can’ has paper sides, by Nestle I think. In the Latin/Mexican grocery section of most WalMart grocery stores. Some Food Lion stores also carry NIDO. In a yellow can that looks like it is baby formula mix. I use it in my bread machine to keep the bread fresher longer and rise higher. You MUST keep it in fridge after opening. Be sure to check the expiration date on bottom of can.
Just made it. I hope it was supposed to be saucy when I poured it into the loaf pan. Might be an uh-oh” mistake I made?:) Also, was the shredded cheese supposed to be packed in the measuring cup?
Powdered Whole Milk can be found at most spanish/american stores. i use two brands one is Nido and the other is Klim. They both reconstitute easily.
I made it just now and it was saucy as well! Didn’t look nothing like the picture!I added more cheese and it was still saucy….I will be trying it out again to see what happens….maybe use less milk? Oh and I used skim milk powder
Recipe says to let it chill 3 hours. Did it still look saucy after 3 hours in the fridge?
Strange way to do it. It’s easier to use a sour salt and actually make good quality cheese into processed cheese. Of course most people don’t have sour salt.
Here’s what I don’t get. Why would buying and combining all of these ingredients, which are the same ingredients that companies like Kraft use to make “American” cheese, be better than just buying American cheese. Just because you are combining and processing the ingredients in your kitchen doesn’t make the product better for you or more wholesome or anything.
I know that Velvetta isn’t great cheese, but I use it for the very occasional grilled cheese sandwich, and I’m fine with that. In the process, I didn’t have to purchase some difficult to find ingredients, use only a portion of them then leave the rest in the pantry to go stale.
In this case, I’ll stick with simplicity.
I have never seen whole milk powder in any store! Also I am with x-15a2 in why does using colby cheese different from just buying cheese at the store. I do think the idea is unique and may just try it one day. but….any anwers to this????
@Lin Colby is a very specific kind of cheese. You can buy Colby and the closely related Jack and Cheddar cheeses in the cheese section of most stores.
The idea of making a Processed Cheese is not unique. Most grocery stores have a half dozen or more brands. The “Processed Cheese” label is a US FDA category that spells out what kinds of cheese product may be sold as a processed cheese.
@x-15a2 The advantage of making your own is that you can vary the recipe to your own taste rather than convincing Kraft or another manufacturer to make your preferred variation, followed by convincing one or more of your local stores to stock that variety.
America’s Test Kitchen works out how to make many different foods, some are common home recipes, some are common processed foods and then there are the recipes for foods that are neither available commercially or thought of as DIY foods. People visit the Test Kitchen and buy the Test Kitchen cookbooks because they don’t want to wait for the manufacturers and grocery stores to cater to their individual tastes.
Personally I like this recipe and will be experimenting with it to see how well it works with other cheeses that are simply not available as Processed Cheese products.
Can I replace the Colby? I live in Ecuador and we don’t have that kind of cheese here
maybe cheddar? pategras? dutch? Thanks!!
I want to work this recipe because I do not eat swine, — so I need to use the substitute for the gelatin. Kraft uses both bovine and swine enzymes when making their cheeses, they do not care to specify which one is used in any given batch, so people that do not eat swine don’t eat Kraft cheese. That is a real shame because I grew up on velvetta and I really like it. Pig is in most everything unfortunately, so it’s a real battle to purchase and or make something without pig in it. Thanks Americas Test Kitchen — YOU ARE THE BEST COOKING/TEACHING show!
I think this sounds like an adventure
. I grew up eating Velvetta and Kraft American Cheese for Grilled Sandwiches and don’t like the oiliness or minimal melting of cheddar on sandwiches.
Whole dried milk may be found in the baby food aisle in grocery stores. The brand, Nido is sold all over Mexico and I have seen it in the States. Also check out the Mexican food aisle in larger grocery stores. You may find it there. This milk is great for cooking. I don’t normally have milk in my fridge so this product is great for when I only need a 1/2 cup or so.
Wouldn’t pouring this in a plastic wrap lined sheet pan evenly,, let it set and cool much quicker and then just cut into squares with the plastic still on like semi-individually wrapped slices?
How would you make this with a Vitamix?
Is there a way to make this without a food processor? I don’t have one.. : (