How to Fold in Cream Cheese for Baking

It's all in the wrist: That's what it looks like when you watch professional chefs fold an airy concoction into an already-mixed blend of ingredients. However, the mixing technique is less complicated than it appears. When you fold whipped or cubed cream cheese into other ingredients, you're allowing the rich ingredient to lightly spread out through the finished dish without becoming overly dense or breaking up. In general, you'll fold cream cheese into heavier ingredients or those of equal weight.

Things You'll Need

Mixing bowls

Rubber spatula

Instructions

Prepare the cream cheese according to the recipe. This will typically involve whipping softened, room-temperature cream cheese with sugar and flavorings until it reaches a fluffy consistency. Alternatively, you may need to cube a brick of cream cheese into small pieces.
Blend the other ingredients into which you'll be mixing the cream cheese. Use a large enough mixing bowl to allow for adding the cream cheese and moving a spatula freely.
Spoon cream cheese mixture lightly onto the surface of the second mixture.
Dip the spatula into mixture at the side of the bowl farthest from you, and then drag the spatula across the bottom of the bowl and up the side that is closest to you.
Move the spatula lightly across the surface of the mixture. You should now be seeing the cream cheese mixture moving toward the bottom of the bowl and the heavier ingredients being gently brought to the surface.
Rotate the mixing bowl by a one-quarter turn.
Repeat the process of dragging the spatula down the side of the bowl farthest from you, across the bottom and up the side closest to you and moving it across the surface. Continue turning the bowl one-quarter turns with each repetition.
Stop folding when the ingredients are lightly mixed but not overly blended or deflated.
Finish the preparation called for in the recipe and bake.

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