Thanks to MML as well…..her idea with the coconut milk sounds delicious and of course is readily available

SUBSTITUTE FOR EVAP MILK ( 12 oz can )
Put twice the amount of fresh milk that you need in a saucepan, and let it slowly simmer until only HALF remains in the saucepan. (can take hours)
OMG ! This worked fantastic !

SUBSTITUTE FOR PHILADELPHIA CREAM CHEESE
Italy does have this product on the shelves but at the exhorbitant price they charge it makes it far too expensive to make even a simple cream cheese frosting.
HOMEMADE PHILADELPHIA CREAM CHEESE
Do this at noon.
1 quart PLAIN WHOLE MILK YOGURT
1/2 tsp salt
1 new knee high panty type stocking
Colander with handles
Instructions:
Stretch out the stocking
Tie a knot 1/3 up from the toe
Place the stocking in a tall clean beverage pitcher, overlap the elastic part of the stocking over the edge.
Bring the knot 4″ from the top.
Stir the salt into the yogurt
Dump all of it into the stocking. (do not squeeze)
Lift stocking out, tie a knot right after the ball of yogurt.
Tie each side of stocking to the colander handles.
The ball should be totally suspended.
Put colander into a larger pot or pan.
Put both into the fridge UNCOVERED for a min. of 12 hours to drain.
When you wake up the next morning … Voila!
The best tasting cream cheese …ever !
Store in a resealable container.
* NOTE: When i first read this recipe it just didn’t make sense to me. Then when i did it, not very much liquid drained out and it made even less sense. But when i tasted it … i was blown away ! I may never buy cream cheese from a store again, even here in the USA.

SUBSTITUTE FOR BOURSIN (not found in Italy)
1 cup cream cheese
1 cup butter (room temp softened)
1 large clove of garlic smashed into a paste
1 T dried parsley, also smashed into a powder
Mix
Refrigerate so it hardens a bit
Very simplistic recipe but is identical to store bought
at much less than 1/2 the price.

MY NEXT EXPERIMENT IS – SOUR CREAM # 2
Homemade Sour Cream
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup LEMON JUICE
In a screw-top jar or mason jar with lid, combine the heavy cream and lemon juice. Shake the ingredients up a bit to thoroughly mix and let stand, COVERED, at ROOM TEMPERATURE for about 24 hours or until it becomes very thick. You can store your sour cream in the refrigerator in the original jar you mixed it in (or use some other resealable container) for up to one week. Make sure that sour cream is well chilled before using.

Now I just need you to explain how to make/produce brown sugar…