Yes, you can dilute heavy cream with milk or water to make it lighter and create something similar to light cream. Light cream typically has a lower fat content than heavy cream, so diluting it will reduce its overall fat percentage.
Keep in mind that heavy cream contains at least 36% fat, while light cream typically contains around 20-30% fat. By adding milk or water, you'll be reducing the fat content to achieve the desired consistency.
Here's how you can do it:
For light cream using milk: Mix equal parts of heavy cream and milk. For example, if you have 1 cup of heavy cream, add 1 cup of milk.
For light cream using water: Mix 2 parts of heavy cream with 1 part of water. For example, for 1 cup of heavy cream, add 1/2 cup of water.
It's essential to stir the mixture thoroughly to ensure a consistent texture and to prevent separation. The resulting light cream might not have exactly the same taste and texture as commercially available light cream, but it should work well for most culinary applications where lighter cream is called for.
Remember that diluted cream may not whip as effectively as the original heavy cream due to the reduced fat content. So, it might not be suitable for making whipped cream. Additionally, if a recipe specifically calls for light cream, it's better to use the actual product instead of diluting heavy cream, as it will provide the expected results in terms of taste and consistency.