I would have learned how to make mascarpone cheese long ago had I know homemade mascarpone was so ridiculously easy to make (or tasted so delicious)!
Actually, truth be told, I’ve never had mascarpone cheese until I made it myself. I’d see recipes that called for it but darned if I could find it at the store. There’s no better substitute than homemade!
Now, normally, I like to try a prepared product like that before I make it myself because I like to have something to compare it to.
Let’s take cottage cheese for example. I’ve spent some time this summer working on finding a recipe for homemade cottage cheese, but again, having never spooned it into my mouth before I didn’t know what I was aiming for. Because of my little policy on trying things first, I learned that those recipes I was trying were not cottage cheese but were tough, dry cultured cheese curds. Very unpalatable to me and the whole family at least who were kind enough to open wide each time I came at them with a spoonful though the looks on their face betrayed that they re-eaally did not want to. Certainly, there were none that would work in any recipes that called for cottage cheese.
I want to know that what I made was done right, but in this case of this mascarpone cheese, I don’t think I’d even care! I decided to go for it and I’m so glad I did because it is amazing! Somewhere between whipped cream and butter in both flavor and texture, I don’t know that one ever ought to bother whipping cream again! Mascarpone cheese is much more stable and won’t melt into a puddle on warm desserts like whipped cream does (not that there’s anything wrong with that… depends on what you’re looking for.) I used it recently to frost a cake and it tasted so much like chocolate whipped cream except it was spreadable and I was able to make all of those charming classic swirls.
A Few Lovely Recipes Featuring Mascarpone Cheese
Plum Tart with Mascarpone Cream
Lemon Ricotta & Mascarpone Cheesecake
Mascarpone & Nutella Ice Cream with Hazelnut Praline
Italian Bread Pudding with Blueberry Compote (Every time I time “compote,” which isn’t often, I type “compost” first. Gardening on the brain much?)
How to Make Mascarpone Cheese
Homemade Mascarpone Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 Quart cream, (Learn the easiest way to skim cream here.)
- 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
Instructions
- Heat the cream to 180 degrees. (You can do it slowly over low heat in a saucepan, but be sure not to scald the cream. Or you can use a double boiler, a glass bowl over a small saucepan of boiling water, to bring it up to temperature, but it takes forever.)
- Stir the lemon juice into the hot cream and mix it for a minute or two.
- Set the bowl in the refrigerator for a couple hours.
- Place a colander in a bowl and line the colander with a double layer of butter muslin
- Ladle the cream into the colander and cover it with the corners of the muslin.
- Return the cream to the refrigerator and allow it to drain 10 hours or overnight.
- Keep the cheese refrigerated in a tightly closed container for no more than a week.
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Enjoy!
great simplification of what many can be intimidated to make!
> this is also identical to how to make Ricotta cheese; the exception is using whole milk (don't use skim or 1% , or you'll have a reduction in end-product; the more milkfat the better quantity & quality) This is also a great way to rack up savings when getting "end of date"/reduced price milk : you're going to cook it anyway, and most storebought is pasteurized. -personally: I don't care for the results of these processes with ultrapasteurized, if that saves you the trouble.
> also: if you've ever had a cannoli: (round tube shaped italian dessert)-you've had mascarpone, if it was truly traditional.
Thanks for the heads-up on this recipe!
Who knew you could make marscapone at home? It sounds amazing!! We will definitely be trying this ourselves soon!! Thanks so much for including our bread pudding recipe (compote and all) in your round up! We really appreciate the love!
jackie @ supermancooks
Swirl your mascarpone with Nutella and dive a strawberry into it. Ohmygoodness!
That looks delicious!
Sounds amazing!
sounds yummy! I just clabber cream with lemon juice for salad dressing. (just add salt and fresh herbs.) and I bet my family would love this, too!
Thank you for the suggestion Loni- your dressing sounds amazing!