It would be more correct to call it cream, as it has a certain texture. All lovers of exquisite homemade desserts know that this cheese can only be purchased in stores in jars - it simply does not “tolerate” any other packaging.
Very often, mascarpone is the main ingredient in everyone's favorite dessert, Tiramisu. In addition, soft, delicate mascarpone makes excellent creams for cakes. Mascarpone has a slightly similar consistency to yogurt. It is considered to be characterized by a slightly white or yellowish color. It is prepared from high-quality heavy cream with tartaric acid.
Mascarpone can be used to make an amazing no-bake cheesecake, which is perfect as a dessert for hot and summer days. Since this cheese has a neutral taste (it can hardly be called salty or sweet). By the way, it is also used with great success to prepare various types of dressings. For example, by combining it with mayonnaise, mustard, tomato paste, chopped seafood, you can get excellent options for ketchup for spaghetti - even no one will guess what your personal culinary “trick” is.
Making mascarpone at home
The birthplace of divine mascarpone can also be your personal kitchen. It is easiest to get the desired result if you use cream (fat content of 20 percent or more) or sour cream (25% fat content).
How to make mascarpone from cream
We will need:
- 1 liter of cream,
- 2-3 tbsp. spoons of lemon juice.
Pour the cream into an aluminum pan and heat to a temperature of eighty degrees. After this, add lemon juice, stir and keep the pan for four minutes over low heat - until the mass in it thickens thoroughly. But you can’t bring it to a boil. The mass is folded several times over folded gauze and hung directly above a bowl or sink in the kitchen to allow the whey to drain. After 8-10 hours, homemade mascarpone is almost ready - all you have to do is beat it with a mixer or whisk.
How to make mascarpone from sour cream
We will need:
- 800 grams of sour cream,
- 1 faceted glass of milk,
- Two tablespoons of lemon juice.
Sour cream is diluted with milk and heated in the same way as the cream recipe described above. After adding lemon juice, the mixture is heated until curdling begins. After it is removed from the heat, allowed to cool slightly, placed in a gauze bag and the resulting whey is drained. At the final stage of cooking (that is, when whipping), you can flavor the mascarpone with some vanillin. But it may be appropriate if you later want to add it to desserts.
Mascarpone cheese desserts
Airy cream
We will need:
- 500 grams of ready-made mascarpone,
- 3 chicken eggs,
- 100 grams of powdered sugar,
- Lemon juice to taste,
A little salt.
The egg yolks are separated from the whites and placed in separate bowls. Powdered sugar is added to the yolks and beaten until white. The whites are also beaten, but only with salt. They should increase in volume three to four times. Mascarpone is first combined with the yolk mass and stirred until smooth. After that, very carefully add the whipped whites, 1 spoon at a time. The cream is placed in vases or baked goods are greased with it and placed in the refrigerator for three to four hours.
By the way, another difference is that its consistency is more reminiscent of fatty cottage cheese: just as soft and viscous. Surely many are interested in the question of whether it is possible to prepare mascarpone at home, because in the store it is not cheap. There was a time when this cheese was one of the delicacies, and it could only be bought in certain places. Today it is an easily accessible product, and besides, it can really be prepared at home.
If we talk about real Italian mascarpone, it is prepared from buffalo or cow's milk cream. In the Milan area, where the most delicious mascarpone is prepared, buffalo milk is most often used. The Italians themselves, who are involved in the production of this cheese, claim that the milk of special buffaloes is taken to make mascarpone, and which ones are kept secret. Although, this is most likely just a good legend that helps to advertise the product well.
Now I would like to say a few words about the technology for making mascarpone. In order to obtain this delicate cheese, the cream must be heated to 80-850C. To thicken the cream, add a small amount of lemon juice or white wine vinegar during the cooking process. But what else Italians add to cheese remains a mystery to us. And yet, even this is enough to make mascarpone at home. Today, there are several recipes for making this cheese, one of which adheres to Italian technology.
Homemade mascarpone using Italian technology
To make cheese according to this recipe we will need the following:
- Cream, it should be approximately 15% fat (this is the total fat content, in dry matter it will be slightly higher). If you take heavy cream, then it should be diluted. For example, if you take 125 ml of cream with 38% fat content, then you need to dilute 250 ml of 3% milk. If you use too much cream to make cheese, it will turn out tasteless, and besides, it will no longer be a viscous mass, but real butter. Yes, the fat content of the cream also depends on the fat content of the cheese itself. So it should be approximately 40-45%, therefore, the fat content of the cream should be low.
- Lemon juice, or you can replace it with white wine vinegar. It is needed for the cream to coagulate.
- Auxiliary items: colander, gauze (or baby diaper), thermometer for liquid.
Well, now, let’s talk directly about how to prepare mascarpone at home. Take a saucepan and pour the cream into it. Place on the fire and use a thermometer to heat the cream to a temperature of 850C, remembering to stir constantly. When the desired temperature is reached, remove the cream from the stove and add 1-2 teaspoons of lemon juice to it. When the temperature drops to 820C, put the pan back on the fire, maintaining the temperature at the same level. We constantly stir the cream. First, small lumps will appear in them, then the mass will look like kefir, and then a thick consistency will form, similar to cream. This means that what was needed was achieved. Remove the cream from the stove.
Now it remains to go through the last stage of preparing mascarpone cheese at home. After removing from the stove, the cream should be cooled to a temperature of 40-500C. Then take a colander and cover it with gauze folded in several layers. Cream is placed on cheesecloth to allow the whey to drain. When the latter drains well, the gauze must be tied and hung on something so that the remaining drops of whey can drain. Then we return the bag to the colander, and to press it down, we put a not very heavy weight on top. Place in the refrigerator for 10-12 hours. That's all, homemade mascarpone cheese is ready!
I've been wanting to try making homemade tiramisu dessert for a long time. And for it you need savoiardi cookies and mascarpone cream cheese, which we don’t sell yet. So I started looking for a recipe on how to prepare the necessary ingredients at home. My mother brought me the cookies, and I decided to make the mascarpone myself.
First I tried making homemade mascarpone from sour cream. What came out of this - you will find out further :) But whoever wants it will achieve it, so the second thing I tried was mascarpone made from cream and cottage cheese. And it turned out to be the most successful! I’ll tell you both recipes for homemade mascarpone cream cheese in order :)
Ingredients:
Homemade mascarpone made from sour cream and lemon juice
800 g thick, fatty sour cream (25%);
150 ml milk;
2 teaspoons lemon juice.
The recipe captivated me with its simplicity. It was necessary to mix sour cream with milk in a non-stick bowl with a thick bottom and, stirring, heat over low heat to 75C. Add lemon juice.
Continue heating for another 4-5 minutes, but do not boil! Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
Pour into a colander with 2 layers of gauze. Leave for 1.5-2 hours until the serum drains.
And this is where the surprises began. Having poured the sour cream and milk mixture into a colander, I was amazed to see how it all seeped through the cheesecloth and ended up in the pan! I took it and poured it out of the pan again into a colander with gauze, substituting another dish. This time the sour cream flowed down more slowly, but just as steadily. I decided that either the recipe was not quite as it should be, or the sour cream I got was not the right one, I gave up and went to rest, wondering what I should now use to make homemade mascarpone for tiramisu...
Before going to bed, I decided to take another look at the unruly sour cream and noticed that a thin layer of something resembling cottage cheese still lingered on the gauze. Then I poured the melted sour cream into cheesecloth for the third time and left it overnight. Imagine my surprise in the morning when I saw that something out of this idea had actually worked out! There was a mass left in the gauze, similar in consistency to cottage cheese. And about two glasses of whey, white as sour cream, ended up in the pan. Based on it, I immediately baked whey pancakes, adding a couple of eggs, two tablespoons of sugar, about a glass of flour and two tablespoons of vegetable oil.
Instead of the 500 g stated in the recipe, the result was 250 g of mascarpone cheese, which tasted like the same sour cream. And for tiramisu you need 500 g of mascarpone. Then I decided to follow up with another recipe that my friend Marie shared with me.
The second recipe turned out to be much easier to execute; you can make mascarpone at home in just 10 minutes, and there are no colanders, worries or waiting! All you need is cream, cottage cheese and a mixer.
Mascarpone from cream and cottage cheese
- Cream 33% - 200 ml;
- Cottage cheese - 200 g.
I took 100 g of wet homemade cottage cheese and 100 grams of baby cheese with vanilla, it has a particularly delicate consistency. We rub the cottage cheese through a sieve. It becomes airy and even more tender.
Combine the cottage cheese with the cooled heavy cream and beat with a mixer for at least 5, maximum 10 minutes. Focus on the consistency of the mass: it should thicken slightly and become like a cream.
Homemade mascarpone made from cream and cottage cheese turned out to be less dense and more tender than the first one made from sour cream. If the first one looked like homemade cottage cheese, then the second one looked like cream.
Summary: of the two homemade mascarpone recipes that I tried, I liked the second one better - made from cream and cottage cheese. It's quick, easy, and affordable, and the buttercream is smooth and delicious.
If you have tried any other successful recipes, I would be glad if you share them in the comments!
Hello, readers. This article is about how to make mascarpone at home. Here you will find not one recipe, but three - with homemade sour cream, with cream and lemon juice, and with cream and cottage cheese. You should definitely try making mascarpone for everyone. So, enough talk.
Mascarpone at home, firstoption
From 1 kg 500 g of sour cream you get about 1 kg 100 g of cheese. The rest is whey, which is perfectly separated from the rest of the mass.
You can add salt and even pepper to the cheese if you are not going to make sweet desserts from it.
- You need sour cream 21% - 1 kg 500 gr.
- A colander and a saucepan with a slightly larger diameter so that the colander can fit into it. Place it on the table.
Fold the gauze five times to obtain a denser structure. Place a colander on the pan and cover it with folded gauze.
Carefully place sour cream in a heap. The product must be refrigerated.
If you use fatty sour cream, the cheese will turn out fatty. A lot of whey comes out of 10% of the product, which means less mascarpone remains.
But it doesn’t matter, you can use it to make pancakes or some delicious pie. It is also very important that the sour cream is fresh. Tie the gauze tightly - the sour cream should compact well.
Place a heavy weight on top of the colander. This can be a weight or other object weighing 2-4 kg. Place the sour cream in the refrigerator for three days. During this time, the whey will drain into the pan and you will get a tender and tasty mascarpone cheese.
Store it in the refrigerator, but not for too long, because it is a natural product and spoils quickly.
Mascarpone can be spread on bread, used for making creams and other dishes. But such products are also not stored for long and only in the refrigerator.
Homemade mascarpone, second recipe with lemon juice
- 400 ml. cream (pasteurized, but not ultra-pasteurized) with a fat content of 15-20%
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
You will get approximately 150-200 g of cheese (depending on the specific brand of cream, fat content, etc.)
Pour the cream into a bowl and place in a water bath.
With constant stirring, over low heat, bring to almost boiling temperature (85 degrees) - when the water is just about ready to boil, but is not yet boiling.
At this point, remove the bowl with the cream, set it aside and pour in 1 teaspoon of lemon juice. Mix.
Return the bowl with the cream to the water bath. The fire is minimal.
Stirring constantly, watch how the structure of the cream changes.
At first nothing happens - the cream remains liquid. Then the mass begins to slowly curdle and becomes similar to kefir.
Finally, the mass thickens and resembles the consistency of a thick cream (this process can take from 5 minutes to 20 - depending on the specific cream).
Remove from heat and let cool for about 15 minutes. Do not overcook the cream on the heat - otherwise the cheese will have a “cooked” taste.
Don't expect the process to resemble curdling milk (as when making cottage cheese). The cream will not immediately separate into solid mass and whey - but will only thicken and thicken.
Place a sieve over the empty dish, line the sieve with cotton cloth or gauze in 4 layers. We spread our cheese and let the whey drain - about 40 minutes - an hour.
Then we hang it for another hour so that the remaining whey drips out and the cheese thickens.
And finally, put it back into the sieve, and put a small load on top (300 grams) and put it in the refrigerator for at least 8-9 hours (overnight).
In the morning we unwrap and consume.
Homemade mascarpone, third recipe with cream
- 200 gr. 18% cottage cheese
- 200 ml. 33% cream
- Rub the curd twice
- Pour cold cream into it
- Next, beat at low (NB!) speed until a homogeneous fluffy mass is obtained.
Breakfast with mascarpone
But now, when your refrigerator is full of delicious mascarpone, you can prepare an unusual breakfast with ordinary porridge.
I hope you enjoy these homemade cheese recipes. If this is indeed the case, click on the social media buttons and share these recipes with your friends.
Step 1: Prepare the ingredients.
We only have 2 ingredients, but they also require some preparation. Cream needs to be of animal origin, without any additives, with a fat content of at least 25%. Pour the specified amount of cream into a clean and dry saucepan, the smaller of the two in diameter, and then install a thermometer in it. Monitoring the temperature to which the cream is heated is very important in this recipe.
Lemons need to be washed, cut in half and squeezed into a plate. To prepare mascarpone we need 3 tablespoons of juice. Step 2: Heat the cream.
Using a thermometer we will monitor the temperature of the cream, and using a spoon - constantly stir them. Turn on the heat under a larger saucepan and pour water into it. Then we place a smaller saucepan inside it, into which we have already poured the cream. Over medium heat, bring the water to a boil, and then reduce it a little and wait until the temperature in the pan with cream reaches 85 degrees. After this, remove the cream from the stove, but do not turn off the heat - it will still be needed. Pour in lemon juice in a thin stream, continuously stirring the cream. Look at the thermometer - the temperature should drop to 82 degrees. Return the pan to the water bath and continue stirring the cream, not allowing the temperature to rise above 84 degrees. Step 3: Determine the readiness of the cream.
No one can tell you a specific time for heating the cream. But there is an excellent reference point - the spoon with which you stir the cream. Pay attention to how the cream flows from it; I will provide photographs of different stages for clarity.
The photo on the left is the initial stage, when you just added lemon juice. And in the photo on the right - after some heating. But this is not yet what we need. 
When the heated cream becomes like a thick cream and begins to flow from the spoon in a slow stream, enveloping its walls, you can turn off the heat and remove the pan with the cream from the water bath. Without stopping stirring, cool the cream to 45 degrees.
Step 4: Strain the resulting whey.
And we will do this in two stages. First, wrap a colander with a layer of gauze and pour the condensed cream into it. Place a bowl under a colander; the liquid part of the whey will actively drain into it. As the cream shrinks, scrape it off the cloth with a spoon and throw it into the center with the rest. When the serum stops actively dripping, transfer it to gauze folded in 5-6 layers and hang it with a bag, letting it hang overnight and “drip.” For those who have prepared cottage cheese at home, this process is familiar. Step 5: Cool the whey under pressure.
In the morning, remove the gauze bag with whey, put it back in the colander, place a pressure on top in the form of a jar of water or another heavy object, and then put this structure in the refrigerator until the evening - for 9-10 hours. You can take out the bag, carefully mix the contents, and control the density of the mascarpone. When it reaches the limit you need, you can remove the mascarpone from the refrigerator. This is what you should get:
If the cheese turns out a little lumpy, don’t worry - when you beat it into cream, the lumps will disappear and the mascarpone will be as it should be. As an example, I also want to show you the difference between preparing mascarpone from 10% cream (left) and 20% cream (right): 
As you can see, it is better to use high-quality, fresh and heavy cream. Then the mascarpone will turn out soft. Step 6: Serve or use ready-made mascarpone in preparation.
We have prepared delicious soft mascarpone cheese, which can be used in making tiramisu or other dessert, or simply spread on bread. Bon appetit! Do not throw away the lemon zest, cut it from the fruit - after all, very often the zest is needed to prepare some dishes. It can also be used to treat colds and for other purposes.
The whey that is glassed with mascarpone is well suited for making delicious pancakes.
From the specified amount of cream you get about 450-500 g of mascarpone.
Instead of lemon juice, you can add 0.25 teaspoon of citric acid to the cream.
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