Mascarpone is a soft, creamy, fatty Italian cheese with a rich, velvety, slightly sweet taste. It is often used in casseroles, sauces, added to pasta and risotto, but most often put in various desserts, the most famous of which is tiramisu. Sometimes housewives, wanting to make the dish less high-calorie, or not having the original cheese on hand, look for an adequate replacement that allows them to preserve the taste and texture of the dishes.
How to replace mascarpone with ricotta
Ricotta is a delicate, curd Italian cheese. You can substitute it for mascarpone in appetizers and hot dishes, as it has a similar airy texture and a mild, unobtrusive taste. You will need:
- 150 grams of ricotta;
- 200 ml of cream with a fat content of at least 20%.
Place the ricotta and cream in a food processor bowl and gently blend into a smooth, homogeneous mixture. Change the attachment to a whisk and whisk the resulting mixture until it becomes light and fluffy. Use the resulting mixture immediately.
How to replace mascarpone with cream cheese
To get an adequate mascarpone replacement suitable for desserts, use a mixture of cream cheese, heavy cream, and butter. Such a mass will be quite oily and velvety. Take:
- 150 grams of cream cheese;
- ¼ cup of cream, 20% fat;
- 2 tablespoons of butter.
Remove the cream cheese and butter from the refrigerator in advance, and allow them to reach room temperature. Stir the cheese thoroughly with a fork, this will allow it to mix more easily with the other ingredients. Whip the cream, add butter to it, then add the cream cheese. Whisk into a single, light and fluffy mixture.
You can substitute heavy sour cream for the cream in the same proportion.
Homemade mascarpone cheese
If you want to find a replacement for mascarpone just because you can't find the cheese on sale, try making it yourself. To do this, you only need two ingredients: cream and lemon juice. For every two cups of 20-30% cream, you will need 2 teaspoons of lemon juice. Heat the cream in a water bath to 85-90 ° C. Add lemon juice and stir well. Transfer to a plastic or stainless steel container, cover with cheesecloth and let sit for 12 hours at room temperature. Drain the whey, place the cheese in a sieve lined with gauze, set it over the container and refrigerate for another 24 hours to completely dry the cheese. Transfer the finished mascarpone to a container with a lid, store in the refrigerator, and use within 3-5 days.
The steam bath consists of two vessels, the smaller one is stirred in the larger one, filled with hot, boiling water.
Healthy alternatives to mascarpone
Mascarpone is a fatty cheese. Those who strive for a healthy diet are often looking for less fatty substitutes. You should not replace mascarpone in desserts, it is better to choose a dessert with a lower calorie value initially, but in pasta, casserole and glaze, you can use less high-calorie, low-fat foods. So in the glaze you can put low-calorie cream cheese, in salads, soups and risotto - low-fat sour cream. You can use low-fat soft cottage cheese or ricotta in pasta and lasagne, and low-calorie thick yogurt in the sauce.
