Creamy Homemade Mascarpone

The easiest recipe for soft Italian cheese without any hard-to-find ingredients

Mascarpone is a creamy, silky smooth soft Italian cheese made from cream, coagulated by the addition of an acid. Here you can find the easiest recipe without any hard-to-find ingredients. Homemade mascarpone will help you to cook an amazing tiramisu or other Italian desserts.

Ingredients

• 1 cup heavy cream, preferably without any additives (240 ml),
• 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice

Process

Mascarpone preparation process

• pour the heavy cream into a saucepan, and place it on the stove over medium heat,
• bring the heavy cream almost to a boil (87° C / 190° F, just below the boiling point cream becomes very steamy), stir frequently to prevent scorching,
• once it reaches the desired temperature, reduce the heat to the lowest setting,
• pour in the lemon juice and stir continuously until the cream becomes very thick and coats the back of a spoon (about 5 minutes),
• remove the saucepan from the heat and allow it to cool down slightly (about 15 minutes),
• line a fine­mesh strainer or sieve with a clean cheesecloth or coffee filter and place it over a bowl,
• pour in the thickened cream,

• once the cream has cooled completely, cover it and move the strainer and bowl to the refrigerator for 12 hours,
  Note: for softer cream cheese you can remove it sooner, but 6 hours is minimal. At that point, you’ll finish with crème fraiche ­ the French version of mascarpone, which is a bit thinner and less firm.
• once done, peel off the cheesecloth or the coffee filter and put the cream cheese in a container with tight­fitting lid.

How to store mascarpone

Cream cheese can be kept in the refrigerator for up to three days.

Published 2016-04-04, updated 2021-04-30