Mascarpone is an Italian cream cheese. The main ingredient is cream with a high percentage of fat content. The texture resembles soft whipped cottage cheese or thick rustic sour cream. This product is very high in calories, as it contains 75% fat. Its taste is creamy and very delicate, and in consistency it looks like cream. This cheese is often used in the preparation of confectionery: desserts, cakes, pastries, etc.
Mascarpone Properties
It is very nutritious and useful: it contains vitamins of groups A, B, C, K, PP, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, etc. In addition, as a derivative of milk, it contains complete proteins and amino acids necessary for the body. Due to its saturation with vitamins, cheese improves the cardiovascular system, helps strengthen the immune system and nervous system, helps fight depression and irritability, strengthens bones, and also improves growth and promotes muscle development.
The harmful properties of the product include high calorie content. Therefore, excessive consumption of this cheese can lead to increased cholesterol and obesity, so often the housewives think about how to replace mascarpone. In addition, because of its composition, this cheese is not recommended for people suffering from milk intolerance, with a weak liver and diseases of the intestinal tract, as well as children under three years of age.
Where is mascarpone cheese used?
It is a multifunctional product:
- It can be smeared on bread instead of butter - the taste of the sandwich will only get better. At the same time, cheese contains many times less calories than butter, and is suitable for those who want to get rid of extra pounds.
- From it you can make a delicious, delicate sauce.
- If you mix cheese with fruits and berries, you get a wonderful dessert.
- It can be mixed with liquor and chocolate. Get a special treat.
- Mascarpone is one of the main ingredients for the preparation of cottage cheese casseroles and tiramisu.
The most common way to use it is to use in confectionery. But finding it in a store is difficult, and it costs a lot. This fact stops many novice cooks before preparing interesting new dishes. In this regard, the question arises as to whether it can be replaced by something. Therefore, it is worth considering mascarpone cheese: what is it and how to replace it in various dishes.
Mascarpone: what is it and how to replace it?
Before talking about how to replace mascarpone cheese in various dishes, you should consider the composition of the product in more detail. The main ingredient, as mentioned above, is cream with a fat content of at least 20%. Wine vinegar, tartaric acid and lemon juice are added to them. Therefore, the product has a velvety, rich taste.
Mascarpone is used in the preparation of sauces, casseroles, added to pasta and risotto, but the most common method of application is desserts. Since this delicacy is very fatty and high-calorie, when cooking main dishes and desserts, housewives often try to replace it with something. For cooking casseroles, pasta or glaze, you can use less high-calorie, low-fat products, but with desserts this will not work. This raises the question of how to replace the mascarpone cheese, so that the consistency and taste of the dish are preserved. Consider options for replacing this product with other milk-derived options.
Alternatives to Mascarpone
To replace this cheese in cream for a cake or other dessert, you can use a self-made creamy mixture. To do this, take 150 g of cream cheese, a quarter cup of twenty percent cream and 2 tablespoons of butter. In this case, cheese and butter should be at room temperature. Beat cream well with a whisk or a blender, add butter and cheese thoroughly mashed with a fork to them. Mix all the ingredients until a light, airy homogeneous mass is obtained.
To replace mascarpone in other dishes (for example, pasta, risotto, soups, etc.), you can use less fatty and caloric substitutes:
- soft fat-free cottage cheese can be put in lasagna or pasta;
- in soup, salad or risotto - low-fat sour cream;
- in glaze - low-calorie cream cheese;
- in the sauce - thick low-calorie yogurt without additives.
Ricotta instead of mascarpone
Another famous Italian tender cheese is ricotta. Therefore, many are interested in whether it is possible to use ricotta instead of mascarpone. Can. It is ideally suited as an alternative, as it has the same properties: similar texture, soft taste and light texture.
For a full replacement, you will need 150 g of ricotta cheese and 200 ml of twenty percent cream (as high as possible). Both ingredients must be put in a container and mixed with a blender or combine until a homogeneous mixture is obtained, and then beat until a light, airy mass is obtained. In this case, you need to use this mixture immediately, otherwise it will lose its properties.
How to replace mascarpone in tiramisu?
Italian dessert tiramisu is known worldwide. Therefore, every self-respecting mistress wants to pamper herself and her loved ones with this delicacy at least once. One of the most important ingredients of tiramisu is mascarpone cheese, which is sometimes difficult to find in a store. But there are two common options for replacing mascarpone in tiramisu.
An alternative to this cheese is plain fat cottage cheese or a mixture of cottage cheese with cream. And it will turn out even tastier if you mix cottage cheese, cream, butter and milk.
Also, mascarpone can be replaced with ordinary sour cream. To do this, pour it into a canvas bag and leave it overnight. To get a pound of the finished product, you need one kilogram of sour cream.
If, nevertheless, you want to add mascarpone to the dish, but it is not in the stores, you can make this cheese yourself.
How to make a mascarpone?
The most common are two ways to make the product yourself.
Take cream with a fat content of at least 20% and lemon juice at the rate of a spoonful of juice in a glass of cream. Heat the cream to 90 ° C in a water bath, then add lemon juice there, mix. Pour the resulting mixture into a container (plastic or stainless steel), cover with gauze, then leave for 12 hours at room temperature. Drain the resulting liquid, and transfer the thick to a sieve covered with gauze. Remove the sieve for 24 hours in the refrigerator, putting some containers under it so that the remaining moisture flows out. Put the finished cheese in a container with a lockable lid. Refrigerate the product. Consume within three to five days.
Take sour cream or a mixture of sour cream with kefir and hang in gauze for a day. The cheese will be ready when all the liquid has drained, and the remaining mass will become harder.
Fans of Italian desserts and simply delicious dishes should not limit themselves only because one of the main ingredients is difficult to find in the store, or it is very high-calorie. Mascarpone can easily be replaced with a lower-calorie ingredient, and if this is not possible, then with another milk-derived product of the corresponding fat content. The taste of the dish will remain just as excellent!