I've found mascarpone cheese can be pricey. What would be a good (in taste and price) substitute?
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The specific application would be for a dessert with peaches and mascarpone, using this recipe: cookstr.com/recipes/peaches-with-mascarpone– JustRightMenusJul 17, 2010 at 4:21
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technically speaking, is mascarpone a cheese?– MidhatSep 19, 2011 at 1:39
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@Midhat en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mascarpone states so– Franck DernoncourtJul 4, 2022 at 22:14
7 Answers
I found a highly rated mascarpone cheese substitute recipe on food.com. I haven't personally tried it, but it's highly rated on that site, and is ridiculously simple.
- 1 16 oz block of cream cheese
- 1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
Blend until smooth
Try it and let us know? :)
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2That is definitely quite like mascarpone! I went ahead and bought mascarpone, despite the cost, as a special treat for some guests. I also mixed up some of this substitute. VERY similar. In fact, my husband didn't like the actual mascarpone b/c he said it tasted like cream cheese. Jul 30, 2010 at 20:01
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@JustRightMenus: Great! I'm glad it worked for you. I'll make sure to use this if I ever need to sub mascarpone.– hobodaveJul 30, 2010 at 20:47
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I made tiramisu using fat free cream cheese and fat free sour cream in place of the marscapone (I did use the heavy whipping cream) and it turned out great.– user15423Jan 24, 2013 at 17:14
8 ounces of full-fat cream cheese blended with 1/4 cup of heavy cream and 2 tablespoons of full-fat sour cream make a decent replacement for mascarpone. A tip: don't try to blend the ingredients when the cream cheese is stone cold!
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2+1 to offset @hobodave .. the ingredients are the same, but the proportions are different, plus the "full fat" advisories, which are (unfortunately) helpful in this age of reduced-fat everything!– tomjedrzJul 17, 2010 at 5:11
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Thanks tomjedrz. I didn't think his answer deserved to stay at -1. I just want to get the message across that the community benefits from more variation in answers. This particular one on it's own is insignificant, but in light of his trend I thought I should point it out.– hobodaveJul 17, 2010 at 5:16
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3I thought it would be worth the questioner's time to have a recipe that I've used before with good results, and I expect that should a questioner receive several, similar answers, it can only make him or her feel more confident about making use of the advice. It's my first day on the site, and I was excited to see questions that I knew I could answer; I opened them in tabs and took them one at a time without refreshing the pages. Granted, I can see now why refreshing the pages is a good idea, but if I feel I've something useful to say, I'm going to say it without fear of being repetitive.– IulsJul 17, 2010 at 5:24
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3@hobodave You really shouldn't make assumptions about people's gender or sex. Jul 17, 2010 at 5:26
It depends on the application. Try ricotta (much lower fat, so may not be suitable for some recipes) or a mixture of ricotta and generic cream cheese.
It's pretty easy to make your own ricotta, also, if you want to get into that.
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She said taste and price. Ricotta definitely does not taste like mascarpone. The texture is entirely different as well.– hobodaveJul 17, 2010 at 4:21
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I agree but based on my experiences ricotta is a good substitute to mascarpone in many recipies, especially desserts. Besides, I'd rather accept a slightly different taste than use some weird mix. Feb 14, 2012 at 22:25
Really, really good thick Greek yoghurt. Might not bake like mascarpone, but it certainly acts like it when you spoon it over a dessert.
I bought some mascarpone and tried the cream cheese (full fat) substitute side by side. Cream cheese was creamier. The mascarpone definitely had a grainier texture, sort of like ricotta. I will play with it a bit, but I think mixing about half and half to 1/3,2/3 ricotta and the cream cheese sour cream mixture would hit it right on the head.
There is an excellent page that describes how to make your own Mascarpone Cheese with just milk and culture at "http://www.cheesemaking.com/Mascarpone.html" The cheese is very good, and inexpensive.
Why not make your own? 1 litre of cream makes about 750gm of mascarpone. Pretty easy, but best to have a cooking thermometer.
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