Mascarpone Cheese

 

2 cups heavy cream

1/3 cup nonfat dry milk

1 lemon

 

Read through the recipe. Assemble your equipment, supplies and ingredients, including thermometer. Clean everything very well.

 

In a nonreactive 2-quart saucepan with lid, whisk together the cream and dry milk. Place over low heat and slowly bring to 180 degrees, stirring constantly to prevent scorching. It should take about 40 minutes to come to temperature. Turn off the heat.

 

Slowly squeeze the juice from half of the lemon into the cream. Switch to a metal spoon and keep stirring; do not use a whisk. It will keep the curd from forming. Watch carefully to see if the cream starts to coagulate. You will not see a clean break between surds and whey. Rather, the cream will coat the spoon and you will see some flecks of solids in the cream

 

Add the juice from the remaining lemon juice and stir with the spoon to incorporate. Cover the pan and cool in the refrigerator 8 hours or overnight.

 

When the cream is firm to the touch transfer it to a bowl or colander lined with clean, damp butter muslin. Draw the ends together and twist into a ball to squeeze out the excess moisture. This last step will make the mascarpone thick.

 

It is now ready to eat. This cheese has a short shelf life, so refrigerate what you don’t eat immediately and use within 2-3 days. 

(recipe from “Artisan Cheese Making at Home”)