Sometimes cooking can be expensive. Certain ingredients may be imported or are too pricey for our budgets and we need to find substitutes for them.
Here’s one quick tip I found to use cream cheese as a substitute for mascarpone cheese, which is generally used in the famous Italian dessert Tiramisu or sometimes in cheesecakes.
Today’s tip comes from ehow.com’s article here.
How to Substitute Cream Cheese for Mascarpone Cheese:
Ingredients:1) Heavy whipping cream or sour cream
Instructions
1) Remove the cream cheese from the refrigerator and allow it to warm to room temperature. Then stir and smash it thoroughly with a fork to soften it. This will help make its consistency more similar to that of mascarpone and will make it easier to mix the cream cheese with another ingredient, if you so choose.
2) Mix your cream cheese with heavy whipping cream or sour cream if you wish. If you use sour cream, add up to an equal amount of sour cream to the cream cheese (though you can use significantly less if you wish). When using heavy whipping cream, use up to 1/4 cup per 8 oz. of cream cheese. Mix thoroughly to completely blend the sour cream or whipping cream with the cream cheese.
3) Use your cream cheese — either plain or mixed — exactly as you would have used mascarpone. The flavor and texture will be slightly different than that of mascarpone, but similar enough that it will not adversely affect most recipes.
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How much sour cream do I need to add to my cream cheese to make 3 ounces of mascorobe?
Hi Sara! You should use equal amounts of sour cream as cream cheese – so if you need 3 ounces of mascarpone in total, it should probably be 1.5 oz of sour cream and 1.5 oz of cream cheese 🙂 Hope this helps!