Home-made mascarpone cheese

I've been meaning to have a go at this for a long time, and finally got around to it at last. The pic is what I had for breakfast this morning - granary toast with mascrpone, blueberries and a good drizzle of honey. Delicious is the only word I could use rreally! This method, as it hardly warrants being called a recipe,  is my take on it after reading lots of different versions on the net, and it worked well for me. Do try it - not the cheapest of things, but you can quite often pick up cartons of cream reduced for quick sale, and the cheese itself will keep for a couple of weeks in the fridge, covered. 1 large carton double cream - 600ml size juice of 1 small lemon, or half a large one Heat cream in a heavy based saucepan with the lemon juice until just under a good simmer - not boiling though, but almost - keep at this temp for about ten minutes, when the mixture will thicken. Stir constantly meanwhile, until it thickly coats the back of your wooden spoon. Remove from heat and leave to cool for half an hour. Line a sieve with 3 or 4 layers of scalded muslin (I used my cheese straining cloth, folded over) and place over a bowl; pour in the mixture and leave until cold, then put into the fridge to firm up and chill. There won't be a lot of liquid in the bowl. Turn out of sieve after 24 hours or so and put into bowl or similar and cover. Keep in fridge. The taste, I found is much nicer than the bought tuff in plastic tubs. Use as above on toast, in baking, as a filling/icing for cakes beaten with icing sugar - it pipe very well when thick and stiff, all sorts of things.  Or just eat it out of the bowl with a teaspoon........................   :)