I know, April Fools was yesterday… I in no way wanted to take away from the time honored tradition of practical joking, spoof websites and twitter rumors flying around the internet.
I am sucker for fresh strawberries. But aren’t we all?
Instead I thought I would take April 2nd as the day to reintroduce everyone to a time honored English dessert and a staple of my childhood – known as a ‘Fool’ it consists of fruit and cream and sugar and not much else.
Whipped cream mixed with macerated strawberry puree
A Fool was first mentioned as a dessert right next to the better known trifle back in 1589 (at least according to Wikipedia, which as we know never lies). Rhubarb or Gooseberry are traditional, but really any macerated, crushed fruit can be used.
A fool just isn’t a fool without a few hidden gems of fruit…
I’ve been all about the simple desserts recently and this might just be the easiest of all. It involves fresh spring strawberries, heavy whipping cream, a little sugar and a splash of gin. Because, well, gin.
This 4 ingredient dessert comes together in less than 10 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 lb Fresh, Ripe Strawberries
- 1/3 cup Cane Sugar
- 2 tablespoons Gin
- 1 pint Heavy Whipping Cream
Method
- Wash, hull and finely chop the strawberries. In a large glass bowl mix the strawberries with the sugar and gin. Allow to macerate for 20 minutes.
- After 20 minutes, move 1/2 the berries and all the juice to a blender and blend until smooth. Set aside the remaining berries.
- In a cold bowl with a hand mixer, whisk the cream and the blended berry juice until stiff peaks from. It will take a little longer than regular whipped cream.
- Fold in the remaining berries. Divide the mixture up between small glasses and refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour.
- Serve cold.
Lydia, Happy April Fool
I made this today. I used pineapple juice instead of gin because well you know. We loved it. It is definitely going on my keeper list. So simple but so good.
So glad you liked it. I am a big fan of the old fashioned desserts. Pineapple sounds like a great substitute for the gin.