Strawberry Fool
What a difference a week makes! Today, I came home from 3 days on Nantucket with my mom, where we shopped, biked, and ate/drank particularly well. Then, when we got back to Duxbury, I got to see my cousin, Jim, get married! And now I’m sitting on my couch, watching Stranger Things (don’t worry, Erik, I’m rewatching the first couple with my mom, not watching new ones), and tomorrow I still have another day to enjoy the sun!
Now, everything hasn’t been all sunshine and daisies (though there were definitely a lot of both). If you were in the Boston area this weekend, you know it was HOT.
And when it’s this hot, I really don’t want to turn on the oven. Like at all. So I turned to my trusty New York Times cooking app, looked up recipes for hot days, and landed on strawberry fool.
Strawberry fool almost feels like cheating as a dessert. It’s super easy. And mainly whipped cream mixed with strawberries. But it’s also perfectly light and sweet for a hot day.
So start off by finding some good strawberries. These ones came from the farm stand near my parents’ house.
Wash them, hull them, and quarter them. Toss them with 1/4 cup of sugar and allow to sit for 10 minutes.
Take out about half the strawberries, leaving half and all of the juice.
Use a blender to purée the strawberries with the juice until smooth. I didn’t realize until after mashing the strawberries with a fork that my mom was hiding the blender in a cabinet (it used to live on the counter), but if you don’t have a blender, a fork works, too.
Pour the purée back into the strawberries.
The other step is to make the whipped cream. Beat the heavy cream, remaining 1/4 cup of sugar, and vanilla extract on high speed of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until stiff peaks form.
Fold the strawberries into the whipped cream gently. Either serve immediately, or refrigerate for up to 2 hours.
I think spoon desserts look best served in some kind of pretty glassware. Here, I use my mom’s crystal glasses that I like a lot.
This isn’t a leave-in-the-fridge-and-eat-all-week thing. Would definitely recommend only making it if you think it will get consumed in one go.
Enjoy!
Strawberry Fool
Ingredients:
- 1 pint strawberries, hulled and quartered
- 1/2 cup sugar, divided
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
- In a small dish, toss cut strawberries with 1/4 cup sugar. Allow to sit for 10 minutes.
- Remove half of the strawberries and all of the juice. Blend in a blender until puréed.
- Add purée back into strawberries. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip heavy cream, remaining 1/4 cup of sugar, and vanilla extract on medium speed until stiff peaks form.
- Fold the strawberry mixture into the whipped cream. Spoon into glasses to serve, or refrigerate for up to 2 hours.
