What better way is there to celebrate April Fool’s than to have a fool with your dinner?
A “fool” is a type of dessert that has been around since Shakespeare’s time. Back then, fools were made out of fruit such as strawberries or raspberries, cream, caster sugar (which is somewhere between extra fine granulated and powdered sugar in consistency) and orange water or some other flavored water, or liqueur. Other variations use rhubarb, brown sugar, and cream or gooseberries, water, caster sugar, cream and custard. The general concept is that the cream is either whipped or cooked to be custard-like and then mixed or swirled with the fruit and refrigerated, usually in single-serving clear glass dishes so that it looks pretty.
If you want to prepare a reasonable facsimile of a fool without doing the cooking, thaw a box of frozen sweetened fruit in syrup and lightly fold it with an equal amount of whipped cream (or, for the lactose intolerant, frozen whipped topping) and then refrigerate it. This dessert doesn’t keep very well, so be sure to eat it fairly soon after chilling.
In a previous career, Karen Sutherland served as the head cook for a non-profit organization that produced 300-500 meals a day. Sutherland is currently the chair of the employment and labor law practice group at Ogden Murphy Wallace, P.L.L.C. and chair of the Bar Bulletin committee. She can be reached at ksutherland@omwlaw.com.
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