Strawberry Fool

As I had all of the ingredients over the weekend and had not planned a way to fulfill my wifely duty and feed my husband something with whipped cream, I tried to make this until my blender imploded and ended up with a bowl of whipped cream and strawberries all over my counter. Never fear I added blueberries and whatnot to the cream and it was delicious, but it was not the fool.

I am all the more the fool for attempting to use a blender. Way over my head.

But here is the recipe from Mark Bittman himself:

http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/recipe-of-the-day-strawberry-fool/

Ingredients:

1 pint strawberries

1/2 C. sugar, or to taste

1 C. heavy cream

1 tsp. vanilla extract, optional

Directions:

1. Hull strawberries, then wash them and chop into 1/4-inch-thick pieces. Toss with half the sugar, and wait 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they give up their juices.

2. Place half the strawberries and all the juice in a blender, and puree. Pour puree back in bowl with chopped strawberries.

3. Whip the cream with remaining sugar and vanilla until cream is stiff and holds peaks easily. Fold berries and cream together, and serve immediately, or refrigerate for up to two hours.

Variation: To make a gratin, preheat broiler, setting rack close to heat source. Hull and slice berries, and toss them in a gratin dish with half the sugar. Beat cream with half the remaining sugar and the vanilla, just until it holds soft peaks. Top berries with cream, and sprinkle with remaining sugar. Broil carefully, rotating dish so that cream browns all over. Remove and serve.

Notes from Mr. Bittman: If you have perfectly ripe, sweet berries, you may reduce the sugar called for by half. On the other hand, some berries are so tart that you will need more. I add a bit of vanilla extract to the cream for flavor, but you can consider this optional. The fool can be made with almost any fruit but is best with berries, especially strawberries.