The light at the end of the tunnel is upon me! I am down to fewer than 20 recipes to complete in Dinnertime, and it’s about time I sat myself down in front of the computer and documented a few, because believe me, I’ve been cooking them! In fact, I’ve cooked so many I’m going to break these posts down into manageable bites… See what I did there??
First up, Recipe #123: Raspberry Fool. I didn’t really want to make this because the name is stupid. Also, it’s raspberry. When it comes to berries, if it ain’t strawberry, it’s WRONG! I mean, raspberries are hugely popular in the dessert world, but I find them a bit tart and prefer the sweetness of a plump, fresh, red strawberry. Yum… But I digress! The name is not Ree’s fault, so I can’t blame her. A “fool” is a British term, and it refers to stewed, pureed fruit blended into sweet custard. We Americans stole the idea, but swapped out custard for whipped cream. Also, I didn’t have to cook a thing, because I used fresh, raw berries for this application. Despite my feelings toward raspberries, I conformed to the recipe. Ok, sort of. As the pictorial evidence proves, I also included a FEW strawberries. And some blueberries. For color! I swear… 
Mostly I needed to clean out the fridge and use up the berries before they went off. Really, there was barely a recipe to stick to at all. This was the simplest of simple: berries, cream, and some cookie crumble for crunch. Here is an instance where you don’t want to whip out the canned cream (I couldn’t resist that pun!), but I suppose in a pinch you could sub in thawed Cool Whip. Personally, I feel there is no excuse for not taking three minutes to whip heavy cream with sugar and vanilla (or hazelnut, almond, coconut, whatever) extract, to get delicious, authentic whipped cream. No need to be crazy and do it by hand – which by the way takes at least seven minutes and you always get a cramp – when the electric beater or in my case the stand mixer can do it for you! The berries can be mushed with a little sugar by hand using a potato masher, which frankly I found satisfying, and then folded gently into the cream so as not to deflate all the air you (or your machine of choice) just put in there. Finally, take a rolling pin or a meat tenderizer to a Ziplock baggie full of any cookie (I used Nilla wafers) and smash to your heart’s content; sprinkle the resultant chunks, crumbs or dust on as a topping. Really, this is a great dish to make when you have some aggression to take out! The result is a relatively healthy dessert that pleases your sweet tooth without making your kids ping off the walls.
But the name is still stupid.
Have Book, Will Cook 