Strawberry Fool

I have an unnatural craving for strawberry desserts. I bookmark and save all kinds of strawberry recipes...cakes, pies, ice creams, cookies...with the plan to try them all during the summer. The thing is, every dessert I make with strawberries doesn't satisfy my craving.

I'm always looking for a light, slightly sweet dessert that captures the essence of ripe summer berries. Recently, I made roasted balsamic strawberry ice cream. Sounds great, right? However, I didn't follow the recipe closely enough and it didn't have that WOW! BERRIES! taste I was hoping for.

My go-to strawberrilicous dessert is strawberry shortcake, but sometimes that's a little too heavy...particularly on these hot-as-balls summer days. No way am I turning on my oven to make shortcakes these days.

I finally made a "fool" tonight, an old-fashioned English dessert (I think I've bookmarked, saved, or pinned every fool recipe I've ever come across), and it was the PERFECT strawberry dessert. Exactly what I've been craving...light, fluffy, just a tad sweet, full of ripe berry flavor. And super easy to make.

This is so good that I ate the entire batch myself. And I'm not at all ashamed.

Strawberry Fool

recipe slighted adapted from Mark Bittman

1 pint strawberries
1/4 cup granulated sugar, or to taste (depending on how sweet your berries are)
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Hull the strawberries, then wash them and chop into 1/4-inch-thick pieces. Toss with the granulated sugar & wait 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they give up their juices. 
• Place half the strawberries & the juice in a blender & purée. Pour purée back into the bowl with chopped strawberries. 
• Whip the cream with the powdered sugar & vanilla until cream is stiff and holds peaks easily.
• Fold berries and cream together & serve immediately or refrigerate for up to two hours.