Blackcurrant Fool Recipe

Today's dessert recipe is for one of my absolute favourites, a blackcurrant fool. Fools are basically Elizabethan desserts of fruit juice or pulp blended with beaten cream and then folded with sugar.

The resultant stiff mixture is served in small dishes or glasses.

What many people do not know is that a fool also provides an ideal base for an ice cream. All you need to do is to churn the fool in an ice cream maker and you have a completely different kind of dessert.

Blackcurrant Fool

Serves: 6

This is a very versatile and forgiving recipe. You can easily substitute the blackcurrants with raspberries, or even plums and gooseberries. If you prepare the fool and then turn into an ice-cream maker you end up with an instant ice cream.

Ingredients:

350g (3 cups) blackcurrants
175g (1 cup) caster sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
300ml (1 1/4 cups) double (heavy) cream

Method:

Remove any stems from the blackcurrants then place in a pan with 3 tbsp water. Cook over low heat until the fruit are soft then take off the heat, stir in sugar to taste (continue stirring until the sugar has dissolved) then set aside to cool.

Once the blackcurrants are cold, turn into a food processor and process to a purée. Pass this through a sieve to remove any seeds then stir the lemon juice into the fruit.

In the meantime, whip the double cream until it is quite stiff. Then, using a metal spoon, carefully fold the cream into the blackcurrant purée.

Turn the resultant mixture into a single large serving dish (or into six individual serving glasses). Place in the refrigerator to set and chill then serve.