Chocolate and Banana Fool Recipe

Fruit fools as a dessert (essentially fruit in a beaten cream base) have been made since Elizabethan times and there are two main types, either the straight fruit and cream base (as in the Elizabethan gooseberry fool) or fruit in a custard base (as in the Elizabethan custard gooseberry fool). The British Empire brought fools as a dessert to the four corners of the globe and they remain popular in West Africa and East Africa even today.

The recipe given below is a modern twist on the Elizabethan original.

Chocolate and Banana Fool

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

115g (4 oz) plain chocolate, broken into small pieces
300ml (1 1/4 cups) custard
2 bananas
chocolate shavings, to garnish

Method:

Place the chocolate pieces in a heat-proof bowl and either melt in a microwave or over a pan of barely-simmering water. Stir the chocolate until smooth then pour the custard into a bowl and gently fold in the melted chocolate until you have a rippled effect.

Peel and slice the bananas then stir the pieces into the chocolate and custard mix. Spoon the resultant mixture into four glasses. Set aside to chill for at least 30 minutes before topping with the chocolate shavings and serving.