Kidlet and I recently read Emily Jenkins’ A Fine Dessert: Four Centuries, Four Families, One Delicious Treat (illustrated by Sophie Blackall) and followed the recipe to make our own.
The book is so interesting. The dessert is an old, old recipe and a mother and child from England in 1710 start us off showing how they gather the ingredients and what tools they use to make the dessert. Then another girl and her mother* in 1810, Bostonians in 1910, and finishing with a boy and his dad from San Francisco in 2010 doing the same.
We used my late grandmother’s steel rotary hand mixer like the girl in 1910 and purchased the cream and berries from the market like the boy in 2010.
Recipes for Blackberry Fool can be found in many places online and in other books (sometimes with adult beverage ingredients added). This version uses the following ingredients:
2 1/2 c. Blackberries
1/2 c. Sugar divided in 2
1tsp vanilla
1 1/2 c. Heavy cream
To make:
Mash and strain blackberries into a bowl (removing seeds). Sprinkle 1/4c sugar over them and stir, set aside.
Put remaining sugar, vanilla, and cream together in another bowl. beat with the tool of your choice until soft peaks form.
Fold in berries and give it a swirl or stir to make a design with the berry color and refrigerate for 3+ hours.
Ours stayed somewhat fluid and that may be due to the tenacity of 7 year olds not being what it was in 1910 (“My arm is too tired now, it’s done.” Lol) but it was still tasty.
*Note: please note there is some controversy over the book due to the depiction of the 1810 family being slaves in America. If you choose to explore this book with your young friends please pre-read it first to decide if it is appropriate for your audience and how you wish to address the topic.