I’m too nice to play tricks. Still, I had it in my head for a while I wanted to share a recipe for April Fool’s day. After lots of recipes that try to trick you by appearing to be one thing but are actually another, I found that I couldn’t bear to do them. If I’m expecting something sweet and get something savory, or vice versa, and it’s a whole dish, it just seems like a lot of work and too much disappointment because I really thought I’d be getting the sweet frosted cupcake (but get meatloaf instead),  a cake that looks like a BLT but is white cake and gummy fruit and Tootsie Rolls, savory slider and fries basket that turns out to be a cake and cookie concoction or mini chicken pot pie that is candy and pudding. Don’t even get me started on the cakes that look like kitty litter which I even refuse to link to.

Instead, I decided to go with a Strawberry Fool recipe, which has no trick at all to it. There isn’t any cooking involved even- just cutting and you literally whip it together!

In fact, it’s super easy and fast to do, and very classic. The sweet Hood strawberries are not at the Farmers Market yet, but there have been sales of strawberries at the grocery store and F brought some home as a surprise for me. I’m suffering from a cold with a bad sore throat and cough, so having something creamy was a very soothing prescription to myself.

This simple recipe is from Mark Bittman in the New York Times and yields 4 servings supposedly but it was also enough for just the 2 of us in my household of F and myself.

Strawberry Fool

Ingredients:

• 1 pint strawberries
• 1/2 cup sugar (or to taste), separated into 1/4 cup and 1/4 cup
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Hull the rest of the strawberries, then wash them. Reserve a few of the best looking strawberries for garnish, and chop the rest into 1/4-inch-thick pieces. Toss with 1/4 cup of the sugar, and wait at least 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they give up their juices. Isn’t macerating so easy and magical?
   
2. Place half the strawberries and all the juice in a blender or food processor and purée, though you can also choose to just mush them however and with whatever you have. Pour purée back in bowl with other half of still chopped strawberries.
   
3. Whip the cream with remaining 1/4 cup sugar and vanilla until cream is stiff and holds peaks easily. Fold berries and almost all the cream together, setting aside a bit of the cream aside as topping if you’d like. Cut the reserved strawberries from before in half and top. Serve immediately in small bowls or in wine glasses, or refrigerate for up to two hours and then serve if you would like it more chilled.
   

I have tweaked this recipe sometimes- for instance, using honey instead of sugar for the maceration, or throwing in a teaspoon of Grand Marnier! If you’d like, garnish with some fresh mint. This also can work with any berry- raspberry, blueberry, marionberry, or you could try rhubarb or a lime or lemon variation, the list goes on. Instead of topping fresh whipped cream, you can go healthy and go with yogurt instead. You really can’t go wrong here.

Are you doing anything for April Fool’s Day?