Cherry Fool

Jeff the Chef

Here’s a fruity dessert that’s easy to make: Cherry Fool. Folding yogurt into the whipped cream really makes it substantial.

Cherry Fool
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Cherry Fool

Recipe by Make It Like a Man!Course: DessertCuisine: English
Makes

4

servings

Ingredients

  • 1 pint fresh tart cherries (1 lb. + 8 oz.)

  • 2 Tbs lemon juice (optional)

  • 1 cup granulated sugar

  • 3 Tbs cornstarch

  • 1/2 tsp almond extract (optional)

  • 1½ Tbs butter

  • Amaretto (optional)

  • 12 gingersnaps

  • 1 cup heavy cream

  • 1/4 cup (heaping) powdered sugar

  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

  • 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt

Directions

  • Pit the cherries, placing them into a medium saucepan and discarding the pits. Place saucepan over medium heat. (Add the lemon juice.) Cover. Cook until the cherries become considerably saucy, about 10 minutes, stirring on rare occasions; off heat.
  • Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix the sugar and cornstarch together. Pour this mixture into the hot cherries and mix well. Return the mixture to the stove and cook until thickened and translucent, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, stir in butter (and almond extract), and let cool.
  • If the filling is too thick, add a little water (or Amaretto); too thin or not sweet enough, reheat and add a little more cornstarch or sugar.
  • Crush the gingersnaps in a Ziploc bag with a rolling pin.
  • Whip the cream to soft peaks. Whip in the powdered sugar and vanilla and bring the cream to decidedly stiff peaks. Fold in the yogurt.
  • Spoon some gingersnap crumbs into the bottom of coupe or dessert glass. Spoon in layers of cherry and whip. Top with more crumbs. Repeat for a total of 8 servings.

Notes

  • Substitutions: vanilla for the almond extract
"Cherry Fool," from Make It Like a Man!

Social Learning

My favorite way to pit cherries is with a partially-unfolded paperclip. Look it up if you’re curious; lots of people do this. However, I do like to use freshly-washed, plastic-coated clips, so that the cherries aren’t coming in direct contact with a low quality metal or God knows what kind of germs. With sweet cherries, this is a chore. But with tart cherries it’s easy because they’re so delicate and the pit doesn’t seem to cling.

If, while you’re stirring the cherries, you always stir gently – even when mixing in the sugar and cornstarch – the result might be prettier. Whole cherries are prettier in this context than bashed up ones. On the other hand, the fruit in a fool is often pureed. If you’re going to go that route, I suggest that you cook the cherries without pitting them. I’ve been told that the pits will float to the top if the fruit is sufficiently broken down. Whatever you don’t catch would be caught by the strainer that you press the cooked cherries through. Not only would this reduce a lot of the work, but apparently cherries cooked with the pits are more flavorful.

It might be nice to fold some of the cherry mixture into the whip mixture before assembling the desserts.

You might try a touch of clove in this fool, maybe mixed in with the whip. I think it might match some of the essence of the cherry flavor.

These fools are way more filling than they look, so plan to serve this after a light meal, not a heavy one.

The Backstory

Fresh tart cherries can be almost impossible to find. I spend the summer in a cherry-growing region, and even here, you have to hunt them down, and when you do find them, you only find them for a very short time. My understanding is that tart cherries are sold almost exclusively to commercial businesses, whereas you can find roadside stands selling sweet cherries at just about every intersection around here.

You may not’ve heard of a “fool” dessert. Look up “fruit fool” and you’ll find out about it. It has quite a long history. In the region where I spend the summers, there is a massive, mid-summer cherry festival, for which they elect a Cherry Queen. Why they don’t also elect a Cherry Fool is beyond me. Speaking of, I once saw Miss Runner-Up Asparagus sobbing in her mother’s arms after the Cherry Festival. I assumed that if you didn’t make Queen, the next prize went to a vegetable, and this poor girl got the runner up to, no not tomato, no not corn … but asparagus. I wanted to console her by reminding her that she was at least not Onion Queen, but as a decently-raised Midwesterner, I pretended not to notice her public agony and remarked on it instead in this public blog. Many years later, a former Cherry Queen who came over to fix my drier told me that the Asparagus Queen comes from a nearby county, and what she was doing, sobbing in Cherry county … who knows? The mystery deepens.

"Cherry Fool," from Make It Like a Man!
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Credit for images on this page: Make It Like a Man! unless otherwise credited. References: Food52, Food Network, Martha. This content was not solicited by anyone, nor was it written in exchange for anything. Thank you, Kesor and ⌘+C. Huge thank you to my food hero, Harold McGee. Make It Like a Man! is ranked by Feedspot as #14 in the Top 30 Men’s Cooking Blogs. 

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33 thoughts on “Cherry Fool”

    • Thanks, David! I looked yours up – and yes, I see! You do a lot of the things that I’ve heard of and considered, like creating a puree, and mixing it with the cream. And I love the use of mascarpone instead of yogurt. I’ll look forward to trying these ideas.

      Reply

    • Oh, it’s such a great way to make a celebration out of summer berries!

      Reply

  7. Great backstory to the Cherry Queen Jeff, and the Asparagus Queen poor thing. Oh to live in Cherry country and have a choice between sweet and tart. So nice you are making the most of the precious cherries. I’ve heard of the fruit fool puddings. Our cherries come into the shops at Christmas time from down south, and are very expensive. The closest I come to this is Eton Mess with tropical fruits, also delicious. Take care, Pauline

    Reply

    • Thanks, Pauline. I had to look up Eton Mess. Yes, it looks very similar!

      Reply

  9. I make blueberry fool at least once a summer, but for some reason never have made a cherry fool. I like your take on the recipe. And poor Miss Asparagus. Yes, us midwesterners are masters at pretending not to notice the agony LOL

    Reply

  10. This sounds amazing but of course I love anything with whipped cream. In the past, I’ve pitted cherries with a straw- just push it through. One day I got an Amazon package with a gift in it. It was a cherry pitter!! I thought it was a strange gadget to send someone and now I have yet another gadget I don’t use.

    Reply

  11. Wow, great dessert 👍😊 Something wonderful 👍😊

    Reply

  12. That is indeed a mystery about the asparagus runner-up in cherry country. Asparagi and cherries don’t usually enter into the same conversation together. Nevertheless, this dessert sounds fantastic even though you forgot to include the asparagus. Plus, when I serve it, I can say “What? Do you take me for a fool?”

    Reply

  13. Cherry Fool is such a classic and elegant dessert! I love the way you’ve incorporated gingersnaps for a touch of spice and crunch. It’s a fantastic way to celebrate tart cherries, which are often hard to come by.

    Reply

  15. Beautiful, Jeff. I love cherries — it’s one of the best things about this time of year. I also love the paper clip pitting — I find I lose a lot of the fruit with a cherry/olive pitter. I’ll try the clip next time. Thank you! ~Valentina
    P.S. For some reason I couldn’t leave a comment on you Orange Ricotta Pancakes, but I wanted to say that leftovers are definitely fit for the Queen. I’d eat them for days after. 🙂

    Reply

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