Thursday, October 26, 2006

Apple fool

A neighbour gave us four large Bramley apples. I had one left after making a crumble the previous weekend, and used it to make a fool.

I peeled the apple, cut it into quarters, took out the sections of core, and cut the fruit into pieces, dropping the pieces as I went along into water acidulated with the juice of half a lemon (it prevents discolouration). When I had finished, I put the pieces into a saucepan with a drop of the water, a pinch of cinnamon, and a dstsp of caster sugar. I covered the pan, and set it on a low to medium heat. The apple had collapsed and was turning into a puree after about eight minutes: I uncovered the pan, to allow liquid to evaporate. I wanted the puree to be thick; but there came a time, after about another eight minutes, when it did not seem to be getting any thicker. I let it cool.

I poured a 227 ml pot of double cream into a bowl, and whipped it until it formed soft peaks. It's always tempting -- with cream and with egg whites -- to carry on for just a while longer; but double cream goes solid, and useless for fooling purposes, very quickly. As I had hoped, I ended up with roughly equal volumes of cream and apple.

I tasted the apple. Perfect: tart, but not sour. I folded in the cream, and poured the fool into four glasses, which I covered with cling film.

There were two hours until lunch. Fool should be chilly; so, for 20 minutes of that time, I put the glasses in the freezer.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

That sounds nice. I am very fond of fools. Have you ever made an apricot fool with dried Hunza apricots from Afghanistan? You are meant to crack the apricot stones and add the nuts - time-consuming but delicious. It's something my mother sometimes makes - I think the recipe might be Jane Grigson's.

Nicholas Clee said...

Golly, no. I must get hold of some. Where should I try?

Anonymous said...

Good health food type shops sometimes do them - eg. Bumblebee on Brecknock Road. They are worth it - they have a completely different taste and texture to ordinary apricots. I'm going home this weekend so will check the recipe out with my mother.

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