Blackberry Fool Recipe (2024)

Please don’t fuss at me, but a mixture of half vanilla, half plain Greek or Icelandic yogurt makes this a fine weekday dessert. Cooky crumbs optional, but I have been using them regularly.

Halve the sugar in the whip, especially if you plan on adding shortbread cookies, unless you love very sweet desserts (two tbsp for the berries is probably about right). I’d also give the berries a squeeze of lemon before you mash to enhance their flavor and add a bit of tartness. You really can’t go wrong with blackberries and cream in the summer.

Foole is first mentioned as a dessert in 1598, made of 'clouted creame' although the origins of gooseberry fool may date back to the 15th century. The earliest recipe for fruit fool dates to the mid 17th century. Why the word "fool" is used as the name of this fruit dessert is not clear. Several authors derive it from the French verb fouler meaning "to crush" or "to press" (in the context of pressing grapes for wine), but this derivation is dismissed by the Oxford English Dictionary...

I usually make this dessert with straw-or raspberries , less sugar and sour cream. Delicious, too, and fewer calories.

I would add 1 teaspoon of Drambuie which goes well over blackberries and blueberries when marinating it with sugar and lemon juice. The flavor is enhanced considerably.

This was a perfectly easy and delicious dessert to serve to a group. I put 1/2 the berry mixture into a dish, added a layer of crumbled biscotti then spooned the rest of the berry mixture in the dish. I topped with the remaining biscotti crumbles and whole berries, and refrigerated for 3 hours. The biscotti was lovely and soft when served.

Do you think blueberries would be good? I’m thinking why not?

I used the 2 tsp of vanilla and it was very strong… I suggest using maybe 1 tsp. Other than that, a great recipe! Thanks:)

love blackberry fool! also works really well with some full-fat greek yogurt mixed in w/the cream.

Sounds great. Maybe add fresh mint to the berries and sugar? I’d prob cut some of the sugar as well.

For anyone thinking about trying to make this with Silk Dairy free Heavy Whipping Cream versus real cream, just don't because 'fake cream' just disintegrated/didn't hold up under the weight of the blackberries and tasted a bit like chemicals. Go with real cream and I'd skip trying to adjust this recipe for anyone lactose intolerant or vegan. The blackberries on their own were quite delicious with the vanilla and sugar.

This took 15 min start to finish! I took it easy on the vanilla (1.5 tsp) and put 1 tsp of fresh lemon juice in as I was mashing. I only had 6 oz of blackberries, so I added about 6 oz of blueberries. Wow. Left the white whipped streaks. Love this recipe.

I plan to try this, but I also plan to run the mashed blackberries through a sieve before assembling the final dish. It would likely be better than spending the rest of the evening picking seeds from between my teeth.

Made as directed, did not find the berries to be too sweet with the added sugar, but I did use all wild blackberries & blueberries I picked behind my home, so they tend to be more on the sour side to start with. Along with the vanilla extract, I added a splash of red wine to the berry mix, which was the perfect finishing touch. Got rave reviews from all, will definitely serve with shortcake or shortbread next time.

add citrus zest. don't overwhip the cream. chopped mint is delicious when sprinkled on top

Add pieces of meringue gently stirred into cream and berries. Delightful. Add meringue just before serving as it will soften.

There was a place in Old San Juan that did a version of this (they called it Purple Could) and added crumbs of merengues. Gave a crunch to it. It was marvelous. Would pull back on the sugar on the berries for it to not be too sweet.

doubled and added approx 1C (or more) of coconut full fat Greek yogurt. Delicious.

Found this too sweet.Liked it better without the confectioners sugar.

My own taste preferences run to doing nothing with the blackberries except mashing -- no sugar, and certainly no vanilla. For the heavy cream, yes to the sugar and perhaps up to 1 tsp of vanilla. But that's just me.

Fun and easy summer dessert for a group- also not as heavy or overly sweet as some desserts! i added a bottom layer of vanilla yogurt - then the whip cream mix- topped by a generous layer of fresh whole blackberries with a sprig of mint. Looks very pretty served in a glass tumbler like photo on recipe. Shortbread cookies are the perfect accompaniment.

Would cherries work with this recipe?

This is decadent and delicious. It’s also easy to toss together after dinner. Everyone in the family, ages 7 to 40, loves it and asked for it again. No fancy chef moves here. I simply followed the recipe.

a restaurant in Puerto Rico was famous for serving this and called it "purple could". We used to go all the time just for this dessert. Instead of shortbread cookies they used crunchy meringues crumbled in big pieces. Was awesome. Always thought the recipe was an original. Oh well.

I use thawed frozen mixed berries that come in the giant bag. Any combo of berries is great with this! It’s also good with vanilla ranging from none to the stated amount. Really this is more of a guide than a recipe, for those wondering. You can’t go wrong and it’s delicious.

I read the comments about seeds, and remembered why I’ve never been a fan of blackberries. I tried pushing the crushed berries through a sieve, but then you lose all the pulp; I wasn’t sure the juice by itself would blend in the cream as shown in the picture, so I mashed and added a container of raspberries, which I think have more flavor anyway. It’s all chilling now; I’m going to whip a little cream to make two small sample desserts and finish the rest tomorrow for guests.

Has anyone come up with a way to help eli i ate those pesky berry seeds? I’ve such a problem with them getting lodged in teeth, whenever I enjoy the wonderful berries!

Shouldn’t the recipe either specify to reserve some whole blackberries for garnish or to have extra blackberries on hand for garnish? The picture shows the dish garnished with whole blackberries. Sorry to be so picky, but it seems that the garnish is part of what makes the finished result look so beautiful, and the recipe should spell this out.

I love this kind of dessert! I also do a variation whipping equal parts full fat Greek yogurt with whole milk ricotta cheese instead of the cream. Rest is the same. Great fro breakfast.

is there a way to do this without the blackberry seeds?