Gooseberry Fool is a great way of using an abundance of these sweet and sour, spiky fruits! Bonus points if you grow the gooseberries yourself!
Spiky fruits
Gooseberries are a funny old fruit. Growing on straggling bushes, thick with spines, transparent skins and leafy tufts at the end. I'll be the first to admit that they don't look terribly appealing. But, if you can get past their odd appearance and find some gardening gloves thick enough to protect you from the spikes, a gooseberry bush is a fantastic addition to a kitchen garden.
I first came across gooseberries at a pick your own fruit farm when I was a child. My sister and I weren't fans of picking them and so my parents kept them all to themselves. We gorged ourselves on the strawberries instead.
These days I have my own gooseberry bush and, although it hasn't produced tonnes of fruit this year, I love picking the plump fruits to make dessert. Towards the end of the summer I will more than likely make a crumble, but on the longest and hottest of days I like to make Gooseberry Fool.
Classic puds
Gooseberry Fool is one of those desserts that has been around for an eternity. In fact, the first mention of a fruit fool was in the 18th century. Since then the pudding has been referenced thousands and thousands of times - every time being made with a mix of puréed fruit, cream and sugar.
As with every traditional recipe that finds its way on to the blog, I've had to play with it just a little.
As much as i'd love to have a bowl that is 90% double cream whipped with sugar, sometimes I just can't justify the enormous amount of calories that comes with it! So, for a few years now I've been adding yogurt into the whipped cream to lighten things up.
Though don't get me wrong, there is still tonnes of sugar in the stewed gooseberries.
Go nuts
The first few times I added yogurt to a Gooseberry Fool I just used bog standard Greek or natural yogurt. More recently, I've been using the almond flavoured Alpro yogurt. Because it's plant based it cuts back on the richness of the cream.
I also love the combination of gooseberries and almonds.
You can easily take this recipe from lazy Sunday pud to fancy dinner party dessert by sprinkling some toasted almond flakes on top!
The recipe
Gooseberry Fool
Ingredients
- 450 grams gooseberries topped and tailed
- 4 tablespoon sugar
- 200 millilitres double cream
- 100 millilitres almond yogurt
- 1 handful flaked almonds toasted, optional
Instructions
- Place the gooseberries and sugar in a saucepan with a splash of water.
- Cook the fruits on a medium heat for 10 minutes or until the sugar has dissolved and the fruit has begun to burst.
- Let the fruit cool before chilling in the fridge for an hour or until cold.
- Whip the cream until just forming stiff peaks.
- Fold in the yogurt gently trying not to knock out all the air in the cream.
- Ripple the cold gooseberries through the cream and yogurt.
- Spoon into dessert glasses and top with the flaked almonds to serve.
Notes
Gooseberry varieties
You can use red of green gooseberries for this recipe. The green kind are more tart (the red ones much sweeter). It works well with both. If in doubt, test the gooseberries while they are stewing and see if you need a little more or less sugar. If you've been a bit heavy handed you can always add a splash of lemon juice to bring some of the tartness back!Nutrition
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Neli Howard says
Looks beautiful and tasty! Cannot wait to try this. This recipe looks incredible! Thank you.
camila says
gooseberries are wonderful! this looks delicious!!
Heidy L. McCallum says
I am loving this blog post. I rarely see anyone make use of Gooseberries and your recipe looks wonderful! I am definitely going to put this on my list of recipes to try out.
Emma Walton says
Thank you so much
Dawn - Girl Heart Food says
Looks like a delicious summer dessert! Love the addition of almonds here for a little flavour a texture too 🙂 YUM!
Emma Walton says
Almonds are my favourite 😀
[email protected] says
I’ve never had a gooseberry!
Emma Walton says
Never ever!? You MUST try one they are delicious.
Becca @ Amuse Your Bouche says
Oh yuuum! I've never cooked with gooseberries, never known what to do with them, but this looks easy! I love this kind of dessert - any excuse to eat a whole bowlful of whipped cream 😉
Choclette says
Oh, I'm envious of your gooseberry bush. I planted 3 down at our old plot, but got very little out of them. I shall be trying again in our new garden once we've got it into some sort of order and crossing fingers for better success. Your gooseberry fool looks fantastic. Definitely good enough for a dinner party dessert.
Heidi Roberts says
We have red gooseberries to pick - now I know what to do with them!