Raspberry Fool Recipe, A Fabulously Simple Pink Dessert

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Looking for a great recipe to make for Valentine's day?  Something pink, perhaps, and insanely easy, and amazingly delicious?  Try this recipe for Raspberry Fool.  It's kind of like the easiest, most flavorful raspberry mousse you can imagine, and there's no cooking required.

So pretty, right?  This is actually an old family recipe that appears at every holiday dinner, and we just call it "pink food."  (My oldest daughter gave it that name when she was very tiny, and the name has stuck!)  Before the "Pink Food" moniker, we called it Raspberry Salad.  Using the extremely loose Iowa sense of the definition of "salad."  ;-)  It actually started out as a cranberry salad that my grandmother made at Christmastime, but her kids didn't like cranberries, and she always had a freezer full of fabulous raspberries from my grandfather's garden, so Grandma Berta gets credit for inventing this version of the recipe.  

My mother went back to school and became a pastry chef a few years ago, and learned that this recipe is actually most accurately called a "fool."  Whatever you want to call it, it's delicious and pretty!  Perfect for Valentine's day.

Ingredients for Raspberry Fool/No Cook Raspberry Mousse Recipe:

  • 1 pound frozen raspberries, thawed (including all the juice--don't drain!)
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 Tablespoons Instant Clear Jel
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream

Whisk the sugar and Instant Clear Jel together.  Instant Clear Jel is a modified corn starch product that helps thicken and stabilize, and works without heat.  We used to have to make a trip to the Amish Country Store in Kalona, Iowa to pick up our supply, but these days, it's easy to order it online.  Yay, internet!

Mix the sugar and Instant Clear Jel in with the thawed raspberries.  Stir to combine well, and let sit for about 10 minutes.

While letting the fruit mixture sit, whip the heavy whipping cream to a stiff peak.

Fold the fruit mixture into the whipped cream, being as gentle as possible to keep as much air in the whipped cream as possible.  Refrigerate until serving.  

Raspberry Fool can be made several days in advance.

I hope you enjoy Pink Food as much as we do!  Let me know if it becomes a holiday staple in your house, too.

Nicole Wills, creator of Tikkido

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