Try a buckle, a betty, a crumble or a cobbler, a slump, a grunt, or why not a fool?  With so much fruit rolling in, anything goes.  A classic plum or apricot clafoutis is a popular, adaptable dessert alternative, but for cool and fruity, my vote goes to the fool.  Why? I’ts easy and can be made hours in advance.  How? Whip the fruit with cream, mascarpone, fromage frais – even add a whipped egg white or two…et voila, dessert!  If you have a crowd coming, make two batches using different fruits of complimentary colors to layer or marbelize the fool. Have fun concocting it, and set the fool aside to chill for 6 to 8 hours.

Originally a custard-based English pudding, a fool is derived from the French word for mash or press,  fouler. Gooseberry and Elder flower fools were common in the 16th and 17th centuries, and gooseberry remains an English favorite today. The fruit can be this season’s strawberries or last summer’s frozen blackberries:  just use mashed fruit, or cooked and sieved fruit such as rhubarb or plums.  But whatever you choose, make sure it has both a characteristic flavor and color.  The trick is in the tasting: adjust the sugar content to your fruit’s acidity, so taste as you mix it up.  A basic recipe is simply to fold 1 cup of thick whipping cream (beaten in a chilled bowl with cold beaters), with 1 tsp of vanilla or almond extract + 1 T. sugar, folded into 1 cup of puréed or mashed fruit, sweetened to your taste. Red or golden plums are at their peak now, so try them in this mix. Fold gently so that white streaks of cream remain visible, pour or spoon the fool into individual glasses/cups or into a glass serving bowl, and top with shaved, toasted almonds. An alternative, almost-cheesecake version uses 1 beaten egg white folded into 1 cup of fromage blanc or moscarpone (add a grating of nutmeg or dash of sweet amaretto liquour if you are so inclined) instead of the cream. Then chill, both you and the fool.

A golden plum fool garnished with poached plums and grated nutmeg is pictured above.