This must be one of the simplest kind of deserts one can make. And it can be made to be presentable as well, dinner fancy even. My inspiration was NYT’s Mark Bittman Strawberry Fool recipe, something I made in countless fruit and aroma combinations a gazillion times already.
Never with mango though… it never crossed my mind really as my wife is not a big fan of mangoes, she finds them a little too fibrous and sweet for her taste. However my next door neighbor rung my doorbell holding a few of those Honey Mangoes, as a gift. They were nice, ripe and very aromatic, I swear I felt the aroma even before opening the door and when I cut one open I knew I had to somehow share them with my everyone in the household. There’s no better vehicle for all that as a fool, so here goes.
The ingredients are quite simple, I thought going after a sort-of Thai-ish vibe here with the aromas of ginger, cardamom and lime. Lime will also help tame the balance of sweetness bringing in a bit of zing and freshness.
The base is 35% cooking or whipping cream. In my household cooking cream is preferred as it has less additives. Maple syrup will play second fiddle on the sweetness role and will tie in nicely with the rest of the aromas.
The mango’s flesh is blended along a thumb sized piece of ginger, chopped in smaller chunks to make the blender’s job a little easier. Cardamom according to taste follows, plus a splash of maple syrup, as liquid help. I blended this on high until the resulting purée was smooth and silky.
Nothing better than my stand mixer to whip the cream to semi-hard peaks, point at which I started adding the mango purée and continued whipping until the cream was holding semi-hard peaks again.
Two things are helping this process: really cold ingredients and a good mixer, also with a cooled bowl. This Kitchen Aid monster we got never ceases to amaze me. It mixes, beats and whips things with the same ease Pavarotti was hitting the most difficult notes in the most difficult arias.
Anyway… this is the best not to mention the final opportunity to adjust the taste to your own liking, using a splash of lime juice for more brightness or perhaps more maple syrup.
All that is left to do is to divide the resulting “fool” in serving glasses or cups and top it up with some fresh fruit or some preserves or whatever tickles your taste buds.
In my case I used blueberries, a few lime slices and also a little bit of zest. Needless to say we inhaled them.
Also needless to say, is not only how easy this comes together but how such a base can be used with a broad range of fruits and aromas and such. Only your imagination is the limit.
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