This is an old traditional recipe, made from a seasonal fruit sauce and then combined with yogurt and whipped cream to make a fool, which is a refreshing dessert for the summer.
Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce
Ӣ 1 cup sugar
Ӣ 2/3 cup water
Heat to boiling in a large pan.
Add:
”¢ 31â„2 cups rhubarb, cut into 1 inch chunks
Ӣ Cook for about 15 minutes or until rhubarb is fork tender.
Add:
Ӣ 2 cups strawberries, cored and cut into chunks
Heat until boiling again and strawberry chunks are fork tender also. You may use the above as Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce, over ice cream, fruit or tea bread.
To make Fool:
Chill Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce (recipe above) in a large bowl until thoroughly chilled.
Mix into it:
Ӣ 1 cup good plain yogurt
Beat 11â„2 cup of heavy cream until it is in stiff peaks. Add a small amount of sugar and vanilla to your taste, up to 1/4 or 1/3 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Fold whipped cream into strawberry rhubarb yogurt mixture but not entirely, make sure you leave fruit stripes in the white whipping cream. Divide into 6 large or 8 small servings in individual dishes.
You may serve as is or top with chopped strawberries, sweet bread crumbs, crumbled macaroon cookies or other chopped coconut cookies, or with plain brown sugar, or with granola, with chocolate curls, etc. Also you may reserve some of the Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce and serve it over the Strawberry Rhubarb Fool.
1920’s Jelly Roll
There is a song, do you know it? It’s an old traditional folk song but some rock and blues singers have sung it more recently.
The fruit filling can be any spring or summer fruit jelly. Here we are using strawberry or blueberry jelly.
Ӣ 3 eggs
Ӣ 1 cup sugar plus 2 teaspoons
Ӣ 1/3 cup water
Ӣ Large dash vanilla or other flavoring, strawberry, coffee, almond, chocolate, etc.
Ӣ 3/4 cup flour plus 1 Tablespoon, leveled
Ӣ 1 teaspoon baking powder
Ӣ Dash salt
Ӣ 3/4 cup strawberry or blueberry jelly
Ӣ Hot water
Ӣ Powdered sugar
Beat eggs with a whisk or fork until thick and pale. Add sugar slowly. Then beat in water and flavoring.Combine flour and baking powder in a large bowl and stir them with a fork until fluffy. Make a well in the flour mixture, pour in the egg mixture and stir until just combined. Heavily grease a jelly roll pan or line the pan with heavily greased wax paper. Pour in batter and evenly spread it all over the jelly roll pan or over the wax paper. Bake for 11 to 14 minutes at 350 or until just done in the middle. Use spatula to make sure the cake will separate from the pan or paper and turn the pan upside down onto a kitchen towel that is heavily sprinkled with powdered sugar. Carefully roll up cake with sugared towel. Let cool, all rolled up. Beat jelly with a few drops of hot water in a medium-sized bowl until the jelly lightens. Gently ice cake with jelly all over the middle. This will be a thin layer that makes a thin red or blue spiral in the middle of the rolled-up jelly roll cake. Roll up the cake tightly and carefully (without the towel) and sprinkle the top with powdered sugar if you desire, sprinkling through a doily to make a pattern.
Make a Summer
Ice Cream Roll:
Make the recipe above, with the changes below:
Ӣ Add 1 egg more to the recipe above, along with the 3 eggs, for 4 eggs total.
Ӣ Add 1/4 cup cocoa to the flour above for a chocolate rolled-up cake
or
Ӣ Add 1/4 cup more flour, if you want a vanilla cake.
Eliminate jelly as filling. Cool the cake rolled up in a sugared kitchen towel, as above. Soften 1 pint of ice cream, your choice of flavor like strawberry or chocolate or vanilla or all of the above; and ice the baked, cooled cake gently with the softened ice cream. If you wish, sprinkle the ice cream with chocolate chips or chopped strawberries or blueberries, etc. Combinations like vanilla with blueberries are great; vanilla cake or chocolate cake with chocolate chips or chocolate curls or chopped peanut butter cups, and so on. Let your imagination be your guide, as they say. Roll up cake with the ice cream inside and wrap it carefully in waxed paper. Freeze for 3 hours.
Cut with a sharp knife.
Serve each portion with whipped cream, chocolate sauce and chopped fruit if desired. Individual portions may each have a fresh cherry.
— Mel Baker is an experienced chef, caterer and cafe manager. She resides in York County and has published “The Noisy Oven” since 2006. Email her a noisyoven@gmail.com.
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