Rhubarb fool
Serves: 4
Prep time: 15 minsTotal time: 
Recipe photograph by Maja Smend
Rhubarb fool
A simple but classic English dessert, ‘foole’ is first noted in 1598, with the earliest recipes being fruitless and based on cream and eggs. In the 16th and 17th centuries, it was thought that fruit was unhealthy but could be made safe by boiling it to a pulp. The resulting fruit purée could then be chilled and folded through a ‘foole’ to make a light dessert. Many modern recipes skip the traditional custard and simply use whipped cream, but the custard definitely gives the fool more body and works especially well with rhubarb
Serves: 4
Prep time: 15 minsTotal time: 
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Nutritional information (per serving)
Calories
630Kcal
Fat
50gr
Saturates
31gr
Carbs
37gr
Sugars
34gr
Fibre
2gr
Protein
6gr
Salt
0.2gr
Tamsin Burnett-Hall
Tamsin learned the tricks of the trade from cookery legend Delia Smith. A trusted recipe writer for the magazine for over 25 years, she is now our Senior Food Producer, overseeing testing and editing to ensure that every recipe tastes great, is straightforward to follow and works without fail. In her home kitchen, Tamsin creates fuss-free flavour-packed food for friends and family, with baking being her ultimate form of comfort cooking
See more of Tamsin Burnett-Hall’s recipes
Tamsin Burnett-Hall
Tamsin learned the tricks of the trade from cookery legend Delia Smith. A trusted recipe writer for the magazine for over 25 years, she is now our Senior Food Producer, overseeing testing and editing to ensure that every recipe tastes great, is straightforward to follow and works without fail. In her home kitchen, Tamsin creates fuss-free flavour-packed food for friends and family, with baking being her ultimate form of comfort cooking
See more of Tamsin Burnett-Hall’s recipes
Ingredients
- 400g rhubarb, trimmed
- zest and juice of 1 small orange (about 50ml juice)
- 100g caster or granulated sugar, plus 1 tbsp
- 1 medium egg
- 1 tbsp cornflour
- 200ml whole milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 250ml double cream
- shortbread biscuits* to serve (optional)
Step by step
- Start this recipe a few hours ahead of serving. If you’ve got forced pink rhubarb, the secret to keeping the colour is to cook it in a wide pan with minimal liquid. Chop the rhubarb into 3cm-long chunks, halving the stalks lengthways if they are quite chunky. Add to a wide pan, along with the orange zest and juice and 100g sugar.
- Bring to a simmer, shaking the pan rather than stirring. After 2-3 minutes it should be just tender, so remove a few pieces and reserve them for decoration. Keep cooking the rest of the rhubarb for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it has broken down and reduced to a compote you can draw a spoon through, leaving a slight trail. Tip into a container, let cool and then chill.
- Make a whole-egg custard: mix the egg, cornflour and 1 tablespoon of sugar together in a saucepan until paste-like, then gradually whisk in the milk. Cook over a medium heat, stirring constantly, for a couple of minutes until thickened. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla then pour into a heatproof bowl, press clingfilm on the surface of the custard, let cool and then chill until needed.
-
When ready to serve, whip the double cream until it peaks, then whisk in the custard. Next, fold in about half of the rhubarb compote. Spoon the fool into 4 glasses, layering it up with the rest of the compote. Top with the reserved rhubarb pieces and serve with biscuits, if you like.
*Serve with gluten-free biscuits, if required.
