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Strawberry Cheesecake Fools

Source of Recipe

From "The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook" by Deb Perelman


Recipe Introduction

"For the sake of honesty, I'm not going to pretend that I made my first strawberry fool in an exercise to better study classic British desserts. It wasn't because I often wish I could just sit there and eat a large bowl of whipped cream, though I won't say that hasn't crossed my mind. And it wasn't because I have any trouble using up pounds of strawberries, especially those as tiny and exquisite as the ones we get in June. Nope, it was the name. I'm a sucker for fruit desserts with goofy names. I collect them the way some people might collect matches from Michelin-starred restaurants. I have to try each one at least once: the syllabub, the grunt, the buckle, the betty, and the pandowdy; the crisps, crumbles, cobblers, and clafoutis. But mostly, the fools. Because how can you not love a dessert called a fool? Of course, I had to mess with it. I had to New York it up a little. First I made a classic fool—whipped cream, puréed fruit, served with a digestive biscuit for an extra British effect—but the combination of crumbs and fruit got me thinking about a great New York cheesecake, the kind with fruit running off the top, and from that point, there was no going back. And so I made a cheesecake of a fool (perhaps a fool of a cheesecake?), and we proceeded to have to hide it in the back of the fridge to keep ourselves from eating more than one a day. Hey, I said I'd be honest here. But it's also that delicious, a pudding of a cheesecake as pretty as a ribbony striped candy cane."

List of Ingredients

Fruit:
â—¦ 4 cups (1 pound) strawberries
â—¦ 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
â—¦ 2 teaspoons cornstarch
â—¦ 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice (from about ½ lemon)

Brown sugar cookie crumb streusel:
â—¦ 7 Carr's Whole Wheat Crackers, or 2 ounces of another digestive biscuit
â—¦ ¼ cup dark brown sugar
â—¦ Pinch of ground cinnamon

Whipped cream cheese:
â—¦ ¾ cup heavy or whipping cream
â—¦ 6 ounces cream cheese, softened
â—¦ ¼ cup granulated sugar
â—¦ Pinch of salt
â—¦ ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract


Recipe

Prepare strawberries: Hull and quarter the strawberries. Whisk together the granulated sugar and the cornstarch. Stir together the strawberries, sugar-and-cornstarch mixture, and lemon juice in a 2- to 3-quart saucepan, and let it stand, stirring occasionally, until juicy, about 15 minutes. Bring the strawberries to a simmer over medium heat, and cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Transfer the mixture to a bowl, cover, and chill completely in fridge, about 1 to 2 hours.

Once it's fully chilled, set a strainer over a bowl and pour the strawberry mixture into it. No need to strain the berries fully (i.e., over a long period of time)—you're just looking to remove a bit of the excess juiciness. Reserve ¼ cup of the strained juice, and set aside.

Prepare crumbs: Grind the crackers, brown sugar, and cinnamon together until powdery. Set aside.

Make the creams: In a small bowl, beat the whipping cream with a hand mixer until it holds stiff peaks; then set aside. In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese, sugar, salt, and vanilla. Beat until smooth, then fold in the whipped cream. Remove ½ cup of the cream-cheese-whipped-cream mixture and set it aside. Fold the ¼ cup of reserved strawberry juices into the larger volume of cream cheese and whipped cream.

Assemble desserts: Line up six champagne flutes or other tall, narrow 4-ounce glasses. In the bottom of each glass (using one of those long teaspoons from your grandmother that you never use for anything else, or something along those lines), layer 1 tablespoon of the cooked strawberry mixture, followed by 1 tablespoon of the crumb mixture, followed by 3 tablespoons of the strawberry-flavored cream cheese and whipped cream (you know, the pink stuff), followed by another tablespoon of crumbs and another tablespoon of strawberries. Add a dollop of the reserved, strawberry-free cream cheese and whipped cream to the top of each flute. Sprinkle some remaining brown-sugar-cracker crumbs for garnish. Chill for 30 minutes or up to 3 days, and serve cold, with those very long spoons.

Makes 6 servings