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Carol Kicinski
This April Fool’s recipe is so simple, you may wonder if it’s some kind of joke. Don’t worry, it really is that simple!

A super simple dessert, and that’s no joke

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   It is a little unclear as to the origins of April Fool’s Day. Some scholars state that ancient cultures celebrated the first of the year (New Year’s Day) on April 1st. Then, Pope Gregory XIII ordered a new calendar to be made and New Year’s Day was moved to January 1st. Many people of the time either refused to accept the new date or didn’t hear about it. That’s understandable – I almost never hear about Daylight Savings Time until I show up late for something.
   Anyway, the people who accepted and knew about the calendar change made fun of the traditionalists who still clung to April 1st as the first day of the year and would send them on “fool’s errands” or try to trick them into believing other stuff that wasn’t true.
   There are other explanations, such as that this is the time of year when winter turns to spring and we enter into a
Gluten-Free Raspberry Fool
Serves 4
12 ounces fresh raspberries, divided
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 tablespoon coarsely chopped pistachios (optional garnish)
4 mint sprigs (optional garnish)
   Put half the raspberries in a bowl with 1 tablespoon sugar. Mash with a fork.
   Whip the cream with the powdered sugar until stiff peaks form (do not over-whip the cream).
   With a slotted spoon, spoon the mashed raspberries into the whipped cream (discard the raspberry juices) and lightly fold the raspberries into the cream, leaving it streaky.
   Spoon half of the whipped cream/raspberry mixture into 4 small dessert bowls. Top with half the whole raspberries, the remaining cream, and the remaining raspberries. Garnish with chopped pistachios and mint leaves, if desired.
period of lightheartedness. I am all for lightheartedness – the world can get pretty serious sometimes.
Regardless of the origins of the day, I think the perfect way to celebrate April Fool’s Day is with a simple dessert called a “fool.” Fools are made of essentially three ingredients; fruit, sugar, and cream. Typically, the fruit is stewed with some sugar, cooled off, and folded into whipped cream. Fools are already dead simple to make but I made this one even easier by skipping the stewing
process of the fruit. By simply mashing raspberries with organic sugar I was able to omit the stewing and cooling – seriously, this luscious dessert just couldn’t get any easier.
As with the origin of April Fool’s Day, it is a little unclear as to the origin of why a fool (the dessert kind) is called a fool. While I may not be a fountain of information for you today, I hope this recipe will inspire you to create a yummy, lighthearted dessert on this day that celebrates lightheartedness!