It's July, which means it's officially Summer. That means, in addition to the weather, there's a change of flavors coming. Step aside cozy winter soups and light spring salads. Hello sweet corn, berries, and burgers.

These are all classic summertime treats, and today, we present a new recipe ready to join the ranks of Summertime favorites. The Blueberry Fool.

Fools are classic English desserts made with fresh fruit and sweetened, clotted, or whipped cream. The origin of the dessert's name has been lost to time, though thankfully the tasty treat itself has lasted through the centuries. In most versions of the dessert, the fruit is pureed and folded in. In our version, we're shaking up the textures a bit with a more parfait-style construction, though if you want to puree your blueberries for the classic treatment instead, go for it!

Step one will be making your whipped cream. To make sure there's blueberry in every bite, and because tea makes everything better, our first step will be adding tea. This recipe works great with either Blueberry or White Blueberry, so you can choose your favorite or whichever you have more ready to hand.

The main difference between the two is that you'll want to use more tea if you use White Blueberry since white tea has a lighter, more delicate flavor. We suggest three tablespoons of Blueberry or six tablespoons of White Blueberry, but of course, you can adjust this to your flavor preferences.

For the actual steeping process, you'll begin by heating your cream over medium-high heat. Keep a very close eye on it, stirring regularly. When it just starts to steam, remove it from the heat and add your tea, steeping according to the time on the package. When it's done, remove the tea and put it in the fridge to chill. We did overnight, but you can do less so long as it is thoroughly chilled. You'll also want to put your bowl and utensils in the freezer to make sure your cream whips up correctly.

When everything is adequately chilled, the next step is, of course, whipping the cream. Keep a close eye on it, and as it starts to thicken up, add your sugar. We used a tablespoon, but you can adjust as you like for flavor. You're looking for stiff peaks, which means the little tufts of whipped cream that you get when you remove your beaters don't fold back on themselves.

Pro tip: If you're having trouble with getting your cream to thicken up, you can put your bowl over ice. This is particularly helpful if you're in a hot, summery kitchen where cold beaters and bowls may not stay chilled for quite as long.

The last step of our deconstructed fool is to add the berries. As we mentioned, you do have the option to puree your berries and gently fold them in (being careful not to collapse your whipped cream as you do), but to vary the texture and flavor, we liked just layering them with the whipped cream in a jar. Super simple, super-fast, super delicious. Bon appetit!

Blueberry Fool Recipe

This semi-deconstructed version of the traditional English dessert makes for a quick and easy, parfait-like Summer treat.

Makes: 4 servings
Time to make: ~15 minutes (plus time for equipment and cream to chill)

Ingredients

3 tbsp Blueberry OR
6 tbsp. White Blueberry
1 c. whipping cream
1 tbsp. granulated sugar
Blueberries
Mint for garnish (optional)

Instructions

Place any utensils for whipping your cream (metal bowl, beaters or whisk) in the freezer.

Heat cream over medium-high heat, stirring regularly. When it starts to steam, remove from heat and add tea. Steep according to time listed on package, then remove tea.

Chill cream in fridge until completely cool or overnight. If a layer forms on top, remove it.

Begin whipping cream with chilled bowl and beaters. Once it starts to thicken up, slowly add in tbsp. of sugar. You may add more sugar to taste if desired. Whip to stiff peaks.

Layer blueberries and whipped cream and garnish with mint.

Tea Chef

Check out this month's TeaChef recipe competition! Head over there to submit your own creations to potentially win a $50 gift card to Adagio!