Galley Pirates has your back. It is APRIL FOOLS DAY today, and you’ve now been forewarned. You’re not going to be anyone’s fool today!

So to celebrate this capricious day we bring you this delectable Mango Fool. It is truly one of the easiest and most elegant desserts you can make. It takes only a few minutes of blending/whipping. It requires no cooking, just refrigeration. And the presentation is spectacular! In fact the presentation is the hardest thing about this dessert. You can use either lime juice or rum (guess what we use!) and don’t skip the cardamom. That gives it the exotic flavor that takes you into far away lands where mangoes grow.

Scallywag’s Mango Fool

3-4 very ripe mangoes, peeled, coarsely chopped. Or 2 jars of canned mangoes, drained. You’ll want a total of 2 cups of chopped mangoes for 4 desserts.
3 tablespoons Superfine sugar
1 lime zest and juice. Or….the pirate’s favorite…2 teaspoons spiced rum!
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla
1 teaspoon ground cardamom

Place the top 5 ingredients in a blender or a hand-cranked food processor. If you don’t have a hand cranked processor on board consider getting one. So necessary to a galley we list it in our Favorite Gadgets on our Links page.

Grind the mango mixture into a smooth puree. This should only take a minute or so. Today I used canned mangoes, adding fresh mangoes as well. Using a hand crank processor is instinctive to most galley chefs. It’s exactly like grinding the winches, but no need to tail. : )

Spoon out the mixture into a bowl and set aside in the icebox. Clean out your processor for the whipped cream. And here’s where I was surprised.

Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon sugar

Every time I’ve made fresh whipped cream in a conventional kitchen I refrigerate the bowl and the beaters, plug in an electric hand mixer and go at the cream with a vengeance for about 10 minutes. While my guests are waiting for the dessert. So I had very low expectations for my un-chilled, little hand cranked mixer; it was the first time I used it for whipped cream.

So I went to it as if I was grinding in the main from a broad reach. Within about 60 seconds it was slowing down. I thought something went wrong with the mixer. Nothing wrong at all! It was all whipped within a minute. I don’t think I’ll ever go back to an electric mixer again.

Just whip until slightly stiff. Add the sugar and whip a few seconds longer.

Carefully assemble your fools. (no, no…I’m not talking about getting your captains in line!) Depending on which type of glass you use (these were acrylic wine glasses) this may be an easy task or not. Call me a fool, but the glasses I used were larger than you need. I made 2 HUGE desserts that should really have been split up into 4 glasses.

Spoon the mango puree, then the whipped cream on top and repeat, careful to layer and not mix.

Chill the fools in your icebox until ready for dessert. (the photo you see above is not reality. A clean icebox happens maybe once a year!)

Your guests are going to love you more than they already do! And believe them when they tell you that. They’re not kidding you!

Happy April Fools from the Galley Pirates!

And let us know how your day goes… ; )