Avocado Brownie Bites

A little trip down to the local fresh food market last Saturday ended up with me hoarding a basinful of avocados. They were definitely on the ripe side (super-ripe, some of them) but going for cheap and I couldn’t resist the idea of so many avocados (so nutrient-rich! So green! So creamy!). It was only after I got home and realised that so many ripe avocados were a bit much for a single human stomach to handle (and of course you all know K doesn’t eat fruits, so he’s of not much help in this case), hence, I’ve resorted to hiding them in baked goods.

I love my butter, and I’m one of those people who attempt to eat healthily while making (many) exceptions for desserts. But! These don’t have butter, and apart from the sugar, they’re pretty much guilt free, right? (Plus, I get to incept K’s diet with fruit, which is always a good thing.) The texture of these are incredibly fudgy and dense; I’d have preferred them a little more cakey, but when cut into inch-squares, they make the perfect mouthful of dense, dark, chocolatey fudge. I’ve just reached for another square of these. I can’t taste a trace of avocado at all and it’s so simple to make!

Your avocados have to be ripe, so that they are puree-able (I used a hand blender, but a normal blender, a potato masher, or a fork does the job as well). It’s preferable that they’re completely smooth, but a few chunks here and there can’t hurt anyone. Nuts or dried fruit stirred in would be yummy too, I reckon!

Makes one 8 inch pan

• 2 ripe avocados, pureed
• 65g dark chocolate
• 2 eggs
• 90g caster sugar
• 60g dark brown sugar
• 60g unsweetened cocoa powder
• 60g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla paste/extract

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C

2. Skin, deseed and puree avocados.

3. Melt the dark chocolate.

4. In a large bowl, whisk eggs and sugars until the mixture is thick and sugar has dissolved.

5. Whisk in the salt, vanilla, cocoa powder and melted chocolate.

6. Add the avocado puree and mix well.

7. Sift the flour and fold it into the batter.

8. Pour into a lined 8 inch round or square tin, and bake for about 25 minutes.

9. Let cool completely before cutting into small squares!

And the recipe card!

x, W