{"id":2853,"date":"2020-08-18T02:12:03","date_gmt":"2020-08-18T02:12:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.womansconed.com\/?p=2853"},"modified":"2020-08-18T03:18:42","modified_gmt":"2020-08-18T03:18:42","slug":"going-green-with-an-invisible-ingredient","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.womansconed.com\/?p=2853","title":{"rendered":"Going \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcgreen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 with an invisible ingredient"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d read the recipes, been intrigued by the videos and even heard out the positive proclamations by a co-worker, but there was still no real way I could be sure that any avocado, of any kind, could be turned into chocolate pudding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A chocolate-y paste maybe, but certainly nothing to match the chocolate puddings I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d known and loved\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6those rainy Saturdays and a box of pudding mix, swirled with milk and cooked to thickness on the stove, doling it out into individual dishes to chill until spoons could be plunged through cocoa skins, and, until then, licking every last bit of the warm pudding from the saucepan to get that first taste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, no\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6an avocado blitzed in the blender with sugar and cocoa and coconut milk might make an OK and slightly  healthier (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153healthy fat\u00e2\u20ac\u009d) dessert of some kind. But a pudding, it was not. Puddings involved milk or cream, eggs and butter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[S]till, curiosity had me on a quest to validate my own doubts. Lucky to find large avocados at a good price. Why not give it a go? I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d eat it, even though I was a bit avocado-wary since a bad avocado a few years earlier ruined a batch of black bean salad. My confidence in selecting avocados had dissolved ever since. I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even try. I sent someone else to get the avocados or I avoided them altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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[B]ut I moved through my fears and picked some up anyway, making sure they were very firm and committing to using them right away to avoid any spoilage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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[O]utside of the avocado, the pudding required few ingredients, and certainly nothing I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t already have on hand \u00e2\u20ac\u201d cocoa, brown sugar, cinnamon coconut milk (or any nut milk) and vanilla extract. I decided to add a pinch of salt and espresso powder, as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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[A]ll these elements were gathered in a blender. All that green\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll admit, it did not look promising. But, what the heck\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[O]h my goodness\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6it was quite thick, so I added a bit more nut milk, but as it blitzed together in the blender, it turned into the glossiest chocolate concoction I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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[I] took it upon myself to taste, still not expecting too much. Whoa! If I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know better, this pudding came from cream, eggs and butter. It was rich! It was chocolate-y! It was decadently creamy! It had no hint of avocado!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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[E]njoying it chilled later that evening, I could not believe it. I still could not believe, but willing to lap it up, in the subsequent makings of it, either. I was not going to fight it, of course, whipping up something so deliciously decadent from a few ingredients in a few minutes with no cooking and\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6.\u00e2\u20ac\u009dhealthy fat\u00e2\u20ac\u009d!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[I]t got me wondering, though, of other chocolate possibilities made rich and smooth with avocado. The soft, fatty denseness of avocado (as well as its mild flavor) had a wide array of possibilities in any number of things. A recent bonus of four of these fruits in my box from Larry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Produce convinced me to take another stab at a different treat \u00e2\u20ac\u201d brownies!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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[T]his recipe required a few more things, but nothing too crazy, outside of almond flour (making these somewhat low-carb), brown sugar substitute (which I found a little bitter, so I mixed it with regular brown sugar), as well as some baking powder, a little butter (far less than your average brownie recipe), cocoa, chocolate chips and I added some salt, coffee and some nuts, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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[I] took one misstep in following the recipe by mixing the brown sugar with the other dry ingredients (it was supposed to be blended with the wet), but I forged ahead\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6it was all going to end up in the same bowl, anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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[I] blended the avocado, eggs, melted butter and some vanilla together and then added this to the bowl of dry ingredients. It formed a thick batter. I added a splash of hot coffee to the mix (couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t resist).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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To this I folded in some chocolate chips and some nuts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[I] got the batter spread into a parchment lined square baking pan that had also been doused with baking spray. More chocolate chips were scattered over the top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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[T]he finished baked brownies smelled and looked great, glossy and densely fudge-y.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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[H]ere again, the avocado \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and the recipe \u00e2\u20ac\u201d did not fail me. Why am I so suspicious of trying something different? These brownies, while dense, were also incredibly smooth (not sugary) and slightly soft, not in an underdone way, but in that perfect texture that melts in the mouth and doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t leave grit or goo. These simple brownies, coming from a slightly healthier source, were very satisfying. Any chocolate lover would be pleased. And if you didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t tell them, they would never know the green within.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Chocolate Avocado Pudding<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Adapted from https:\/\/www.allrecipes.com\/recipe\/234324\/chocolate-avocado-pudding\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Serves 2<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2 large avocados – peeled, pitted, and cubed<\/p>\n\n\n\n