Avocado Brownies

Before you turn away in disappointment, let me tell you straight away these are not green brownies. Yes, they are made with avocados, but their pastel green hue gives way to the dark tones of chocolate and cocoa powder. The avocado itself doesn’t lend too much flavour either. However, these wonderful fruit are full of naturally good fats, mostly monounsaturated, which means they don’t raise ‘bad’ cholesterol levels in your blood, thus reducing the risk of heart diseases. Also, urban legends and tradition have it that dogs who feed off avocados tend to have a very shiny and glossy coats. All the more reason to be eating plenty of these pale emerald green and pear-shaped fruit.

For the purposes of this recipe, avocados fully replace the fats (butter and/or oil), thus making the brownies slightly healthier. Also, seeing as no flour is contemplated in the recipe, by using gluten-free bicarbonate of soda the recipe will also be suitable for those allergic to gluten. The inspiration came to me after seeing Yakumama, a local Latin American street food vendor, was selling avocado brownies at a local foodie event. It didn’t take me long to try and make my own version of this tray bake and I have heavily amended this recipe. Word of advice: these are very fudgy and they need to set in the fridge. Don’t expect a spongy texture but, rather, quite a dense moreish full on chocolate one. You have been warned.

Ingredients

2 avocados, stoned
100g golden caster sugar
1 tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp chocolate extract
85g cocoa powder
100g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
pinch of salt
3 eggs

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Grease and line a 20cm square tin with baking parchment. Add the water, vanilla and chocolate extracts, and eggs to the bowl of a food processor. Use a teaspoon to scrape the flesh of the avocados into the mixer, then whiz the ingredients together until you get a smooth pale green mixture.
In the meantime, melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, then allow to cool slightly. In a separate bowl, combine the sugar, cocoa powder and bicarbonate of soda.
Pour the melted chocolate into the bowl of the food processor, then tumble in the dry ingredients. Process until fully combined. You are looking for a dense, cake-like batter.
Transfer the brownie mix to the prepared tin and use a spatula/palette knife to spread it out and smooth the top. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until set. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before transferring to the fridge to set for at least 2 hours.
To serve them, remove the dense cake from the tin and slice it into square with a knife. I served these alongside a white chocolate and Earl Grey tea cream, which complements them quite well. Enjoy!