Monday, January 23, 2012

Creative Avocado-ing

One of the things I miss most as a vegan is pudding. Any kind of pudding, actually, but especially chocolate pudding. I really can't eat soy and the soy puddings I've tried never quite tasted the same anyway.

To be honest, I don't think it's possible to entirely replicate the chocolate pudding experience diary-free, but I recently stumbled across something that comes remarkably close. When I spotted Frozen Chocolate Avocado Cups on Laura's blog, I immediately bookmarked it.

Avocados were on sale last week! :-) I decided to give it a shot.

The first thing you need to know is that this recipe works best with VERY ripe Avocados. I let mine sit for a few days until they were quite mushy underneath the skin. This isn't a Vitamix recipe - a plain old hand mixer does the job better because you can use a spatula to scoop the finished product into the paper cupcake cups afterward.

I taste-tested the mixture before freezing and it's subtley sweet with a pudding-y texture. This recipe is adapted from a 'vegan chocolate pudding' recipe which also sounds amazing (the recipes are almost identical - Laura just leaves out the vanilla extract and adds nuts).

My mind is already jumping ahead to other uses - pie filling, anyone?

I really enjoyed this as a frozen treat. The chocolate cups reminded me a bit of the 'fudge bars' I used to love as a child. And because they're cold, I'm less inclined to eat them too quickly. They would make a fun treat in the summer!

Be sure to check out Laura's blog! It's full of fun vegan and raw recipes. All the recipes are illustrated with her photos.

Here's the recipe:

Frozen Chocolate Nut Avocado Cups (makes 4)

1 *ripe* avocado
2 heaped teaspoons of cocoa powder
3 tablespoons of agave syrup
3 tablespoons of walnuts
(this is the same recipe and measurements I used for the plain pudding yesterday - just omit the nuts)

Reserve a couple of the walnuts to top each cup then add the rest to a food processor and blitz until chopped. Put to one side. Add the avocado flesh to the processor along with the cocoa powder and agave and blend until smooth. Mix in the chopped nuts then spoon into muffin cases and top with half a walnut for decoration. Freeze for at least 2 hours before serving.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

7 comments:

sereneflavor said...

Try mixing avocados with soaked (to soften) dates, coconut oil and a dash of cinnamon. Chocolate mousse!

shaktigirl said...

Kai, just made this tonight.
-2 Fresh avocados from the tree (sorry to rub it in!)
-3 apple bananas (again, fresh from the tree) or 1 banana (ripe)
-3 to 4 TBS of Cocoa powder
-almond milk

Blend till smooth. So yummy. You could add maple syrup and nuts.

Aloha!

Kaivalya said...

@shaktigirl
Sound really yummy!! I was thinking of adding banana too! Pretty awesome that you can get your ingredients off a tree :-)

Kaivalya said...

@Serene
Do you also add cocoa powder to that mixture to make it chocolatey?

sereneflavor said...

Third try posting... Yes cocoa, raw chocolate nibs or a bar of bittersweet chocolate broken into pieces for the vitamin, sorry. Just. Variation on the yummy thing you made.

nobodhi said...

Cacao nibs are great in this recipe and you can grind them up as fine or as course as you like. A similar raw 'chocolate' mousse that I sometimes make has avocado, coursely ground cacao nibs, carob (or cocoa) powder, soaked and blended dates, agave, vanilla and a pinch of Himalayan salt.

Kaivalya said...

@Nobodhi
Thanks for the info on the cacao nibs - I've never used them before. Your variation on the recipe sounds yummy!