Saturday, March 30, 2013

Avocado-Walnut Brownies (No Butter, No Oil)

Click HERE to order our new cookbook, The Chubby Vegetarian: 100 Inspired Vegetable Recipes for the Modern Table (Susan Schadt Press, November 2016). The recipe below is featured in the book!


No-butter, no-oil brownies? Seriously? With avocado instead of butter...okay, wow. This secret brownie ingredient seems to be developing into quite a thing online these days between the vegans and the paleos and the general health-conscious, I-want-to-eat-brownies-but-I-know-I-really-shouldn't folks.

This good 'regular' brownie recipe was the basis for ours. The batter was amazing -- always a good sign! -- the brownies were fudgy, and they're at least a little better for you compared to other traditional options. (If you're deterred in the slightest, know that surprisingly enough, you will not even taste the avocado.)

Avocado-Walnut Brownies

1 avocado (mashed)
3/4 cup cane sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 1/2 ounces of a dark chocolate bar (about 2/3 of bar; like Lindt 70%)
1/8 cup skim milk
2 large eggs
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon espresso powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (toasted)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In your stand mixer, mix the avocado, sugar, and cocoa powder. Melt the chocolate and milk in the microwave for 30 seconds, stir, and melt for another 30 seconds. Stir again and add to the stand mixer ingredients. Mix until combined. Add eggs, flour, espresso, salt, and vanilla and mix until combined. Stir in walnuts. Spread into a 5 x 8-inch pan that's lined with parchment paper. Bake for 20 minutes. Let them cool for 30 minutes then lift them out using the edges of the paper and cut. Store them in a container on the counter or in the fridge. (Makes 8 large  brownies.)

13 comments:

Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar said...

Ummm yes please! These looks so, so, good!

JFloColman said...

brilliant! i want to eat one right now!

The Yogi Vegetarian said...

omg these do look completely amazing! I will definitely try a vegan version, as I know from experience that avocado and chocolate is a winning combo. Thanks for sharing :)

Anonymous said...

I got all ready to make these and read the pan size. 5 x 8? A loaf pan? although even my loaf pan is 4 x 9. Can you confirm? THANKS

The Chubby Vegetarian said...

Should be just fine!

Smalldeluxe said...

Thank you for the recipe. I just made these in a mini muffin pan. I started out with 16 brownies. I am down to 12. I am home alone and have NO IDEA where the have gone... NO IDEA AT ALL

The Chubby Vegetarian said...

Lori, we love it! They might just be our go-to brownie recipe now. We have always wanted to have one on TCV! Glad they worked out well for you.

Amy and Justin
TCV

Anonymous said...

How much avocado mush are we looking for? Like a 1/4 cup? Avocados come in far too many sizes.

The Chubby Vegetarian said...

those pesky avocados! Try a haas medium size, about 1/2 cup at most. really mash it well to bits and you're good.

TCV

Anonymous said...

Sorry, I did not like this recipe at all. It tasted strongly of cooked avocado. Cooked avocado has a pretty foul taste. I made this recipe twice, the first time I thought I'd try it again with a younger avocado. It tasted so strongly of overcooked avocado I thought it might have tasted that way because it was a very ripe avocado. The second time it was still pretty bad. The batter tastes incredible, but it tastes rancid after it's baked.

The Chubby Vegetarian said...

Anon, sorry it did not work out for you. They are definitely in the 'health food brownies' category. There are definitely some folks who taste the avocado too much in chocolate desserts, like choc. avo. pudding, too, so on to the next, right? :)

TCV

Unknown said...

I made these twice now, they came out AMAZING! Super moist and fudge-y! I don't taste the avocados at all either...I mean dark chocolate and sugar have a strong enough taste to cover it up so I wasn't expecting to anyways :) I used almond milk, 100% cacao dark chocolate, and coconut flour as substitutions as well. Thanks for the recipe!

Anonymous said...

We've made these twice now. First time followed the recipe and the family liked it but I wasn't super fond. Second time used milk chocolate and it tasted much better! Could not taste the avocado at all. Thanks for the recipe!