Don’t let the fact that avocado is in the name fool you. You’d have no idea it was in there once you try it! And if you think avocados are just for savory foods like guacamole or avocado toast, I’m sorry to say that you’re mistaken. Avocados are great for sweet stuff too! My favorite? Avocado ice cream. Mmmmm. That was my favorite Magnolia flavor growing up, but that’s for another time.

 

This weekend we are going to my sister-in-law’s fiance’s mom’s (did you follow that?) house for an early Easter celebration. They’re getting married this November and his mom thought this would be a nice casual way for the families to meet. His mom is cooking a Mexican feast that I can’t wait to dig into! Not wanting to be rude, I asked if there was anything we could bring and she said dessert. It was a tough decision as my mini key lime pies and mini cheesecakes were in the running, but I landed on this dessert for a couple of reasons: 1) it’s light, not too heavy which will be good after all of her delicious food, and 2) it’s a delicious, dare I say, healthy dessert option!

Some of you may or may not know that I found out I was pre-diabetic in 2015. I’ve been working hard to get my blood sugar down and I’ve made good progress, but I can’t stop now. So this is a good option for me when we’re at the party since it’s fairly low in sugar compared to most desserts!

Back to the elephant in the room: avocado being the base of the pudding. Yes!! And it’s perfect for it. Trust me! The fat of the avocado provides the creaminess you’d get from milk & eggs when it’s blended.

The crust is gluten free so this dessert is fair game to most people. I use shaved or shredded coconut, coconut flour, almond flour, coconut sugar and butter.

It all comes together fairly quickly. Everything for the crust goes into the food processor, pulse, then form the mixture into your pan and give it a quick bake.

While that’s cooling, everything for the pudding goes into the food processor, (to the tune of Rihanna’s ‘Work’) pulse pulse pulse pulse pulse.

When your crust is cooled, carefully add the pudding and spread it evenly in the pan. At this point you can leave it as is, but I like it topped with raspberries. Some chocolate shavings and a sprinkling of powdered sugar wouldn’t hurt either!

Some notes:

• These measurements should yield four 4-inch tartlets or one 8-9 inch tart. I’ve also just used a pie pan and that worked just fine, though a tart pan would be prettier
• I’ve used both bittersweet and unsweetened chocolate. I like both ways and have even combine the two sometimes, doing 1/2 bittersweet, 1/2 unsweetened. I personally prefer the richness of bittersweet chocolate, but if you prefer milk chocolate, by all means use that!
• You can easily adapt this to be nut free – sub out the almond flour for more coconut flour or a gluten free flour
• To make this completely vegan, sub out the melted butter for margarine or coconut oil and the honey for your preferred sweetener.

Happy eating!

---

CHOCOLATE AVOCADO PUDDING TART

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

INGREDIENTS

CRUST

• ¾ c. Unsweetened shredded coconut
• ¾ c. Almond flour
• 2 Tbl. Coconut flour
• 4 Tbl. Melted butter

FILLING

• 2 ripe avocados
• 1 Tbl. Coconut sugar
• 1 Tbl. Honey
• 2 tsp. Vanilla extract
• 1/2 c. Coconut milk
• 2 oz. or 1.5 oz Bittersweet chocolate – melted & cooled
• 2 Tbl. Cocoa powder
• 2 tsp Ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
In food processor, combine all ingredients for crust
Pulse until it is crumbly and sticks
Press into tart pan
Bake in oven for 10 minutes
When crust is finished backing, remove from the oven and cool
While crust is cooling, combine all filling ingredients in the food processor
Pulse until smooth and a pudding-like consistency
When crust is cooled, fill with filling and spread evenly
Top with raspberries or preferred ingredients (if doing whipped cream or shaved chocolate, you can do that just before serving)
Gently cover and place in refrigerator until set – approximately 2 hrs or overnight