Rich avocado chocolate dessert

If your first reaction on reading, ‘avocado’ and ‘chocolate’ in the same meal has you turning in to Peter Kay and his “Garlic?!… Bread!?…Garlic bread??! routine, please bear with me as it really does work.  The rich texture of the avocado (they do need to be ripe) and their very mild taste, combined with cocoa is something of a revelation.  You have a lovely, soft gooey pudding thing going on.

I cobbled together this recipe from various sites and books.  However, it is pretty simple as:

Ingredients

• 2 avocados, the riper the better, stones removed.
• 2-3 tbsps 100% cocoa powder
• 3 tbsps coconut oil
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Using a food processor whizz all ingredients together.  As someone who’s trying to control my sweet tooth, it is at this point that you add your sweetener of choice in the amount you require, as it all depends how much sweetness you need, so I’m not going to give an exact direction but would advise against sugar and artificial sweeteners from a health perspective.

• Natural sweetener (to your taste)  I used approximately 1 tbsp coconut nectar (knocking around the larder) and 1 tsp maple syrup.  It tastes as sweet as 85% chocolate to me.  You could of course, use honey if you wish.

I’m also freezing about the same quantity again, so will report back on taste, texture and picture in due course as I’d love to have an easy chocolate ice cream at my disposal.

To explain the picture, I’ve just come back from Cornwall and visited ‘The Lost Gardens of Heligan’ and bought some seeds.  Here’s hoping next year is a bumper harvest in my tiny garden.