Vegan Avocado Fudge Brownie
Avocados and Brownies just met for the very first time and their babies are beautiful.
So I would like to safely assume that avocados are everyone’s favorite savory food. And brownies are everyone’s favorite sweet. So what happens when they create a hybrid? Absolute magic.
Now I don’t mean to brag, but I’m a brownie conniseur. I started my brownie days young, mixing an egg and oil into premade Betty Crocker’s brownie mix and eating all the batter with a wooden spoon before it ever made it to the preheated oven (who else has been there?)
But as I grew up, I realized the rich array of these indulgent snacks. Some brownies were cakey, while others were moist and fudgy. My favorites are the ones so ooey-gooey that you can’t even pick them up without them breaking in your hand. That barely-cooked-in-the-oven texture where the crusts are slightly crunchy but the middle is pure pudding. That’s the kinda brownie I wanted to create.
However, most “healthy” brownie recipes taste nothing like that. The raw brownies basically are Lara bars, with dates and some nuts. The paleo brownies taste like coconut, not fudge. Lots of the vegan brownies I’ve made are super cakey and stiff. I’ve made many-a-black bean brownies that ended up tasting like a bowl of chocolatey beans. I longed for a brownie so moist, so gooey, so soft that even my 9-year-old self would have polished it off with a spoon. In comes avocado.
So I buy avocados in bags because #savings but that often results in multiple avocados all being ready at once… And you know how moody avocados are. If you don’t get em while they’re ripe, they’ll go “Aww hell no,” on your butt and you just wasted $6. Wasn’t going to let that happen today. Not on my watch.
I decided I was going to make a big batch of avocado mousse with my avocados, but then a thought came upon me, “What if I make avocado mousse.. brownies?” Something that solidifies the creaminess of avocado mousse into little bite size pieces I could keep in the fridge or freezer to satisfy my sweet tooth while still being sugar/ wheat/ dairy/ oil-free, Candida-friendly and Ayurveda-approved.
Thus I got making these Avocado Fudge Brownies, topped with what other than avo-frosting! I know that may sound totally weird but I promise you—this recipe has shown me avocados are the KEY to healthy baking. They give your desserts that creaminess that dairy does, but totally plant-based. The avocados replace oil/ butter in the brownies and cream in the icing, officially making them the most versatile ingredient on planet Earth. Avocados- what would we do without you?!
This recipe is
- Ooey gooey
- Rich and fudgy
- High in healthy fats
- Easy-to-make
And from a nutritional perspective, it is
- Sugar-free (including the sugar in dates, maple syrup, honey, coconut sugar, brown rice syrup and other sweeteners)
- Vegan
- Paleo
- Oil-free
- Wheat-free
- Dairy-free
The reason it is sugar-free is because I use Lakanto sweetener, which is derived from monk-fruit. It has no impact on your blood sugar levels, making it safe for diabetics and those with Candida yeast-overgrowth. It doesn’t attribute to weight-gain, unlike every other kind of sugar, nor does it feed bad bacteria in our intestines. You can order Lakanto here and use my code SAHARA for 20% off your purchase (their chocolates and maple syrup are also great.)
This is the perfect recipe to make with kids as well because it just takes one food processor or blender and one bowl, making the clean-up super simple. The bake time is just 25 minutes so by the time you’ve done your dishes and poured yourself a glass of almond milk, your brownies are ready!
Weary about the combination? Trust me, you can’t taste the avocado at all so even the pickiest eater will still love these fudgy brownies! In fact, don’t tell your friends and family what are in them and let them just enjoy! Then afterwards, let them know they just ate an avocado with some cacao! This is a great way of getting in your daily healthy-fats (which our brains and hormones need) without heavy oils or animal products.
So what are you waiting for? Let’s make some avocado-brownie magic!
Ingredients
- 2 large or 3 small avocados (the more avocado, the fudgier- the less the cakier)
- ½ cup coconut flour
- ½ cup Lakanto classic sweetener to make it sugar-free (use code SAHARA for 20% off your order here)
- 4 tbsp cacao powder
- 2 flax eggs (2 tbsp milled flax seeds soaked in 6 tbsp water for about 15 min so its turns gelatinous)
- 2 tsp ground vanilla or vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- optional: 2 tbsp almond butter
- several tablespoons water, as needed for blending
- 1 large avocado
- 2 tbsp Lakanto classic sweetener to make it sugar-free (use code SAHARA for 20% off your order here)
- 1 tsp ground vanilla or vanilla extract
- (can double for extra frosting)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8x8 inch pan with parchment paper.
- Make the flax-egg. Place 2 tbsp milled flax seeds in a cup with 6 tbsp water while you prepare the rest of the ingredients so its turns gelatinous. This will be our egg replacer. It takes about 15 minutes for it to turn sticky.
- Combine avocado and coconut flour in food processor or blender. A food processor will make the blending much easier but it can be done in a blender (I did it in a blender and it turned out fine but you’ll just have to keep turning it off and scraping down the sides.)
- Add in Lakanto classic sweetener and cacao powder. Blend until smooth.
- Now the flax eggs should be ready. Add in flax “eggs”, vanilla, baking soda salt and optional almond butter if you’d like to add some nuttiness to your brownies.
- Note: If you are using a blender and it’s really not blending, add a few tablespoons of water as needed to get it to blend. You don’t want it to become too watery but just enough for there to no longer be any powder in the mixture.
- Use a spatula to keep scraping down the sides, making sure it’s well blended through.
- Remove from processor/ blender and pour onto parchment-lined pan.
- Place in oven and bake for 25-30 minutes.
- While the brownies are baking, clean out the blender and make the avocado frosting. Combine frosting ingredients and blend until smooth, pushing down the sides so you blend through any clumps.
- Once the brownies are ready, remove from oven and allow to cool. Even if the inside is totally sticky and the brownies don’t seem done, don’t worry- it will set in the fridge and that’s the point of these brownies! If you want them to be cakier, you could bake them for 10 minutes longer.
- Once brownies are mostly cooled (and you’ve tried once) I recommend setting them in the fridge or freezer for at least one hour so they take shape (if you can wait that long.) I set mine in the fridge overnight so I could break them apart to take pictures the next day.
- Once you are ready to serve, top your avo-brownies with avo-frosting! The secret to a smooth frosting top is using an offset spatula, which is what the pros do to get an even layer of frosting on top.
I recommend storing these in the freezer (so you don’t eat them all at once) but also because they taste amazing slightly thawed. They take an ice-creamy like texture and are a wonderful little treat to have when your sweet-tooth hits and you don’t want to eat any sugar.
