Avocado Brownies, No-Bake

Avocado no-bake brownies

In my never-ending search for the perfect chocolate recipe, dairy-free of course, I decided to try something new.  There were two brownie recipes that I really liked.  One was baked, the other no-bake.  One used avocado, the other didn't.  Hmm.  How could I mash up the recipes?  I had recently purchased coconut flour because the store I frequent was out of flaked, which I use regularly so why oh why did they have to run out?  In any event, I had on hand avocados, coconut flour, an assortment of raw nuts, and my usual 5-pound bag of dairy-free dark chocolate.  With my I-Pad open to both recipes I mentally mashed up the ingredients and came up with this.  Viola.  It's so yummy.  

INGREDIENTS:
2 Haas Avocados
coconut flour
cacao powder (preferably organic and not cocoa powder)
espresso powder
raw honey (if you're a purist vegan, substitute Agave)
hot water
2 Majool dates
raw cashews
dairy-free dark chocolate chips

2 bowls, 4 x 4 pan, plastic wrap, food processor

First:  In the first bowl, mash or puree 2 avocados. Add one cup of coconut flour and 1/2 c cacao powder.  Stir well.  Heat 1/2 c water to very hot, not boiling.  Add 1 TBS of espresso powder.  Once dissolved, pour into bowl and stir well.  Add 1/4 c honey.

Second:  Grind 2 large Majool dates with 1 cup of raw cashews.  Put this into bowl #2.  Then, grind 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips.  

Third:  Add 1 TBs of the date/cashew mix & 1 TBS of the chocolate chips (ground) into the first bowl.

Fourth:  Add the remainder of the ground chocolate into bowl #2 then add 1/4 c honey.

Mixing crust and filling of brownies

5th:  Line your pan with plastic wrap.  Make sure you have enough to cover all sides.  

Pan for avocado brownies

Spoon bowl #2 onto the bottom of the pan and press firmly.  This is your crust.  Spoon bowl #1 on top of that.  Cover with plastic wrap and press until the mixture is flattened.  

Line with plastic

Place mixture into refrigerator for 2-3 hours or the freezer for 30 minutes.  Cut into bars.  Keep remainder covered and in refrigerator or freezer.  

Yummy Avocado Brownies

A close-up of delicious Avocado no-bake brownies

One more photo just to get your mouth watering.

Rhubarb. Is it a fruit or a vegetable?

It's colorful, it's tasty, and it makes a great desert.  So, fruit or vegetable?  According to Wikipedia, who knows everything:

Rhubarb (Rheum rhabarbarum) is a species of plant in the family Polygonaceae. It is a herbaceous perennial growing from short, thick rhizomes. It produces large leaves that are somewhat triangular, with long fleshy stalks and small flowers grouped in large compound leafy greenish-white to rose-red inflorescences.

In culinary use, fresh raw leaf stalks (petioles) are crisp (similar to celery) with a strong, tart taste. Most commonly, the stalks are cooked with sugar and used in pies and other desserts. A number of varieties have been domesticated for human consumption, most of which are recognised as Rheum x hybridum by the Royal Horticultural Society.

Rhubarb is usually considered a vegetable. In the United States, however, a New York court decided in 1947 that, since it was used in the United States as a fruit, it counted as a fruit for the purposes of regulations and duties. A side effect was a reduction on imported rhubarb tariffs, as tariffs were higher for vegetables than fruits.^[1]

But seriously, who cares!?  It's delicious.  The other day my husband informed me that he loves rhubarb pie.  I had never eaten rhubarb in any form or even cooked with it so I didn't give it a second thought.  That is, until I saw it in the freezer section in my grocery store.  I bought two bags, just in case.  He added vanilla ice cream to the cart to make a simple rhubarb smoothie.  

To prove that I'm a good wife (that's a joke, he knows I love him), I did a little digging.  I found a good smoothie recipe (see below) but I also found something better - BROWNIES.  Who knew.  Now you do, too.

INGREDIENTS:

1 c raw honey or agave

1/2 c coconut oil, softened

2 eggs or 2 flax eggs (2 TBS ground flax seeds soaked in 1/2 c water)

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 c whole wheat flour

1/3 c cacao powder (not cocoa), raw cacao powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 c finely chopped rhubarb (measure after chopping)

1/2 c dark or semisweet dairy-free chocolate chips

PROCEDURE:

Preheat oven to 375.  Line an 8x8 or 9x13 or similar pan with parchment paper. 

Mix wet ingredients then add dry.  

Bake for 20 minutes or slightly less if your oven runs hot.  

Chill before cutting and removing from parchment. 

ENJOY!

Rhubarb brownies hot out of the oven

Rhubarb brownies

I don't have a photo, but here is a smoothie recipe and variations.

1 c milk

1/2 c frozen strawberries

1/3 c frozen rhubarb

1 TBS ground flax

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp honey

Puree until smooth.  Variations:   Use almond milk or chocolate cashew milk.  Add a banana.  Leave out the flax seeds.  Use agave instead of honey.  If you use a banana may not need the honey.  

Here is a link to my granola bar recipe:  http://colleenwaitwrites.blogspot.com/2015/01/fruit-and-nut-bars.html