Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Lessons: Chocolate Avocado Mousse

-A strange but fascinating combination. No, seriously. Hey, don't you dare click away to stare at LOLcats. Just trust me...- 

I like to think that I can find new learning experiences every day. Every activity from the mundane sweeping of the floor to the more exciting ventures of cobbling together a wedding registry offers the chance of discovery if you’re paying enough attention. For example, this week I have learned the following:

1. Having sex on a your brand new, high end comfy sack chair may seem like a good, rather whimsically naughty activity. Coy, suggestive eyes and a smack on the bum may encourage such things. It is dear readers, not so fun. It's similar to doing ballet on a sinking ship in a hurricane; stupid, clumsy, and more awkward than you might expect it to be.

2. Another note on said comfy sack. I love otherwise un-stainable, svelte, chocolate brown microsuede it comes in. But I swear to God if Fiance spills his coffee on it I will literally die.

3. Scratch that. Fiance will be killed.

4. Puppies like to nap in dirt. I’m not sure why, but they do. Furthermore, they will sniff it out whenever possible as said dirt is the most comfortable thing ever. You can fence off every bit of vegetable garden you have and seed as much grass as you want. A puppy will somehow find that one tiny, two square inches of mud and contort their body in such a way that it all fits in that tiny square ensuring that they emerge caked in crud. Said puppy will then whine when you have to give him yet another bath. Eventually, you hope, the puppy will make the connection between the two.

-I do it on purpose.- 

5. That new screen door pops right out with a touch. Eat Beast only needs to see you do this once to learn that the road to freedom to just that easy. Yet, strangely enough, after 8 years he still refuses to learn to sit. This brings me to lesson number 6.

6. Eat Beast will always be an obstinate asshole. Forever. The end.

7. During the move I lost my sugar/deep fry thermometer. It’s not something I use often, but like to have. The other night I was bound to deep fry and was rather worried about not having a thermometer nearby as after enough kitchen and house fires I have as much experience to survive another one as I desire to have a police officer billy club my kneecaps.

A quick bit of research and I learned a nifty trick. Most frying occurs at 350F, the magic cooking number. Apparently, if you don’t have a thermometer you can toss a 1-inch cube of bread into your oil. If it turns dark golden brown in 60 seconds, then your oil is 350F.

I tried it out with a few bread cubes. The first two cooked slowly and came out soggy. The third? 60 seconds golden. My egg rolls that I wanted to fry? They were perfectly cooked.

There you have it. The bread cube test for frying.

Isn’t that fascinating?

8. I forgot how reading W.H. Auden’s poetry was akin to reading Letters to Penthouse. I also forgot how reading Adirenne Rich’s poetry can generate so much self-reflection that it leaves you emotionally hollow for a half hour. Neither of these are complaints.

-Auden: Like a Letter to Penthouse, but with a rhyme scheme.- 

9. Speaking of literature, a thought came across when I was perusing my book shelf: Wouldn’t Paris Hilton be the perfect choice to play Daisy in a modern film adaptation of The Great Gatsby? She’s trained her whole life for the role. I see an Emmy in her future should this come to pass.

10. Vodka makes for good homemade vanilla extract. Rum and Bourbon make for an awesome vanilla extract. I encourage you to test this immediately.

11. Vegan food is not always disgusting. In fact, it can be downright mind blowing when done right. The trick is not to try and hide the fact that a dish is vegan as that's where things often go awry (read: tofurky and "cheesecake").

One must embrace the ingredients they are using and let them shine. Treat the ingredients with respect as you would any dish.

Take this chocolate avocado mousse. I call it a mousse because, well, it's for sure not a guacamole and it isn't a pudding. But it is a bunch of ingredients whipped together into a creamy, smooth, sinfully as stealing rich pudding consistency. So it can be called a mousse, I feel, and not a "mousse".

Avocado's mild, buttery flavor is overwhelmed by the chocolate, which is good here. The point of the avocado is mouthfeel. Dark chocolate is the focus flavor, supported by a bit of vanilla, cinnamon, and chipotle chili powder. Agave syrup - a natural sweetener - firmly declares the mixture to be a dessert. Unquestionably.

The mousse is richer than any you've had using cream. Thicker. Stronger. Intense. I encourage you to serve it with season fruit macerated in a bit of sugar (perhaps orange blossom water, as well) to cut through this mousse.

Try it. You'll learn something.



Chocolate Avocado Mousse
Serves 2-4

2 avocados, seeeded and chopped, peels discarded
1/3 cups cocoa powder
1/3 cup agave syrup
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
good pinch chipotle powder

Place all the ingredients in a mixer and puree for 3 minutes until smooth. Taste and adjust agave and spices as desired. 

31 comments:

  1. Nooo! No! No! I had something very very similar last year, and I still have nightmares about it.

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  2. Lesson 12: Always be willing to try a food again. This pudding is phenomenal, otherwise I wouldn't post it. I encourage you to try it again. =)

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    1. It is soo good!! I made it today, and I added just a pinch of salt :) My kids all loved it too!

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  3. I've been wanting to make an avocado dessert for a loooong time. A good one. I tried to make an avocado pie last year (similar to a key lime pie?) and it was horrible and runny.

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  4. I am going to make this tonight. One of my favorite treats is an avocado milkshake. I love avocadoes and will try anything new to incorporate them in to my diet in different ways.

    They have a Great Gatsby coming out this year. It's going to be in 3D and it's going to star Leonardo DiCaprio. I will go ahead and skip it. I do love Carey Mulligan but even she can't make me watch a 3D Great Gatsby.

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  5. jack makes me all soft and gooey on the inside. i'm sure the mousse is good, too.

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  6. Sporkgasm: Never tried the avocado milkshake, huh... WIll have to get on that. This doesn't really have an avocado flavor - but a chocolate one. I suggest you serve it with fruit.

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  7. That picture of Jack is swoon-worthy.

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  8. If you like avocados sweet you should try an avocado shake! They sell them at Vietnamese restaurants with the other "Tapioca style" smoothies. It's so rich and delicious.

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  9. I was fine until I came to the puppy picture and then I just melted into a big puddle of goo. Damn you.

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  10. I love recipes that involve just throwing things into a blender! This looks delicious, I've been seeing a couple of avocado chocolate pudding recipes floating around and have been curious. Definitely have to pick some avocados up at the store this week...

    Mud and dogs just seem to be magnetically attracted to each other. Congrats on finding your cat, too!

    Also, I finally used that vanilla bean to make a fabulous vanilla pound cake for Easter. Finance's response? "Reminds me of an MRE". *Facepalm*

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  11. Should this be chilled before serving? Could I make it the night before or is it best served immediately?

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  12. Deborah: The prep time for this can't be more than 5 minutes. I would make it right before you need it.

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  13. This post had me giggling whole-heartedly. I can empathise with no.1.. and the one about dogs being able to find the one scrap of dirt? Tick. Though even less fun when instead of dirt, it's the one pile of chicken poo you didn't clean up...
    I may have to make this. My boyfriend detests avocado (and alot of other amazing foods, strange man), so I may have to make this and not tell him what it is.. I wholeheartedly agree with no.12. Always be willing to try again!

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  14. Oh you must try avocado icecream or a smoothie or avocado cream ..basically any of the other Brazilian desserts made with avocado if you're going to make this! Brazilians consider the avocado a fruit..not something that's savoury.

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  15. I'd also recommend trying dark chocolate cupcakes with avocado icing, so good. I brought them into work, without disclosing the secret ingredient, and they were gobbled up. No one guessed what was in the frosting, even with the very prominent green hue of the frosting.

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  16. I love this recipe and plan on trying it myself when I get home from work tonight b/c I love avocado and chocolate together, but I will make one minor change... Agave Nectar Syrup. I've done tons of research on this product and it is clear that it is NOT a "natural" sweetener. In fact, it is about as natural as high fructose corn syrup, with more concentrated fructose than HFCS. Since fructose is a man made creation, it is far from natural.
    Now, if you believe all those, HFCS is the same as sugar commercials, I guess it is fine to use.

    I'm sorry, I so don't want to sound snotty, but so many people just don't know and I don't get how it is legal that companies can actually put all natural and raw and stuff on those bottles! :(

    That being said, I think I'll make this with honey from my uncle's farm... :)

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  17. I've made a similar recipe with silken tofu instead of avocado, and it's absolutely delicious. Not that I'd be averse to trying avocado, but they're stupidly expensive in my neck of the woods.

    Completely agree that the best vegetarian/vegan food is that which just happens to be so. Lots of Indian food falls into this category. Recipes with a bunch of ridiculous shoehorned ingredient substitutions or dishes trying to pass as something they're not typically don't work.

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  18. Garrett, could you give the weight for the avocados please? This fruit varies in size across the world. The one on my dining table is about 500grams heavy and two of those would mean that all the rest of the ingredients would not make a dent in "covering up" the flavour of a kilogram of avocado! Thank you.

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  19. Su Su: I'm sorry but I would just say two large avocados. Part of cooking is tasting as you go. If you do the recipe and find there isn't enough chocolate or sugar, add more! If you feel one avocado is enough then just use one. There's only a few ingredients so just play with it until you feel it's right.

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  20. FYI puppies ALSO love to wade into the most scummy, muddy, questionably toxic puddles they can find... unless that's just mine.

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  21. For the record, I think this serves two, unless we're talking four (or more) supermodels...

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  22. FYI--this serves around two people, or four (or more) supermodels. Tastes amazing! No one could guess the secret ingredient...

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  23. Truthfully the only time I ever do a dessert vegan (or really anything for that matter) are the unhappy times that I run out of stuff I desperately need, but I tired this and I wasn't disappointed. Chocolate-y, silky and light. I didn't tell anyone it was vegan and immediately everyone thought that I used up all the whole milk for their cereal and got mad at me ;)

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  24. I made this with raw honey because I'm not so sure about how "natural" agave syrup is (plus, I DETEST any and all forms of agave. Sorry Patron).

    It turned out a little grassy, but I'm pretty sure I should have let my avocados mature some more.

    Also: don't brain fart and try to make this in the large container of your Vitamix. It's impossible to get it all out of the blender and into your mouth.

    BUT, even with everything I mentioned above, this was SO GOOD. Mine turned out quite a bit darker than the recipe photo. It made me feel like I was eating brownie batter except I didn't have to duck behind the kitchen counters to keep from being seen by civilized people.

    EXCELLENT recipe.

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  25. grams: Yay! So glad you liked the recipe. =D

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  26. Adam: I say 4 people because I find the recipe to be so rich that I can only have a small amount. ;)

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  27. Filipinos love avocados! :) Well we like doing Avocado shakes, and they taste great when you mix it with mangoes too! :)

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  28. This is the perfect Paleo dessert! Thanks for posting!

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  29. Had half an avocado leftover after fajitas tonight, so I whipped up a cup of mousse with the other half. Yummy. Next time I'll have to try it with the spices.

    Good thing my hubby is turned off by anything avocado; there wasn't enough to share. :)

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  30. FINALLY got up the nerve to try this - delicious! Also darker than I expected it, and a bit lumpy in texture (my avocados were black but the flesh was still a bit firm) but my 2 year old loved it! Thank you!

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Hey, you're leaving a comment! That's pretty darn cool, so thanks. If you have any questions or have found an error on the site or with a recipe, please e-mail me and I will reply as soon as possible.
~Garrett