Avocados have officially won me over

I used to wrinkle my nose to avocados.  Their high fat content and silky texture just didn't mix with me well.  A fruit with fat just didn't seem right.

But this past week, I started to crave them.  Perhaps it was the influx of avocado recipes I saw celebrating Cinco de Mayo -- avocados are popular in Puebla, Mexico, where the famous battle on the fifth of May happened.  So I bought myself a bag, and started to put them in everything.  Now, they make me ridiculously happy.

First I tried Jennifer and Jaclyn's Key Lime Pie Pudding, which used an avocado as its base.  It was delicious, so silky smooth and full of flavor.  Then I tried Averie's Cheater's Guacamole.  Instead of using Mrs. Dash, I used a combination of cumin, paprika, and a bit of cayenne pepper.  I dipped home made corn tortilla chips into it, and couldn't get enough of the spicy flavors mixing and being cooled by the avocado.  I don't mind being called a "cheater" if I can eat something that tastes that good!
 
Plus, the health benefits of avocados are pretty impressive.  Although they're high in fat and calories, about 66% of the fat is mono-unsaturated.  In a study done in Mexico, participants who ate one avocado a day lowered their "bad" cholesterol and increased their "good" cholesterol (source).  They have anti-inflammatory compounds, and preliminary studies are being done which suggest that avocados help protect against certain types of cancer (source). 

So I decided to Lauren-ize the avocado.  Meaning -- I put it in cookies.
That's right.  I made gluten-free vegan banana chocolate chip cookies.  Being the sneaky squirrel girl that I am, I put an avocado in the recipe.  I gave my husband a cookie to try, and he couldn't figure out that the avocado was in there -- but he was perplexed.  "Woah, did you put butter in these?" he asked.  "Nope.  Keep guessing."  I replied, quite happy with myself.  "Um...eggs?" "No eggs.  These are vegan."  When I told him my secret ingredient, he was blown away.  These cookies were gone in a day!

Chocolate Banana Almond Avocado Cookies

•  2 bananas, mashed with 2 tablespoons of water
• 1 avocado, ripened
• 1 cup rice flour
• 1/4 cup millet flour
• 1/4 cup dark chocolate bar, chopped
• 1/4 cup raw almonds, chopped
• 1 tablespoon ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon stevia powder (or 16 drops stevia extract)
• 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk, if necessary

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.  Prepare a baking sheet with oil, butter, or cooking spray.  In a large mixing bowl, mash the bananas with the water, using a fork.   Add in the avocado, mashing it as well with a fork. You can make the bananas and avocado as chunky or as smooth as you desire.  I had some avocado bits left in some of the cookies, and it tasted great.  Stir in your dry ingredients.  Depending on the size of your bananas and avocado, the batter might be a little dry -- this is where the almond milk comes in.  Spoon onto your baking sheet -- I used about half of an ice cream scoop.  Bake for 18 minutes, or until firm in the of the cookie.  Proportioned in this way, this recipe yields about 15 cookies. 

Side note:  Today for lunch we used up the last ripe avocado by slicing it, and putting it on top of hummus in buckwheat crepes.  Delicious!

How do you like to eat avocados?