Avocado, The Magical, Misunderstood Fruit
Avocado is a magical fruit, in more ways than you probably know. In this small round fruit is a host of vitamins and minerals, good fats, enzymes, fiber, protein, and carbohydrates. It could practically be a meal in itself and is a great first food for baby. It’s still one of my little one-year-old’s favorite foods! In fact, he likes it so much he’s dubbed all fruits and most food in general “‘cado”.
Unfortunately, avocado is also quit misunderstood. It’s somewhat of a controversial food in today’s diet culture due to the fat it contains. It really baffles me that people could think something you pick off a tree and eat raw could be bad for you. Then again there is a lot that doesn’t make sense in today’s food culture…
According to avocadocentral.com, one serving of avocado equals one fifth of the avocado. One fifth? How do you even cut an avocado into fifths??? I say if God placed it on this green earth for us to pick from a tree, eat as much as you darn well please!
I used to only buy avocado on rare occasions. They’re so expensive, I thought. But I’ve since realized that for the amount of nutrition you get in each piece of fruit, they’re worth every penny. Especially when you can get them for $0.89 at Aldi. They’re not organic, but the good news is avocado is part of the Clean Fifteen, so it’s okay to not get organic if you can’t for financial reasons. I now have a ripe avocado on hand almost every day. Between me and my little boy, they don’t go to waste!
Rethinking Avocado
Despite avocado’s relatively neutral flavor, for years it’s been relegated to the savory foods department. Avocado is typically used in guacamole and salads, or the occasional dip for variety. And with these kinds of limitations, it only makes it to the table once every few weeks. What a shame that this amazing nutrient dense fruit with so many health benefits is only eaten once a week at most, on Mexican night!
Now, I confess that initially I thought using avocado in sweet dishes was weird. As a kid a saw a recipe in an international cookbook for some kind of sweet avocado dessert from South America and I was like “gross”. But as an adult I’ve realized that some foods or food combinations I used to think were weird as a kid, are actually quite good if I just give them a chance!
So when I started seeing recipes for avocado desserts around the internet I thought, I have to try this. And when I saw the chocolate pudding and pie recipes, I was like, What better way to begin my foray into avocado desserts but with chocolate? Ah…chocolate.
Avocado Desserts = Smashing Success
It is really unbelievable how firm this pie gets due to the unusual flesh of the avocado. Even while still warm the chocolate filling is super thick.
The pie is delicious served with a generous dollop of whipped coconut cream. The coconut cream is supposed to be light and fluffy like whipped dairy cream, but mine in the photo was runny since I forgot to drain the watery coconut milk from the bottom of the can.
A few notes about the recipe:
- There are many great recipes for chocolate avocado pie floating around the internet. My recipe is adapted from this one here.
- Normally a 9-inch pie would serve 8, but this one is super rich, so it really can serve 10.
- When heating the chocolate sauce, try not to bring the mixture to a boil. Avocado is most nutritious uncooked so you don’t want to heat it too much when you add it to the sauce. The recipe will still turn out either way.
- Choose grade B maple syrup for the sweetener if you can, as it is less refined. Honey is not a good substitute as its unique flavor is too overpowering. Add the amount of sweetener you like. Use less if you prefer a more dark-chocolate taste, and more if you are used to sweeter desserts.
- If you can have dairy, it’s okay to substitute the coconut oil for butter, the coconut milk for dairy milk, and the coconut cream for heavy cream. I make this pie both ways as I don’t need to avoid dairy.
- Pie crust is typically made with shortening, which is a hydrogenated oil (nasty!). You do NOT want to use a refrigerated pie crust if you are trying to eat healthy! Please use my recipe here (pictured below), which is all natural with palm shortening or butter. Plus it’s easy :-). If you need to do gluten-free or grain-free pie crust Halle has a great one or you could use a nut crust (this recipe, or this one looked good to me.)
Dairy-Free Avocado Chocolate Cream Pie with Whipped Coconut Cream
Prep Time: 15 mins- Cook Time: 5 mins
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 10 pieces
Prep Time:
Yield:
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
Nutritional information is with this pie crust recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup coconut oil, preferably refined for no coconut taste
- 1 cup all-natural semi-sweet chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate bar
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 2/3 to 3/4 cups real maple syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ripe avocados
- 1 pre-baked 9-inch pie shell (use a healthy recipe like mine linked above, or nut crust for gluten-free)
- Whipped Coconut Cream (recipe below)
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, melt the coconut oil and chocolate chips over low heat, stirring until smooth. Stir in the coconut milk, maple syrup and salt, and heat until warm. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.
- Scoop out the avocado into a food processor (preferred) or blender. Pour the chocolate sauce over the top. Process on high for about a minute, or until smooth and no green flecks remain, scraping down the sides a couple of times. With a blender you need to turn the machine off to scrape down the sides every 5 seconds, as the mixture is very thick and you don’t want to overheat the motor.
- Pour the chocolate mixture into the pie shell and smooth the top off. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours to set before serving.
- Whipped Coconut Cream Recipe: You will need 1 cup full-fat coconut milk, refrigerated, 1 teaspoon real maple syrup and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract. Ideally the coconut milk you use will have been refrigerated while in the can so you can scoop off the heavier cream from the top of the can. Take this coconut cream, the maple syrup, and vanilla and whip in a mixer for about a minute until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides once or twice. Serve over Dairy-Free Avocado Chocolate Cream Pie.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 piece
What are some of your favorite ways to eat avocado’s?
About Melodie Kejr
Melodie Kejr from Sweet Basil 'n Spice currently lives in South Carolina with her husband Kevin and one-year-old boy. Faith, family, missions, photography, food preparation, and studying nutrition are her biggest passions. Melodie has a unique perspective on life due to her upbringing in West Africa and years as a missionary in Liberia. She grew up without the fast paced life of her peers and enjoyed raising animals, sewing, riding bikes, hiking in the rain forest, and trying to make American tasting foods with limited local ingredients. When she is not getting her one-year-old out of trouble, Melodie spends most of her time experimenting in the kitchen. She loves taking real food concepts to recreate meals that appeal to the average American tastes as well as coming up with the most frugal way to eat a traditional foods diet.
link isn’t working for me??
Link not working here or on your website.
I’ll get it fix, having some issues on my site. Thanks 🙂
I think it is fixed…do you mind trying it again? Thanks
Melodie, your photos of this pie are breathtaking! I can’t wait to make it!
Most of the stated healthier chocolate desserts all use some sort of sugar. Is maple syrup or honey better? At the end of the day it is still sugar. When we talk about getting healthier we need to address eliminating sugar of all kinds. Sugars that are lower on the glycemic index are better but still a sugar which is the main culprit in chronic illness. Stevia is the only sweetener that has no glycemic response.
Stevia has been found to cause cancer. Very bad for you, no bueno
Processed stevia yes, but stevia taken directly from the plant and ground up is perfectly safe to consume. You can learn how here: https://wholelifestylenutrition.com/videos/how-to-make-your-own-pure-stevia-liquid-stevia-part-2/
I think this would be really good in a graham crust!
Looks delish! 🙂
I love blending avocado with bananas and dark cacao, and serving it
with greek yoghurt[full fat! no skinnified versions for me] walnuts and
honey. Or I like to put it into my scrambled eggs. Or mix it with honey,
cacao and ricotta and use as a crepe filling. Yum. I’m addicted to it:D
Just ate my first slice of this AMAZING pie! I adore all desserts avocado and this one is FABULOUS! THANKS!!!
I have a healthy recipe or ghram crackers and i use that to make my crust….and i lined the crust with yummy peanutbutter =)
Delia Trenholm Sounds amazing! Would love your healthy graham cracker crust please!
2cup whole wheat (sprouted flour if possible) today i used my organic red fife wheat
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp real salt
4tbs coconut sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/8-1/4 cup coconut oil
2 tbs raw local honey
2tbs raw milk
1tsp vanilla
gently melt the wet ingridents together then ad to dry
for the pie crust i just pressed it into the pie plate and baked at 375 untill brown poking with a fork part way throgh.
if you want crackers….roll between two sheets of parchment paper to desired thickness (size of a baking sheet) transfer on paper to the baking sheet and use a pizza cutter to cut into pieces. bake at 375 for aprox 8 min ….you can dust with cinnamon and sugar or choice before baking
Yum! Thanks can’t wait to try this crust!
I
tried this recipe today and I was surprised how awesome it turned out. I didn’t
make it as a pie, just as chocolate pudding. Really yummy and so easy! I added
1/2 teaspoon of instant espresso powder to enhance the chocolate flavor. Next
time I want to try using the whole bag of semi-sweet chips (12 ounces) just
because I’m a chocolate-y chocolate pudding fiend. I plan to try the version
with butter and milk, too.
I made the avacado chocolate pie today, but used the coconut oil that’s taste like coconut (all I had) and let me tell you, it is fantastic, genius! I had some left over and let my young girls taste it and they LOVED it! They thought it was pudding! Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe :-).
Wayne Hunt, were you telling me about avocado chocolate pie???
I made just the filling as a chocolate pudding/mousse. Poured it into pretty wine glasses for serving. Yum! It’s very, very rich. People couldn’t believe it was made with avocado. The pudding is good warm or chilled.
looks yummies
I made this yesterday. I’m not a fan of avocado but for the sake of my sons allergies, I gave this a try. I could definitely taste the avocado when I tried the filling and it put me off but, that’s because of my aversion to it. My kids (my son most importantly) loved it. The finished product (I used a chocolate rice cereal crust because of allergies) had a great texture. It set so nicely. I ended up adding some dark chocolate chips I had and I used unrefined coconut oil. I also like the coconut taste. It helped with the avocado for me. I didn’t have maple syrup so I made a simple syrup with sugar and it worked fine. The other people who tried it like it. After a few bites, I got used to the taste and I really enjoyed the texture. I may not make it again but it worked for a dessert my son could enjoy for Thanksgiving. Thanks for the post!
@Amy Well Amy it sounds to me that you are a terrific mom for going to all these lengths for your son to enjoy some pie. I read this and it made me smile. Thank you so much for your feedback! 🙂
@Annemarie Bogar Yum!
@Nicole So glad you enjoyed this! 🙂
Annemarie B Sounds great!
emaliah82 So glad you enjoyed it!
Great recipe. Loved it.
For the record I think you meant to POUR the chocolate sauce as opposed to POOR.
Yep you are right, thanks so much for bringing that up, will make the change 🙂
Hi,
Love the recipe, just worrying about the wisdom of using refined coconut oil, which is really toxic…?
Halle, I have a problem with refined sugars and therefore do not use them (although I know sugar-free ones available).
Have you ever made this recipe using raw cacao or unsweetened cocoa powder? I understand that I may have to add more maple syrup/honey, but have a feeling it would mess up the consistency a bit, mainly because of the added sweetener (liquid) and removal of chocolate (less setting properties).
What are your thoughts?
“them” = chocolate chips
I am allergic to casein, one neice is celiac, and one neice just got diagnosed with food allergies and is now soy, wheat, corn, egg, nut, and pea (randomly) free. The newly diagnosed Lou asked very nicely if I could make her a chocolate pie for Thanksgiving dinner and I told her I would try. She LOVES avocado and is being a really good sport about experimenting with new foods, so we voted to try this one. We made a coconut meat crust (just 2 c shredded coconut + 1/2 c coconut oil, cook @ 300′ for 30 minutes) and made this filling. I made us a couple of mini taster pies so we could try it without destroying the big one for tomorrow. OH. MY. GOSH. Y’all, I haven’t had chocolate pudding in about 9 years, and I think I could sit down with the sauce pan and just lick all of it that I couldn’t get with my spoon! The avocado actually seemed to neutralize the coconut flavor a tad, so it is all creamy chocolate goodness. We have already voted NOT to share with the non-allergic tomorrow and we are prepared to defend this delicious pie from them! Thank you so much for the recipe – this one is going in my keeper book!
Oh wow, we are so happy you are enjoying this recipe! I love the idea for the crust, will have to try 🙂
And I used the Enjoy Life chocolate baking chips – ingredients: evaporated cane juice, natural chocolate liquor, non-dairy cocoa butter
This pie is incredible. I would marry it if I could marry pie.
i’m excited to try making this pie…i just have a question i hope you will be able to answer promptly. my son has multiple food allergies, including tree nuts (which according to our allergist, includes coconuts…i know some say otherwise). so would i be able to substitute the coconut milk with another non dairy milk (we currently use unsweetened flax milk)…or would the consistency be altered? thought i’d ask before i try it potentially waste ingredients! thanks so much in advance 🙂
I haven’t tested using other milks but I am pretty sure it would work just fine.
Just FYI: On #3 in your recipe: Poor the chocolate mixture……
Word should be ‘POUR’
whoops, yep…you sure are right on that one. Thanks for the heads up! 🙂
Is the coconut milk the kind that’s in a can or the kind that has a consistency like you’d use on cereal? That makes a big difference in texture! Thanks
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I’ve nade this several times and LOVE it. I am wondering if I am able to prepare it in advance and freeze it?
Hi Denise! I’ve never tried to freeze it, might be worth a try. Do let us know how it turns out if you do indeed try it.