Yesterday was filled with twelve hours of packing to move 2200 miles across the country (AGHHH!!), and therefore, I got a bit delayed in posting this weeks Baking With Beth recipe. If you missed the announcement on Instagram in early March, I’m moving to Atlanta! After eight and a half years living in Los Angeles, I decided the only proper way to end my time as a Golden State resident was to dedicate an entire month to baking to recipes that are California inspired.
To kick things off, we’re starting with the most California-y of desserts – a chocolate avocado mousse. Avocado is the state fruit, and is one of the most glorious things on earth, so naturally, I wanted the first of the Cali-dessert recipes to include avocado.
When researching avocado baking options, I found a recipe from celebrated Venice bakery, Gjusta, for their chocolate avocado mousse. I was intrigued! This is a slight modification from their recipe, as I’m moving, and attempting not to fill my cabinets with everything I’ll need to get rid of quickly, or go to waste, or lug across the country…
Their original recipe is vegan (unless you add whipped cream on top) but I had to substitute honey over agave, making it vegan-adjacent. The “is honey vegan” google debate rabbit hole was too much for me as it seems to be a fairly contested issue. If anyone out there wants to weigh in, I’d love to find out more!
A few folks had a less than “that sounds AMAZING” reaction when I told them I made chocolate avocado mousse. If I never told you it was ‘avocado’ chocolate mousse, you would just think it was delicious, creamy, chocolatey heaven. I look forward to trying this recipe again and using agave to taste the difference. I can still get fairly decent avocados in Atlanta… (insert prayer hands emoji!)
Two days ago, I tried the Gjusta version of the chocolate avocado mousse topped with cocoa nibs and it was equally as good. I enjoyed the cocoa nibs on top, but I wouldn’t have hated on adding a dollop of whipped cream on top.
Next avocado recipe to try…avocado ice cream! Anyone tried some?
Now that I’m about 90% packed up, I can finish out these last ten days in Los Angeles running around town trying out all kinds of new foods and eating all of my favorites (Bay Cities, In-N-Out, Fishing With Dynamite…).
Specialty Tools:
- Food Processor (I used my Cuisinart Mini Prep Plus that I got for Christmas, and it worked just fine on this small amount. If you were going to make anymore, a larger food processor, blender or Vitamix might work better)
- Ramekins – I used 3.5oz ramekins and got five. You could probably get six out of the recipe using 2-3oz ramekins, or filling them slightly less 😉
If you’re brand new, we have a new recipe that comes out every Thursday. January covered all things Southern cakes: week one/caramel cake, week two/Hummingbird Cake, week three/sour cream pound cake and week four / pineapple upside down cake.
February was all about cookies!! Week five / best chocolate chip cookies, week six / Italian macarons and week seven / chocolate covered alfajores and the final week of the month, week eight / DYI Samoas Girl Scout cookie.
March was everything pi(e)! Week nine/chocolate chip cookie pie with dulce de leche, week ten/birthday mint chocolate chip grasshopper pie, a bonus Pi Day pizza pie, week eleven/Guinness Cottage Pie, and week twelve/cherry hand pies.
If you’re a regular, thanks again for coming back for another #BakingWithBeth recipe! Be sure to follow along Instagram and Facebook and tag #BakingWithBeth so I can see what kind of recipe for adventures y’all have going on.
Have y’all ever baked with avocados? Or do you stick solely to guac when mashing up your avos? 😉
Cheers, y’all!
Chocolate Avocado Mousse
A modified version of the Gjusta chocolate avocado mousse recipe. Creamy and chocolaty goodness!
Ingredients
- 2 each large avocados
- 1 each vanilla bean, split lengthwise
- 75 grams cocoa powder
- 85 grams maple syrup
- 1 TBSP honey
- 40 grams fresh orange juice
- 1/2 tsp salt
- whipped cream, cocoa nibs, hazelnuts optional topping
Instructions
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In a food processor, or blender, combine 2 large ripe avocados and blend until creamy. Split vanilla bean and scrape out the seeds and add to avocados. Add cocoa powder and puree until combined.
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Add 3/4 cup of hot boiling water to the mixture until mixture becomes smooth and creamy. Add orange juice, honey, salt, and maple syrup and continue to puree until smooth and creamy.
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Put mixture in a piping bag and pipe into XX ramekin; alternatively you can spoon into ramekin. Chill in the refrigerator uncovered for at least two hours.
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Top with cocoa nibs, hazelnuts or whipped cream. Serve and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
You can use agave to make this recipe fully vegan. I didn't have any, so honey was my substitute.
