So I was making my menu plan and shopping list for next week (I shop on Monday mornings) and noticed that I had 3 very ripe avocados in the fridge that needed to be used very soon or thrown away. I don't like to throw away food (unless it is obviously gone bad) so I looked for some recipes that I might make using them.
We have also been getting a couple of apples every week in our CSA farm share so I needed to use some of them soon too. Here is what I came up with:
First, I made Avocado Fudge. It may sound weird, but since avocados basically take on the flavors that you pair them with, these are super rich chocolaty, fudgie fudge!
*Note: I can't eat dairy, so the substitutions that I made are in brackets
Avocado Fudge:
1 Avocado-peeled and pitted
1/2 cup unsalted butter-melted [1/2 cup Earth Balance sticks]
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup chocolate chips-melted [1/2 cup Enjoy Life dairy free chocolate chips]
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
3 cups confectioners sugar
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
Directions:
Blend avocado and melted butter together in a blender until completely smooth; pour into a saucepan and place over low heat.
Stir cocoa powder, melted chocolate chips,and vanilla extract into the avocado mixture until smooth. Add 3 cups confectioners' sugar in small amounts, stirring each addition completely into the avocado mixture before introducing the next; cook and stir until thick and smooth, 5 to 10 minutes.
Grease a baking dish. Pour the fudge batter into the baking dish and smooth with a spatula into an even layer. Sprinkle chopped walnuts atop the fudge.
Refrigerate fudge until firmly set, at least 1 hour. Cut into squares.
I found a recipe for Fresh Apple Cake and another recipe for Avocado Icing and thought that they would go together well. This cake takes a really long time to bake, so I was able to also make up batch of Apple Fritters as well as the icing while it baked.
Here are those 3 recipes:
Fresh Apple Cake
1 1/2 Cups Vegetable oil
2 cups white sugar
3 eggs, beaten
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
2 1/2 cups apples-cored and diced
1 cup chopped walnuts
Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F Grease one 10 inch tube pan.
Beat together the oil, eggs, vanilla and sugar.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add to egg mixture; stir in apples, and nuts
Pour into prepared pan and bake at 325 degrees F for 1 1/2 hrs or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool and frost with Avocado Icing (recipe below)
Avocado Icing
2 Avocados, peeled and pitted
1 Tbs fresh lime juice (lemon or orange juice can be used as a substitute)
3 cups confectioners sugar
1 Tbs vanilla extract
Directions:
Combine the avocado and lime juice in a bowl; mix with a hand mixer about 2 minutes. Add the sugar in small amounts while continually mixing until smooth. Mix in the vanilla extract.
Apple Fritters
1 Tbs Butter [Earth Balance]
2 large apples, cored and diced
1 Tbs white sugar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1 large egg
1/4 cup white sugar
1 Tbs melted butter [Earth Balance]
1/2 cup apple cider or apple juice (you can use sparkling cider for lighter batter)
2 cups vegetable oil for frying
1/2 cup powdered sugar
Directions:
Melt butter over medium-high heat and cook until it turns golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Add apples and cook over medium-high heat until apples just begin to soften around the edges, 3 to 4 minutes. Sprinkle in 1 tablespoon sugar and continue cooking another 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Drain in a strainer; let cool to room temperature.
Whisk flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg together in a mixing bowl until well combined.
.Whisk egg, 1/4 cup sugar, and melted butter together in a separate mixing bowl. Add cooled apple pieces and sparkling apple cider; add the flour mixture. Stir just until flour is incorporated.
Heat oil in a deep-fryer or large saucepan to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spoon about 2 tablespoons batter per fritter, into hot oil, slightly flattening them out. Cook in batches. Fry on one side until small bubbles appear on the surface, about 2 minutes. Carefully flip fritters over and fry the other side until richly browned, about 2 more minutes.
Transfer with a slotted spoon to a paper-towel-lined plate to drain grease. Cool slightly.
Place slightly cooled fritters into a paper bag. Dump in powdered sugar. Shake the bag to coat the fritters with powdered sugar.
