When I want a brownie, I want thick, rich, fudgy, dense, and decadent.
I don’t want healthy. Unless it’s accidentally healthy, and I’d never know it from the taste.
And that’s exactly what these are. They don’t taste healthy, and they don’t taste like avocado.
You truly cannot tell there’s avocado in them and you cannot taste it.
And in person, they don’t come off as blue as they’re translating on the screen. They’re just incredibly dark.
I think avocado is quite flavor-neutral and takes on the flavors of what it’s seasoned or mixed with.
In the brownies, it serves to add moisture, density, and richness, without imparting flavor.
They’re healthier than most brownies because they’re nearly butter-free. I replaced all but 1/4 cup butter with avocado.
Two tablespoons of butter has 200 calories, 23 grams of total fat, with 15 grams of saturated fat.
Compared to 2 tablespoons of avocado which has 50 calories, 4.5 grams of total fat, and only .5 gram of saturated fat.
Talk about a fat and calorie savings, which translates into having 2 or 3 of these brownies compared to 1 traditional.
If you’re a stats person, I entered the significant ingredients here using the closest comparable ingredients the site lists as options.
The brownies are gluten-free. I replaced all but 1/4 cup flour with dark cocoa powder, which is full of iron and fiber and ounce for ounce, has less than half the calories of flour. You can use regular unsweetened natural cocoa powder, but I like using the Hershey’s Special Dark for the ultra-dark color and taste.
For the small amount of flour, to keep them gluten-free use your favorite gluten-free blend, or regular all-purpose if gluten isn’t a concern.
There’s a splash of coffee and some espresso granules included; both are optional and don’t make the brownies taste like coffee, but enhance the chocolate intensity.
Making brownies healthier so that I can have seconds – and thirds – is only a good idea if the taste is amazing. I’d rather have nothing than have something that tastes like health food masquerading as a dessert.
And these deliver. If you want to be a sneaky chef and trick people, or trick yourself, you definitely can with this recipe. Just make sure to mash the avocado very, very well so no stray little green blobs give you away.
The batter comes together in one bowl with a whisk, no mixer needed. They’re as easy as boxed brownies, but taste so much more amazing.
They’ll likely be some of the fudgiest, gooeyest, moistest brownies you’ve ever had. No cakeiness whatsoever. All fudge.
Even transferring the batter from the mixing bowl to the baking pan, is a dense, fudgy, spatula-clinging experience.
They’re sweet enough, but not too sweet. They’re the type of brownie you’ll need to wash down with a glass of milk. Or with a Creamy Boozy Iced Coffee or some Homemade Baileys Irish Cream.
I served them to my family without saying a word about the ingredients to see if they noticed anything usual. Nope.
When I say you cannot taste the avocado and it only serves to make the brownies moister, denser, and fudgier, I mean it.
It makes me wonder why I haven’t always been making brownies this way.
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Healthy Dark Fudgy Avocado Brownies
Ingredients
- flesh from 1 average-sized ripe to very ripe Hass avocado, very well mashed
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, half of one stick, melted
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 2 tablespoons coffee or water, coffee leftover from the morning brew is fine
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¾ cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder or unsweetened natural cocoa powder or (I used Hershey’s Special Dark
- 1 teaspoon instant espresso granules, make sure it’s instant so it dissolves, optional but recommended
- ¼ cup gluten-free flour or all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 8-by-8-inch baking pan with aluminum foil leaving overhang, spray with cooking spray; set aside.
- In a large bowl, add the avocado and mash very well with a fork. Really break it up and the riper the avocado is, the easier it’ll be to smooth it out.
- Add the melted butter, egg, sugars, coffee, vanilla, and whisk to combine. Continue to whisk out any green streaks or lumps.
- Add the cocoa powder, instant espresso, and whisk until incorporated and free from lumps; it could take a few minutes if your cocoa powder is lumpy.
- Add the flour and stir until it’s just incorporated; don’t overmix.
- Turn batter out into prepared pan, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula. Bake for about 35 minutes, or until top has just set, isn’t jiggly in the center, and the edges have firmed up and are set. A toothpick inserted in the center will not come out clean and there will be very moist and fudgy crumbs clinging to it, but no wet batter. They’re meant to be gooey and fudgy; don’t overbake. Allow brownies to cool completely in pan on top of wire rack.
- After brownies have cooled for at least 1 hour, lift out with foil overhang and slice. Brownie crumbs will cling heavily to your knife; wipe it with a paper towel in between slices. However, I prefer the brownies chilled and refrigerate them for at least 2 hours, or overnight, before slicing. Brownies will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week, or up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator, or for up to 6 months in the freezer. I highly recommend storing them in the refrigerator because having a slight chill to brownies this rich and fudgy is almost imperative, and it will make slicing easier.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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What’s your favorite way to use avocado? Favorite brownie recipe?
I also have lots of avocado recipes, including savory options, linked in this post.
There is seriously nothing better than a DENSE fudgy brownie. I want to eat 10 of these right now!
They are so you :)
love the color of these!
Wow! These brownies look so fudgey and decadent but they are kind of healthy. I will have to give them a try with carob since you raved about them so much.
Oh boy :)
OH MY GOD. So I saw these and immediately made them (they’re coming to the blog in a couple weeks). THEY ARE SO FUDGEY IT’S INSANE. You are a genius. Although the only thing is that I can taste the avocado, but that doesn’t bother me. They’re so fudgey and delicious, I can’t wait to photograph them!
I totally agree that they are ridic fudgy. Off the charts. The photos I took in no way, shape, or form do this recipe justice. I am glad you made them and discovered what I was talking about :) Thank you for trying the recipe and so glad you’re so EXCITED and loving them! And that’s funny you could taste the avo. I used a super ripe Hass avo and no one in my family or a friend could taste the avo, at all. I have heard that Florida avos have more ‘taste’ as well as some of the other types (there’s like 200-300 diff kinds I’ve read). Anyway, so glad you love them!
YEEEEEES. You are a genius. These look amazing! I’m a sucker for avocado… and brownies for that matter!
Love the avocado here-yum!
Oh man! I just took my first bite…. these things are AMAZING! Fudgy beyond belief… perfectly as you described them! And I didn’t even have to add in the flour!
Yes!!
I love that you tried these already AND that you didn’t even need any flour AND that they’re amazing and exactly as I described. Thanks for LMK everything was a success!
Ok, so I’m still a little traumatized from when I attempted avocado brownies (which yielded yummy, off tasting results) buuut….I feel like I can trust you when you say you can’t tell there is avocado. Plus they look SOOOOO gooooood!
100% not off-tasting at all with these, I promise. Have already had a couple people get back to me saying they made them and they’re in love. So I promise, you’re safe with these :)
This looks amazing, especially the unusual colour.
Avocados in brownies?! How have I never done this before? I love the healthier spin on this too. My skinny jeans have been WAY too tight, although it’s been too hot to wear those anyway. Either way, I need to start slimming down soon!
Life of a food blogger – we are always around so much food, all the time, nonstop! So sometimes the lighter recipes are nice :)
And your comment reply to me re balsamic reduction – here https://www.averiecooks.com/2012/03/tempeh-and-cucumbers-on-a-stick-with-brown-sugar-balsamic-reduction-dip.html
Basically put some balsamic in a pot, add brown sugar, let it boil for 5 mins or so, turn off the heat and pour into a container. DONE. So easy. People make such a big deal of it but it’s so simple.
These are so fudgy they look black! I absolutely love to bake with avocado and it is great how the flavor does indeed take on the other flavors in the recipe. I have made chocolate pudding before for my kids and they did not have a clue that there was avocado in them. I can’t wait to try these. Avocados are such healthy fats and my boys are not crazy about them alone so slipping them into recipes is a great way for them to get it into their bodies!
As a mom, you can relate to wanting to give our kids healthy fats and sometimes slipping things in here, and there, how ever we can…is okay :) And they will LOVE these. I promise!
Nice! If you use avocados from Florida, you can probably save more fat in the recipe. They don’t taste as great (at all), but they get the job done.
Yum these are top of my list for this weekend! Do you think you could substitute the sugar for agave?
I wouldn’t use agave here because it’s a liquid and you need the solid-state sugar or these would become a soupy mess. If you don’t want to use real sugar, you could probably use a stevia baking blend or something that has the bulk/mass of real sugar. But honestly, I would probably just use real sugar because I loved them as is!
Thanks so much for the advice, I will just suck it up and use sugar!
Enjoy them & LMK what you think!
OMG…I just bought three avocados today and now I know what I’ll be reserving one of them for as soon as it becomes soft enough. ;) I was wondering if you think I could double the recipe and bake them in a 9 x 13 pan because, you know, one can never have enough decadence in their life. :) I might need to reserve 2 of those avocados now. LOL
I definitely think you could double the recipe and bake in a 9×13. I also have a sneaky chef avo recipe for 1 avo coming on Wednesday next week. So stock up :)
Thanks. Oooooohhhhhh….I can’t wait!!! Stocking up on avocados is not a problem in this household. ;) Keep these awesome recipes coming!!
I have another one coming on Wednesday – SO GOOD!!!!!
I have seen some avocado in brownies, but never have tried it. You have given the consent and I will definitely try it out. Looks really ooey goeey and yummy.
I bet you’ll love them!