Pie Club Week 3: Avocado

Week 3 was Avocado and Chocolate Avocado. I love avocados, so I was very interested to make pies out of them, however I also had a hard time imagining them in a sweet form. I made 3 pies so that I could get a range of flavors and become more familiar with this ingredient in a pie.  No one in the club, or my family, had heard of or eaten avocado pie. Thank goodness they were trusting because one of them turned out amazing!

Avocado is an interesting ingredient to use in desserts and pastries because of its creamy texture, silky mouth feel due to it high fat content and mild flavor which allows it to easily combine with other ingredients. Also, it does not require baking or a lot of manipulation. Avocados are basically ready to use, and all 3 varieties I produces were no bake pie.

I made two different chocolate avocado pies, and one was okay, but the other was perfection! The first one I tried had a chocolate cookie crust, creamed avocado sweetened with condensed milk and mini chocolate chips. It was pretty simple, and the color was nice. I was not fond of how the chocolate chips looked with bright green filling. It was not the most visually appealing pie.

I also did not love the flavors of this pie, or the texture. The filling was of course creamy, but since the pie is chilled, the chocolate chips were really hard and not pleasing to crunch into. I am also not a huge fan of sweetened condensed milk, so it was a little too sweet for me. There was also lemon juice in this filling, which helped to cut the sweetness a little, but this one was not our favorite.

Next, I made just an Avocado pie. This one had both lime and lemon juices and was also sweetened with sweetened condensed milk. This pie had a graham cracker crust and was also chilled. It ended up being very similar to a margarita pie. It was smooth, creamy and pleasantly citrus. I think it would be better in the summer months. This was my sister in law's favorite of the 3 avocado pies.



Finally, I made the second chocolate avocado which turned out amazing and very surprising! This pie ended up being gluten free and I didn't even plan it that way! The crust was very interesting, and I will use it again with other pies. It was a spiced crust and was made from nuts, dates, cocoa powder, cinnamon, a little honey and nutmeg. It is a very flavorful crust, but when combined with the chocolate avocado filling became more mild. I produced 6 of these pies, and only 1 person did not love the crust. When I make this in the future, I will may use smaller amounts of the spices, but overall I love it!
Now, for the filling, it was simply creamed avocado with a little lemon juice and a pinch of salt, blended with melted dark chocolate. It was so dense, and super satisfying, chocolaty delicious! If I had not told anyone, they would have never know that the filling was avocado. The fatty texture in from the avocados made the filling so rich and smooth, this pie reminds me of chocolate silk, but so much healthier! There is no flour, and the only added sugar is from 1 tablespoon of honey used in the crust. I finished this pie with little stars of freshly whipped cream, and was so pleasantly surprised with this pie!

I will defiantly produce this one over and over again! I learned so much from avocado pie week, and it was so fun and delicious!