Yesterday, I discovered one lone avocado sitting in the bottom of the fruit basket I keep on the kitchen counter. Two large Navel oranges and a Courtland apple wedged it against the side of the basket. I have no idea how long it had been sitting there hidden. I poked it, and the tip of my finger sank easily into the creamy flesh. Yup, it was ripe. Too ripe? There was only one way to find out. Split in half, it revealed that classic yellow-green colour. That gave me an idea.

Out of the pantry, I pulled an open box of bakers’ chocolate, honey, vanilla and salt, and I had the makings for a quick chocolate dessert that I’d wanted to whip up for a long time. The inspiration to turn these ingredients into an easy chocolate pudding that also happens to be dairy free (and dare I say, even healthy?) came from “nameofblog.com”, although I altered it to suit my own tastes and ingredients on hand.

The avocado is the unexpected star here. It gives the pudding its creaminess without adding any underlying flavour. That’s why my avocado worked out so well. It was so ripe that it had lost whatever bitterness and distinctive taste it may have had.

As for the chocolate, if you can get your hands on gourmet chocolate, you definitely should use if for this pudding. Don’t go skimping. Because there are so few ingredients, the flavours of each really need to be topnotch. I know, the idea of pairing chocolate and avocado just sounds too weird. I think that’s why it took me so long to try this recipe. The end result, though, was a quick and easy chocolate dessert that can please the pickiest eaters. It went over super well at my house, and that says it all.

Here’s my version. Let me know what you think of it.