No serving of Bill Cosby with this pudding!
The thought of chocolate pudding hearkens me back to two memories: Bill Cosby & Jello Pudding. Frankly, both are revolting! In addition to his horrible sexual assault exploits I already disliked Cosby for making the name “Fat Albert” so popular during my childhood due to the titular cartoon he created. (It would be a mild understatement to say that being obese with the name Albert was not fun.) He also was the spokesperson for Jello Pudding Pops and those commercials were as ubiquitous in the 1980s as bad perms & neon fat shoelaces.
Regular jello pudding I ate quite often. Laced with food dyes, aspartame, and artificial garbage it was a mainstay of my youth. I remember mixing in the skim milk with it and waiting impatiently for the coagulated goo to form so I could consume it as rapaciously as a hungry lion. At the time I didn’t think about how god-awful the ingredients were! Here comes my Vegan Dark Chocolate Avocado Pudding to the rescue!
{Check out our article on 5 Reasons You May Want to Avoid Dairy.}
Why a Vegan Dark Chocolate Avocado Pudding? First of all, it is dairy-free so we can avoid the inflammatory and hypoallergenic effects of dairy. And honestly you don’t need dairy to make your pudding tasty. So let’s replace the milk with an ingredient even more nutrient-dense and “superfood-ish” than dairy: avocado. A great ancillary benefit of avocado is that not only will it make your pudding frothy and creamy, but it will give you an incredible dose of fiber of “healthy” fats that milk is lacking.
Ingredients
- 3 TBSP Organic Honey
- 1 Cup of Medjool Dates
- 3 regular-sized avocados
- 1 tsp finely-grated orange zest
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 5 TBSP unsweetened cocoa powder
- For Garnishing
- Coconut flakes
- 90% Dark Chocolate
- Blueberries
- Mint
- Pumpkins Seeds
Instructions
Cover the dates with hot water and soak for 1 hour. Drain well, and keep approx. 2 TBSP of soaking liquid.
Mix the drained dates, soaking liquid, and honey in a food processor. Process fully for about 1 minute.
Add the avocados, cinnamon, orange zest, vanilla, and salt. Process for 1-2 minutes, or until mixture is frothy and creamy. Make sure to scrape sides often to get the mix creamy.
Add the cocoa powder and process for 1-2 minutes. Stop often to scrape sides.
Garnish with blueberries, pieces of 90% dark chocolate, mint, and coconut flakes.
Notes
You may garnish with other berries.
The key in this Vegan Dark Chocolate Avocado Pudding is to blend up the ingredients well enough until it is creamy and frothy. Also, blending in the chocolate, cinnamon, and vanilla to the point where it is sweet enough for your liking. (Incidentally, I tried using blended-up 90% dark chocolate instead of cocoa powder but the consistency was off.)
Topping it with dark chocolate shavings or pieces, in addition to a sprinkle of cinnamon and some coconut shavings and mint leaves (optional), will bring the needed sweetness if you don’t find it sweet enough. Plus it will make it look amazing!
{Check out our article on Dark Chocolate & Other Superfoods.}
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A. Gregory Luna
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