Avocado Brownies

I make brownies regularly and have tried a lot of brownie recipes over the years.  This was my go-to recipe for the longest time until I tried Dorie Greenspan's recipe. I borrowed Baking: From My Home to Yours  from my library sometime last year and came across Dorie’s  Classic Brownies. I've made her brownies several times in the last few months, adding my tweaks and modifications, each time I bake a batch. 

I make brownies frequently, and recently I was making a particularly large batch to give away as gifts. I decided to double the original recipe and replace some of the butter with avocado puree and make a few other changes.

Ingredients:

(This makes enough batter for a 9x13-inch pan)

• 4 Tbsp butter
• 10 ounces semi-sweet chocolate (I used Baker's)
• 1 ½  tsp instant coffee granules (I used Nescafe)
• A pinch of salt
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 avocado, peeled & pureed
• 2/3  cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ - ¾   cup walnuts

Method:

Preheat the oven to 325 F. Line a 9x13-inch baking dish with foil and grease well.

Melt the chocolate and butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Add the coffee powder, salt and sugar and mix well. Add the eggs, avocado puree, flour, baking powder and baking soda, mixing after each addition. Stir in half of the chopped walnuts and combine to get a smooth batter. 

Dump the batter into the prepared pan and spread as evenly as possible. Sprinkle the remaining walnuts on top of the batter. Bake at 325 F for around 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Cool completely before slicing or else it will be difficult to get perfect straight-edged pieces. I refrigerated my baking dish with the brownies (after it had cooled down completely) for a couple of hours before cutting them into squares.  As delicious as these brownies are fresh out of the oven, they taste even better after a day or two.