Sometimes, I do this slightly stupid thing.
And by “sometimes”, I mean “three times in the past two months”.
And by “this slightly stupid thing”, I mean “I buy three avocados via a three-for-four-dollars deal, they all ripen at once, and then I find myself standing in the kitchen remembering that I don’t actually like avocados all that much”.
However, moments of stupidity such as this are never a total bust, as I can always rely on my tried-and-true motto for super-happy wonderment-fun-times-ahead:
When in doubt, make dessert.
Now, my friends, I shall perform for you.
For my first take-a-silly-avocado-and-make-it-delicious magic trick, I whirled together a chocolate avocado mousse for the first time in my life.
I ain’t got no photos of that creation, though, because I made the mousse at night-time (the lightbulbs in my apartment are all dull-awful-yellow, which is shockingshockers for food photography) and polished it off within an hour.
However, the mousse was crazy, crazy, crazy good, and I’ll make sure to repeat it for you soon. (Think this icing, but more of it, and having permission to eat it straight-up without a qualm.)
My second take-a-silly-avocado-and-make-it-delicious magic trick involves a big shout-out to Heather, whose blend of the down-to-earth and the inspirational ensures she’s someone I can’t wait to meet in person… one day. With nooch wedding confetti, but that’s a story for another day, right, Heather?
It was Heather, you see, who blogged these carob avocado blobs as per this recipe by Casey Lorraine, which I then adapted slightly in accordance with my own not-as-obsessed-with-coconut-as-other-people tastes.
Instead of “blobs”, a term which makes me think of villains in children cartoons and mucus (ugh), I call these tasty creations Avocado Carob Haystacks.
They are magnificent. The avocado lends a buttery, nutty, creamy quality that is offset by the sweet roasted malty flavour of the carob and the textural crunch and nutty deliciousness of the grains and coconut.
Nom nom nom.
Three-for-four-dollars avocados? I may just have to set up a play-date with them again.
P.S. I just realised I could enter these in Ricki’s Wellness Weekend. Woot!
High-Raw Vegan Avocado Carob Haystacks
- 1 avocado
- 1/4 cup carob powder (or cocoa, if you don’t like carob)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- sweetener to taste, such as stevia or agave (for a more neutral flavour), or perhaps maple syrup or honey
- 1/3 cup desiccated coconut
- 1/3 cup + a-few-more-tablespoons-because-my-hand-slipped-while-measuring 5-grain mix (or just rolled oats)
- In a food processor, process the avocao, carob or cacao, vanilla extract, and sweetener until well combined. The food processor I was using is rather unimpressive, and couldn’t get this mixture anywhere near smooth. My mixture had very discernable tiny blobs (ugh, that word again) of bright green avocado, but honestly it doesn’t matter at all. Just get the mixture blended as well as you can!
- Take the metal blade out of the food processor and stir in the coconut and grains.
- Spoon the haystacks onto a lined baking tray, and pop into the freezer for one hour (or for days, until you eat ‘em all). Personally, I preferred to leave these out of the freezer for a little while before eating them, but I know some like them best straight from the freezer. Do what works for you!
- Nom nom nom.
this looks FANTASTIC!!!! i love that it is high raw, vegan, and just plain healthy and delicious. avocado with carob is fantastic!
I just love that it’s delicious
Glad you enjoyed adapting my recipe!
These look wonderful
I tried your avocado lemon ones too – amazing!
Awesome!!! As you seem to love these, would you perhaps be interested in my doing a guest recipe blog on avocado based sweet treats/desserts? I’d love to share some of my ideas with your readers
Have a great day! So glad I found your blog…I am a travel nut too
That’s an interesting idea, Casey! I’ve never done any guest-posting here, perhaps you could email me?
Hannah you hit the jackpot with this recipe for reals!! This looks soo tasty~ I remember making o.g. haystacks in foods class in 7th grade
I would love to meet Heather someday too!
Aw, thank you Ellie! I probably shouldn’t take credit though
Ah, at least you’re in the same country as Heather!
Okay, I love love this recipe! Just gorgeous:-) I am a big fan of avocado, and love mixing with a delicious candy treat:-) Take care, Terra
Thank you so much for popping by, Terra! Can you teach me how to like avocado more?
You don’t love avocado? Say Whaaaaat?
Avocado is amazing, and so delicious in any meal:-) My favorite way to enjoy it is as guacomole, something about that delicious treat:-) Hugs, Terra
Guacamole I could do. When the avocado is mushed up and blended with other more-flavourful ingredients, then hurrah! But straight-up? Blah!
Wow, I would never have thought of using avocado in dessert, but then again if I got three avocados for $4 I would just eat them with a spoon or on toast as I love them. Can’t wait for the mousse recipe, that just sounds crazy but awesome.
Oh, I wish I could enjoy eating avocados straight! I think I did once, as a kid, for about a week – I’d pour half a bottle of vinegar on each avocado and eat that
As soon as I’ve bought my avocados and got them to ripen, I’ll do my best to get the mousse up for you!
This is an ingredient combination I would never have thought of…and thus I am most impressed. It may almost convert me to avocado eating (I’m not usually a big fan)!
Oh thank heavens, Kari! I was starting to feel like the only person in the world not enamoured with avocado
I can’t wait to make this. Very impressive! With it’s creaminess and texture avocado makes a perfect base for a dessert. Not that it’s ever made it to dessert for me. It’s too busy being entree and main course:)
Teehee, so you’re another avocado-lover? One day I’ll get there…. maybe. Right now, I’m happy masking it with copious sugar and cocoa
Yumyumyum.
COME BACK AND I’LL GIVE YOU SOME.
This looks heavenly!!!! Can’t wait to try them out!!!!!!!
Oh, please let me know what you think if you do try them!
haystacks sound so much nicer than blobs but I love coconut in these sort of snacks – bought some coconut rough on my holiday and loved it
Ah, yes, these do remind me of coconut roughs, but those have always been too coconutty for me! Thus my mellowing this recipe with oats
Yummo! Love avocado in anything but never thought to use it this way… Thanks for sharing, and can’t wait for the mousse recipe
Oh golly, I’ve really started something with that mousse comment! Will have to get my act together
Oh, what a great idea for bite-sized frozen snacks! Yummy.
And we all know that frozen snacks are perfect for winter, particularly when you live in Canberra with -8C nights
You can always try those frozen avocado halves…
No. No, I cannot.
Harrumph.
Nothing involving chocolate and avocado is silly. Those are two of my favorite foods.
Oh, hurrah then! I dedicate this post to you
These look awesome… but I’m still stuck on the fact that you don’t really like avocado! *insert look of shock and awe* LOL!
Give it time, Laura, and you’ll start to come to terms with it.
Actually, you should be proud of me – I used to hate both avocado and coconut, and now I’ve willingly made something involving both!
Haystacks are such a nostalgic dessert, I love that you’ve “healthyfied” them!
Hey, Alayna, could you tell me what haystacks are to you? I honestly can’t remember what they are, just vaguely that they’re something like this…
From what I recall they’re fried chow mein noodles, sometimes with peanuts; coated in chocolate, sometimes with peanut butter. And I think the same dessert with shredded coconut instead of noodles was called a bird’s nest. So retro.
Ohh, I remember those chow mein snacks! My grandma made them with nothing but a package of chow mein and a melted block of almond bark. So bad/so good…
I remember making those, but they were called “spiders”
(although… shudder.) Your grandma made them with almond bark, though? Go her with the gourmet pantry! 
Oh goodness, anything but gourmet! More like “cheap Midwestern country cookin’.” By “almond bark” I don’t mean the fancy prepared candy, I mean this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almond_bark $1.99 per 1.5 lb block, woohoo!
Doesn’t “Midwestern country cookin’” mean “must come covered in lumpy grey gravy”?
Regardless, I still love and respect your grandma, because she helped create you. SWISH.
All too often, I’m afraid that yes, it does!
Teehee, I’m really surprised at my brain going to “haystacks” for these then! I remember making the chow mein kind in cooking class at high school, but we called them “spiders”. I honestly think I called these haystacks simply because of their appearance, not realising that Americans have a very similar sweet in their cultural history!
LOL OK I did the exact same thing-I bought the avocadoes. One is sitting in my fridge drawer. I’m scared of it.
Hahahaha! Oh, Lorraine, we really are too alike
I say ignore it for a few more night and stick with the cereal + nut butter or crumpets + jam (which you’ve now got me hooked on too 
)
The last time I bought too many we made an avocado milkshake thing that we had in Morocco. It was….interesting. Not convinced it’s something I need to repeat. This is just the solution I need….
Oh, I’ve seen recipes for avocado smoothies and milkshakes before! I think the trick is lots of sweetened condensed milk or another such sweetener
They look like extra-chocolatey coconut macaroons- Yum!
Thank you Hannah! They are a bit like that, though less coconutty because of the oats addition, which works in my book
Plus, no eggplant! 
I love the sound of these! I recently discovered “haystacks” but haven’t had unbaked ones yet. This is a great combination of ingredients that I bet works perfectly! And since I’ve also often found myself in the “too many avocados ripe all at once” camp, I’ll tuck this away for next time that happens.
Thanks for submitting the recipe to WW this week!
You’re welcome, Ricki! I’m loving going through the submissions each week, but alas! I don’t always make things healthy enough to qualify
I’m still pretty sure I don’t like carob, but these look tasty. As far as avocado goes, I would recommend trying Angela at Oh She Glow’s avocado pasta because it’s heavenly.
Definitely try this with cocoa then – you might just want to increase the sweetener
Ah, I remember bookmarking that recipe of Angela’s. Will try to make it soon!
Very fancy idea to use avocado for these!
(I’m currently determined to get into the I-like-avocado mode.)
Definitely try these then! I still can’t do avocado straight…
I love using avocado in baked goods (or in this case, not-baked
) I don’t really care for avocados either, but they’re a pretty good price here in the summer, so I always feel obligated to get them!
Do you have any other avocado baked goods you could particularly recommend to me?
Avocado and chocolate… oh my! Sounds rich, healthy and Yummmy. : )
Lol re: blobs. love the word. haa!
Shhh, don’t tell anyone, but I secretly kinda like the word too. Just not in the context of mushy avocado, because then I think of similar gooby things
Yes, yes, nooch wedding stories for another day…but it WILL happen, and I must agree, haystacks is much classier than blobs. I like it, and I’ve totally been there with ‘all recently purchased avocados ripening at once’. Not sure what I did before I discovered that magicalness that is avocado + cocoa powder.
Love you sweet Hannah.
Oh, Heather, thank you
I’m doing a little bit of beaming right now!
Oooh… do you think we could come up with some sort of avocado + cocoa + nooch creation?!
I’m sure we could, although I’m thinking it’s probably been done already. However, we will make it extra special.
Yes, I thought someone probably had (and I even wondered whether you had)! Also, anything you make is extra special, simply by virtue of you making it
I am so endlessly impressed with your rapport with…the whole internet, seemingly! Is there anyone in the blogosphere that DOESN’T consider you a great friend?
You have a big, long U.S. trip to plan, missy!
Aw!!! Amber, thank you my dear! I am so overwhelmingly honoured by the friends I have; though to be honest, I’m constantly bewildered by the positive responses I get. It’s all rather strange, considering how I felt about myself or so many years.
Fingers. Itching. Towards. Round-the-World. Trip. So. Badly….
Wow, chocolate avocado blobs… actually sounds kinda delicious
I don’t cook or bake with avocado much, mainly because I’m in the love-avocado camp and don’t mind if I happen have 3 ripen all at once. Means more for my breakfast 
Having just eaten four of these in a row, I can safely say I’m coming around to avocados. Though still not enough to eat them straight for breakfast! All yours in that scenario, m’dear!
…don’t like avocados that much?!? Gasp! Also, what is high-raw? Enlighten this ignorant pastry chef.
More for you this way, right? Also, I do like avocados in dessert. So that’s something? Oh, and “high raw” in this case means almost a completely raw dessert, but I don’t know if my carob was roasted or not, and the same with the grains – they may have been steamed/rolled rather than being certified raw
Considering the rice krispie slice I just posted, I think you can see why I’m not too fussed about the particulars here though! 
Pingback: Guest Post: Casey Convinces Me That Avocados Can Be Stellar - Wayfaring Chocolate
Hi Hannah
This is my first time on your blog and I think I struck lucky – avocados and carob/chocolate – yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
If you want to force your avos to ripen quickly or get one to ripen ahead of the others if bulk buying, stick an avo plus a banana in a zip lock freezer bag, squish the air out and leave the 2 together in the bag until soft. The gas that the ripening banana gives off speeds up the ripening of the avo. I do this all the time when the only avos I can find in the supermarkets are bullet hard..
Thanks for the recipe. I have a fridge with 3 very soft avos in it so know what I will be making today..
Hi Kate,
Thank you so much for your wonderful comment! I truly hope you like these, let me know if you make them? Also, thanks for the ripening tip, but to be honest I can’t afford to ripen my avocados like that! Bananas still cost $3.50 each here. Sadface.
Hi Hannah
So sorry to hear that bananas are so expensive in your neck of the woods. A fellow frustrated shopper at the supermarket also told me that apples can work well when ripening avos. Will let you know when I have made and demolished the recipe.
Kate
Alas, bananas have been that pricey for almost a year now, and as a result I’ve almost forgotten what they taste like. I’ve actually put avocados in a bag with pears before and I think that works too
So, tonight I wanted to make something yummy that did not require a trip to the shop. I had an avocado I wanted to use up and remembered seeing on your blog. I have to say it is the weirdest thing I have ever tasted! Having said that, it still has my brain ticking over trying to find a box in my brain to put the taste and texture in and it still has me smiling and even laughing – because it is so alien to me. Therefore, it is weird, new and fun, not feelings that food often makes me feel
My favourite use of avocado is instead of like butter on toast or bread and then with a smear of vegemite – it’s delicious. Avocado is great on sangers and toast instead of butter or other spread.
*laughs* I definitely know what you mean by weird! These are most certainly NOT what I would recommend to someone as their first experiment with raw vegan treats. The other date-nut balls, or the raw brownies, are far more conventionally delicious
But I’m so glad you got a laugh out of these! I love that you approached the experience with such a positive frame of mind.
But alas, I still can’t do avocado plain on toast. Perhaps if I mashed it up with vegemite and goats cheese and then spread it on toast…