Sweet Avocado-Chocolate Tart (No Bake!)
Avocados as dessert? Yes, yes, and yes. I am still reminiscing about my trip to Brazil, and there, avocados (which are fruits, mind you…) are often eaten as a dessert – sometimes sprinkled with lime juice and sugar and other times blended with cream or condensed milk to produce a thick pudding, amongst other ways. In the U.S., we have gone so far as to add them to milk shakes or protein shakes, why not take it a step further and embrace this creamy fruit as dessert-worthy…
I picked up this beautiful, long, rectangular tart mold recently and had been itching to use it. That said, if I’m being completely honest, I have to have the baking bug to go that extra mile and bake a tart from scratch. This is a no-bake tart! You merely have to press buttered, cookie crumbs into the mold and freeze for a few minutes to set. It doesn’t get easier.
Add to that the filling is a breeze – a few ingredients thrown into a food processor to do the work – and this may be the easiest tart you’ve ever made. It sets up in a few hours so could easily be thrown together before a dinner party. Avocado season has begun and will run through the summer, and this is the perfect icebox treat to keep around for summer entertaining. The avocado pairs with chocolate beautifully – sweet, creamy with the bitter, chocolaty crunch from the crust…Enjoy!
Ingredients
Yields 1 13 ¾” x 4 1/2 “ x 1” tart
Crust:
1 ½ sticks unsalted butter
2 ¼ cups chocolate cookie crumbs (from Oreos without the center filling or other chocolate wafer cookies
1 tsp kosher salt
Filling:
4 oz mascarpone cheese
½ can sweetened condensed milk
½ tsp vanilla extract
Squeeze of lime juice
2 ripe avocados, pitted
Garnish (optional):
fresh whipped cream
shaved bittersweet chocolate
Procedure
Melt butter in a medium saucepan. Add cookie crumbs and a ½ teaspoon of the salt and mix with a fork until fully incorporated. Press evenly into the tart pan going up the sides as well. Place in the freezer for 10 minutes.
To the bowl of a food processor, add the mascarpone, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla extract, the other ½ teaspoon of kosher salt, squeeze of lime juice and spoon in the avocado flesh. Process until thick, creamy and uniform consistency.
Spoon avocado mixture into the tart shell and smooth with a spatula. Refrigerate for a minimum of two hours, though this can definitely be made a day or two ahead. When unmolding, let the tart sit at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes first, so that it loosens easily.
Serve slightly chilled with a dollop of whipped cream and some shavings of chocolate.