Avocado Bread

Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, along comes this gem. I debated calling this “Things I learned from Instagram”, since this delightful recipe was published to social media by B. Dylan Hollis (@bdylanhollis). He found it in a 1973 cookbook, and once you see how unusual and fun and easy it is, you’ll understand his eagerness to share it. And while I don’t usually hit anyone’s inbox with a single recipe (plus some included or attendant hints and tips), I just couldn’t hold back. So, here we go.
 

INGREDIENTS

2 ripe avocados (you want them soft enough to be able to mash them up really well)
3/4 cup sugar
3 whole eggs (room temperature)
2 cups flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder

DIRECTIONS

Preheat your oven to 350 deg., and prepare a 9x4x4 loaf pan with a non-stick spray (preferably one with flour – like Pam or Baker’s Joy).

Cut the avocados in half and remove the seed. Using a large spoon, scoop the flesh out of the peels and into a large mixing bowl. Mash the heck out of them until there are as few pieces as possible.

Add the sugar, and continue stirring/mashing. You’ll find that adding the sugar pulls moisture out of the flesh, and the mixture will become more and more liquid. (While this can all be done by hand, once I got to this point I switched to a hand mixer, on medium-low speed, to further break up the avocado).

Add the eggs to the bowl, and continue stirring until the eggs are fully incorporated. (Again, a hand mixer will help, unless you’re just dead set on getting some arm exercises in).

Then, add the flour and baking powder, mixing with a spatula (no mixer here) until fully incorporated, with no dry spots.The batter will seem a little stiff, but if you’ve got experience with ‘quick’ breads, you”ll feel right at home.

Scoop or pour the batter into the loaf pan, and smooth it with a small offset spatula.

Bake for 50-60 minutes, until a toothpick or bamboo skewer or cake tester comes out clean. You’ll notice from the picture that this loaf does not brown on top as much as some others, so I suggest starting to test at 50 minutes, then cook longer and re-test, if necessary.

Once baking is complete, allow the loaf to cool in the pan at least until you can handle it with your bare hands. Then turn it out and place it on a cooling rack until completely cool. You’re ready to go!!! The bread will keep for 2-3 days (if uneaten); I like to use plastic wrap as it keeps the moisture in. In fact, as soon as the loaf is cool, or maybe even still slightly warm, I like to wrap it at that point so that the moisture in the loaf can balance out; and, it keeps the crust from becoming too hard/stiff.

True confessions!!! The first time I made this I got ahead of myself and forgot to add the sugar. Without the sugar, the dough was noticeably stiffer. However, the up side to that is opening the door to using this bread in more savory applications, like with cream cheese, or eggs, or sun-dried tomato spread, or – well, you dream it.

Regardless, Channel your inner Dr. Seuss, forget eggs for the moment, and try green bread with however you want. Just be sure to enjoy!