These avocado brownie cookies (aka brookies) are fun to make and impossible to resist! What a crowd-pleasing, tastebud-tingling, all-occasion-fitting, 45-calorie miracle!

This recipe was born out of a desperate need to turn on the oven and make a pesky avocado disappear. Being out of toast, not in the mood for a savory ‘cado dish, and freezing my pants off while someone else hogs the shower, I ruffled through a borrowed cookbook and rifled through the pantry. Of course, I abandoned the original recipe after giving the ingredients a cursory glance.

Flavor Variations:

Mint Chocolate: Add 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract. Use a mint chocolate bar or dairy-free white chocolate chips for the mix-in. Cacao butter chunks work, too!

Mexican Hot Chocolate: Add 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon chili powder, and 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper. Top with your favorite chopped chili chocolate bar. I like Moser Roth or Chocolove!*

Chocolate-Covered Strawberry: Blitz 1 bag of freeze-dried strawberries in a food processor and add this pink dust to the dry ingredients. Top each unbaked cookie circle with chopped fresh strawberries. Drizzle with any kind of chocolate after baking. IDEAL for Valentine’s Day!!

Reverse Cowboy: Stir 1/4 cup of reduced-fat shredded coconut and walnuts into the dough. Before baking, press raisins and chocolate chips into each cookie mound.

*Obviously, this flavor combo and I have a hot history:

–Chipotle Chocolate Pecan Ice Cream Recipe

–Mexican Hot Cocoa Doughnuts Recipe

Oh, and serve with some healthy (or not) ice cream;)

Avocado Brownie Cookies

Makes 18 cookies (decent/medium-sized, using a 1-tablespoon cookie scoop)

WHAT YOU’RE GONNA NEED:

• 1 flax egg= 1 tbsp (7g) ground flaxseed + 3 tbs water
• 1/4 cup (50g) vegan yogurt
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 150g (or 1 medium) avocado, mashed
• 6 tbsp (64g) brown sugar substitute or coconut blossom sugar
• 1 tbsp (14g) nut butter of choice OR maple syrup
• 1/2 cup (60g) oat flour or whole wheat pastry flour*
• 2 tbsp (10g) cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 oz (28g) chocolate of choice

WHAT YOU’RE GONNA DO:

1. In a large-ish mixing bowl, stir together the flax and water. Set aside for 10 minutes.
2. Multi-task! Switch on the oven to 325F and prep your baking tray. Whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and optional spices. Mash your avocado in a separate shallow bowl.
3. Ladle yogurt into the bowl of wet ingredients. Dump in some vanilla. Now add the avocado.
4. SMUSH THAT AVO! Seriously, eradicate every lump. It will smell fragrant and look lime green.
5. Add dry to wet and stir well to combine. When you don’t see any parched streaks, scoop mounds of dough onto the cookie sheet. It has a very soft, almost devil’s food cake-batter-like texture.
6. Smooth the tops in a circular motion (like those hypnotic swirly logos) with the back of the cookie dropper or a spoon. Add the toppings you decided upon from my variations list above.
7. Bake for 20 minutes and cool for 30 minutes on the tray. Carefully slide off the pan with a spatula. Store in the fridge for up to 5 days or freeze indefinitely.

INFO DE NUTRITION per cookie: 45 calories (yes, really!) | 1.2g protein | 4g carbs | 3.5 healthy fats

*I imagine a 1:1 gluten-free flour would work here, too. There truly isn’t a scientific reason for it to fail (enter a shrug and a smile emoticon.)

Pile these pillowy desserts onto a plate and plow through the snow to deliver them to your sweetheart♥ Can you guess my favorite holiday? For which I am already planning and drooling over?

Best Dishes,

The Hippie Happy Foodist™