hubby says yuck; i say yum

This weekend, we were invited to a last-minute cookout. (Actually, I think James just told me about it two hours before it started.) But seeing as how this cookout was to be attended by gym-goers, I wanted to make a paleoish dessert to bring. We had two ripe avocados at home, so the wheels started churning and I thought chocolate and avocado sounded pretty good together. I asked James what he thought of the pairing, and he said it sounded horrible :) Because of his response, I was determined to prove him wrong and took on the challenge of making chocolate avocado cupcakes.

Everyone has a different palate, but I'd say they turned out quite tasty. At the cookout, some of the attendees tasted one mini cupcake, while others devoured five. When we got home that night, I told James that I thought they were pretty well received. He told me people were just being nice :) I told him, you don't eat five cupcakes if you're just being nice. So I say all this to tell you that people probably have mixed feelings about these cupcakes. Some like them, and others couldn't get over the unique pairing of flavors. Personally, I thought they were delicious--and I'm a pretty picky eater.

Chocolate Avocado Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1 avocado
• 3/4 cup coconut milk
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup cocoa
• 1/2 cup palm sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2/3 coconut flour

Icing:

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1 avocado
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup

1. First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and set out your cream cheese to soften.

2. Blend coconut milk, avocado and olive oil.

3. Beat in eggs, one at a time.

4. Then, beat in cocoa, palm sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

5. Lastly, blend in coconut flour.

6. Spoon batter into mini muffin cups. This recipe made 30 mini cupcakes.

7. Bake at 350 degrees for 14 minutes.

8. While cupcakes are baking, blend avocado, cream cheese and maple syrup. This made double the icing I needed, so you could cut everything in half.

My icing was a little lumpy. Next time I'll let my cream cheese soften even longer.

9. Once cupcakes have cooled, ice and enjoy!

This recipe is part of Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Real Food Wednesday, Gluten-Free Wednesdays and Fight Back Friday.