Avocado all day and night

We eat avocados for breakfast, brunch, lunch, snack, app, dinner and … dessert?

Well, that last one isn’t so common.

Recipe ideas for all eating occasions swirled in my head as I talked with Xavier Equihua, CEO of the Peruvian Avocado Commission, as Peru’s exports to the U.S. ramp up for summer.

That very day, I had scooped and smeared half an avocado on some toasted whole grain panini bread for my breakfast, sprinkling some salt on top to draw out the mild flavor of that creamy topping.

And then I made avocado brownies. Hey, it was for research.

Equihua reminded me how versatile and flexible avocados can be.

Think about it: Whether cooking at home or dining out, avocados accompany eggs and toast in the morning. The fruit fits inside chicken or vegetable wraps, in sandwiches and on salads at lunch and before dinners. It’s guacamole dip for tortilla chips while watching the game or attending gatherings. Avocados are nestled in tacos, sliced on burgers and rolled into sushi.

And it’s a great fresh, healthy and decadent ingredient for those of us who love to experiment in the kitchen with substitutions that can satisfy our sweet cravings.

These days, I’m not following any particular low-carb diet or avoiding animal products, but I love to see what’s possible with fresh produce.

These kinds of tricks are useful when you have a couple of ripe avocados to use up before they overripen and brown.

My cooking motivation is often fueled by what needs to be consumed before it goes bad.

(However, Equihua said you can freeze avocado. Reports on the success of this practice vary wildly, and I have yet to confirm for myself how well this works in all its forms: whole, cut, mashed. I’m willing to try).

As for avocado brownies, I chose a recipe from The Kitchn because it had two words in the title: “easiest” and “fudgiest.”

The fact that the recipe is vegan neither attracted nor repelled me. I loved that it requires only six ingredients that I already had in my kitchen. And fudgy — not cakey — is the texture of my ultimate brownie.

The result: It had the moist, dense, rich mouthfeel of all my brownie fantasies. However, the flavor lacked sweetness and requires some tweaking. I might need to add more brown sugar in there.

It’s worth trying again. After all, avocados are such a “good” fat, as a funny meme on social media once told me.

One whole hass avocado has almost 21 grams of fat, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, but only 3 grams of saturated fat.

This plump fruit, classified as a berry, has almost 10 grams, or 40% of your daily recommended fiber, 25% of your daily recommended intake of vitamin C, 20% of recommended vitamin B-6 and only 0.4 grams of sugar in the entire thing.

Nutrition and food trends aside, why do I eat avocados?

They taste good. I love how rich and creamy they are. It feels decadent.

And if you’re a dessert person like I am, you will love avocado chocolate mousse.

I might just revisit that idea too, using a recipe from Food52 or the Love & Lemons cookbook.

Or! —

Equihua and Colette Dike’s Avocados in Bloom cookbook shares a very simple mousse recipe, plus recipes for tiramisu and chocolate nut bars.

And this avocado ice cream recipe by Well Plated just might inspire me to dig out and dust off my ice cream maker.

It’s summer soon, after all.

Amy Sowder is The Packer's Northeast editor.