Brownies... MADE WITH AVOCADO!

Helping Josie out on a work project this weekend, Grant Thornton Bake Off.

Having been set the task of doing one of the following:

- Lockdown Special (limited ingredients): a recipe excluding one or all of the following: flour, sugar or eggs

- Weird and Wonderful: Incorporate something obscure that you wouldn't usually use in baking

- The Showstopper: No restrictions. Let your creative side out.

So we decided to go with... *DRUM ROLL PLEASE*

AVOCADO BROWNIES (if I knew how to make the text bigger for effect, I would have).

Excuse me while I just wipe the drool off my laptop for a second.

FYI - 1 cup = 128 grams < VERY IMPORTANT INFO RIGHT HERE

Things you will need:

- 1 extra person to help you with mixing (preferably one with good arm muscles)

- 2 cups all-purpose flour

- 2 cups caster sugar

- 3/4 cup cocoa powder

- 1 tsp (teaspoon NOT tablespoon) baking powder... Boy would that cake hurt your stomach!

- 1 tsp salt

- 1 cup mashed avocado

- 1/2 cup soy milk (vanilla or plain)

- 1/3 cup water

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

Okay now onto the fun stuff.

Step ONE: WASH YOUR HANDS (you know the drill!) And turn on the oven, heating it to 180 degrees C (or 350 degrees F if you aren't metrically inclined)

Step TWO: Measure out the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder and salt into a bowl and mix until it looks like this. Satisfyingly brown.

Step THREE: Mash the avocado in a bowl as smooth as you can.. then add the soy milk and water until it forms this weird green, horrible-looking liquid (I can only assume this is what it's supposed to be like because the brownies do actually taste delicious)

Step FOUR: Add said green liquid to the brown flour/cocoa powder, etc mix... (No, that isn't a worm. It's avocado).

Step FIVE: Mix the ingredients together until it forms a tough paste. If you really need to add more liquid, add a TEENY TINY amount of soy milk, but don't go overboard. While one of you is doing this (and I recommend you take turns because the mixture is tough) the other one should cut out some baking paper and line the tray.

Step SIX: Mix until it looks like a huge pile of turd (yes, you heard what I said). The more it looks like this, the better it'll taste. Trust me.

Step SEVEN: Spread out the mixtures, making sure it's as even as possible. The mixture is quite tough but quite easily malleable.

Step EIGHT: Set the timer for 20 minutes and shove the bad boy in there. Read a book, write a blog post, sing some songs. And then once that beeper goes off, take it out, and check it. Some mixtures may need longer, but you can check with the normal knife test. If it comes out clean, it's done!

Step EIGHT (a): Leave it in the baking paper to cool for the moment. If you try to move it while still hot, it'll break.

Mmmmmm... Looks good right? And nothing like a turd anymore!

Step NINE: Once sufficiently cooled, peel away from the paper and cut into chunks. Once cooled all the way, you can decorate if you like (Josie did, and they look really cute).

Step TEN: Eat them!

Watch this space for more attempted recipes!