You’re not going to believe how simple this is to make and how eye-poppingly great it tastes… and the silky texture: OMG.  All you need is a food processor for this one.  Unless you like to slather it with real whipped cream, in which case you’ll also want an electric mixer of some kind.  I have been known to whip by hand, yes, but only when no motorized option is available!

Ingredients:

• 4 ripe avocados, peeled and pitted
• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted (baker’s chocolate or chips are fine– you can use a double boiler method if you want, but it’s ok to melt this stuff, covered, in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring until smooth)
• 6 Tbs cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup milk of any variety
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup maple syrup

Just combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until it’s as smooth as a chocolate silk dream.  (Add maple syrup to the mixture last, to your desired sweetness level, pulsing until completely incorporated.)

For the whipped cream:

• 1 quart “heavy” or “whipping” cream
• 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla

Start your mixer on low or medium (so that the cream doesn’t splatter all over creation) and gradually increase the speed as you gradually add sugar and vanilla.  Beat until soft peaks form.

Enjoy an extra spoonful because you just made mousse using only healthy fats, you saved those avocados on your counter from the overly-ripe compost heap, and you just made the best chocolate dessert you’ve ever had!  OMG way to go, YOU!

Figuring out what to name these muffins was challenging, and I fear that instead of rising to the challenge, I just went with the primary ingredient that a reader might be google searching for on a late July day: zucchini.  There are so many other great, appealing ingredients in these muffins, though, so I hope you will give it a full read.  This recipe only uses one cup of refined sugar, and if you cut the recipe in half, that’s half a cup.  Beyond the low sugar content these are full of oats, bananas, yogurt and nuts… and, of course, zucchini.  They are dense and heavy like a bowl of oatmeal, and they will carry you well past lunchtime if you have one for breakfast.  And, top it off, they are delicious.  They really are.  Try me.