Creamy Avocado Spread

A combination of ripe avocado, creamy mayonnaise, sour vinegar, and tart mustard is what makes Creamy Avocado Spread so delicious! Whip it up, and keep it in your fridge for up to a week – if it lasts that long!

CREAMY AVOCADO SPREAD

In this house, we love mayonnaise. In fact, we only ever buy Hellmann’s mayonnaise, and if you were to look in our pantry at any given time, you would find at least two jars. Plus, there’s always an open jar in the fridge. Another thing you would find quite often is avocado. So, I combined the two and made Creamy Avocado Spread!

Just like tomatoes, lemons, limes, and garlic, you can find our avocadoes sitting in a wooden bowl on the window sill. We have a bay window in our kitchen that looks out into our backyard. Fruits and vegetables thrive there very well with lots of light, but no direct sunlight. Our cats tried to take ownership of that window sill, but our oversized, wooden fruit bowl won the battle.

Because I cook and bake so much for my blog, there are times when I find I’m left with an abundance of produce that needs to be used up before it spoils. It happens with avocado all the time. I buy a few and they seem to go from hard to rotten overnight. See the halved avocado in the photos? It was hard as a rock, but I put it in the picture as a prop anyway. The other four were perfectly smooth and made the most delicious Creamy Avocado Spread.

HOW TO TELL IF AN AVOCADO IS RIPE

I want to preface this section by asking you to do just one thing. After reading this, I do not want you to use this bit of information while shopping. Buy your avocados first and you can do this to them once you get home. To do so in a grocery store would be inconsiderate to say the least.

To determine whether an avocado is ripe, most of us will gently squeeze it. If it’s hard, it needs more time; if it’s soft, it’s good to go. But, I have to say, I’ve tried this before and the flesh of the avocado felt like it would be buttery smooth when I cut into it. However, it was already brown in some spots. Since then, I never use the squeeze test.

To really tell the ripeness of an avocado, locate the little stem where the avocado was once attached to the tree. It should come off quite easily. You will see a little circular divot where the stem once was. The colour will tell you all you need to know. If it is green or yellow, that means the avocado is ripe and ready to eat. A bit of brown means there is probably brown inside your avocado, therefore it is over ripe. Lastly, if the stem doesn’t come off easily, that means the avocado is under-ripe and not ready to eat.

HERE’S WHAT YOU WILL NEED

1. Avocados – Two average sized avocadoes will do just fine. Remove the skin and the pit. Toss them in the food processor.
2. Mayonnaise – Normally, I like to use a full fat mayonnaise, but for this recipe, I used half fat, because avocado is already fatty and super creamy.
3. Grainy Mustard – The amount of flavour this adds is incredible. Don’t be tempted to use regular yellow mustard, because it will really destroy the nice avocado green colour. Inglehoffer is my favourite brand.
4. Cider Vinegar – The acidity helps to regulate and and balance the saltiness of the mayo.
5. Black Pepper – No salt is needed, but you will need lots of black pepper to add warmth to the spread.

HOW TO MAKE CREAMY AVOCADO SPREAD

This is one of those simple recipes that taste like a million bucks, but takes little effort and time. The process couldn’t be easier. Add all of the ingredients to a food processor and puree until smooth and creamy. Taste the spread and add salt if needed.

Transfer to a food safe container and refrigerate for at least a week. I’m not sure if this will last longer, because we have never had it in our fridge for longer than six or seven days.

PUTTING CREAMY AVOCADO SPREAD TO GOOD USE

The most obvious thing to do with this spread is to smear it liberally onto a sandwich. And, believe me, I so that quite often! But, there are so many other things you can do with this now that you have a jar of it in your fridge. It’s also a great dip. Even with the other ingredients, the avocado is still the main flavour. Think of it as guacamole without onions or cilantro.

You can spoon some of the spread over cooked and drained pasta. Toss well and garnish with some freshly grated parmesan for a quick and easy dinner. Here’s a good idea! Instead of using just mayonnaise in your deviled eggs, use this spread. Yum!

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

•