Avocado Mousse Tartlets with Honeyed Walnuts

 

Avocado and mousse are probably two words you would never think to put together, but here we are.  As I was slurping down my avocado-strawberry smoothie the other day, I was finding myself still a little taken with the notion of avocados as a sweet treat and wanting to explore that further.  That's when the idea for the tartlets popped into my head.  So here you go, a K2 original, parental tested, parental approved.

Avocado Mousse Tartlets with Honeyed Walnuts 
makes 4 (4-1/2") tarts

1 Pillsbury pre-made pie crust rolled sheet
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
4 tsp. honey
1 avocado, peeled, pitted
4 tsp. fresh orange juice
1 tbsp. sugar
1 cup whipped cream
orange zest, for garnish

Roll out sheet of pie crust.  Place tartlet pans on sheet and cut out a circle 1/2" wider than the pan.  Should be able to get two from original roll, then two more by re-rolling the dough.

 

Press the crust into each tartlet pan and press off the excess around the edges.  Set aside.

In a small bowl, mix together the finely chopped walnuts and honey.  Will have a thick paste-like consistency.

Divide the mixture equally between the four tartlet pans and spread out along bottom.

Place the tartlet pans on a cookie sheet and bake at 450 degrees for 9-11 minutes or until lightly golden brown along the edges. 

Remove from oven and let cool to room temperature.  If the centers are poofy, poke with a fork to de-poof.  The crusts made from the re-roll will be a bit puffier since they are technically made of layers of crust.  Just poke them too.

In a food processor, cream together the avocado, orange juice, and sugar until smooth.  Or at least very, very smoothish.

Put avocado cream in a medium bowl and fold in the whipped cream (I used cool whip) until fully incorporated.

 

Spoon the mousse onto the crusts, dividing equally.  Garnish with orange zest and/or an additional dollop of plain whipped cream.

You can either serve up immediately or put in the fridge to cool until ready to serve, can't go wrong either way.

NOTES

A special shout out to Dad for some fabulous mousse brainstorming.  He helped toss around some ideas while Mom was whipping up a new taste sensation (to be featured in a future post) for dinner.  It good to have foodies for folks. :)

Post-Note about smoothies from the last post -- discovered that, unlike banana-based smoothies, if you have to store leftover avocado smoothie in the fridge, it does not separate overnight.  The avocado acts like an emulsifier and keeps the mix together even when refrigerated. So FYI on that.