Creamy Avocado Yogurt Dip

This easy creamy avocado yogurt dip is both mellow and tart, with a hit of spice from the jalapeño and garlic. It’s perfect with veggies or chips!

The other night we were invited to a get-together of my oldest friends, by which I mean, to clarify, the group of friends I’ve been friends with the longest. We are all about the same age. Many of us have been friends since we were nine years old, others joined the gang later and some met even earlier in first grade. 

I wanted to contribute to the evening’s festivities so I made this dip and also baked a tropical Bundt cake. (Stay tuned for that recipe this Thursday.)

As we usually do, we told stories on each other and laughed so hard! It was one of the best nights we’ve enjoyed in a VERY long time. To my delight, this dip was a hit! I have to agree. It is GOOD. And so easy!

Creamy Avocado Yogurt Dip

This dip can be made earlier in the day you want to serve it but do cover the surface snugly with cling film so air can’t touch the top and refrigerate, if not serving immediately. I have no idea if that old wives' tale is true but I also saved the avocado pits and tucked them in there too.

Ingredients

1/2 cup or 122g Greek yogurt

2 fresh, just ripe avocados 

1 clove garlic

1 small fresh jalapeño

small bunch cilantro (see photo for guide, let's not get too hung up on size/weight here)

1 teaspoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

Juice from half a lime (about 1 1/2 tablespoons)

Method

Smash and mince the garlic. Remove the stem and finely chop the jalapeño. You can remove the seeds if you don’t like things too spicy. I leave mine in. Remove the tough stems and roughly chop your cilantro.

Into the vessel of your food processor, add the yogurt.  Cut the avocados in half and remove the pits. Use a spoon to scoop the avocados into the food processor.

Add in the garlic, jalapeño, cilantro, cumin, salt and lime juice.

Whiz until smooth.

Enjoy with crudités or chips. We NEEDED potato chips that night. Don't judge. It's NOT guacamole, but this would also be good with tortilla chips. I bought black pepper and salt chips and they were awesome. 

It's Sunday FunDay and our theme/ingredient of the day is yogurt. Check out all the recipe links below. Many thanks to our host, Sue of Palatable Pastime.

• Greek Yogurt Marinated Chicken Thighs by Amy’s Cooking Adventures
• Dahi Kachumber (with Yogurt) by Palatable Pastime
• 2 Ingredients Mango Yogurt Smoothie by Cook with Renu
• Gola Bhaat With Kadhi - Varhadi Thali by Sneha’s Recipe
• Lemon Yogurt Cake, Eggless by Mayuri’s Jikoni
• Creamy Avocado Yogurt Dip by Food Lust People Love
• Strawberries with Minted Yogurt by A Day in the Life on the Farm

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Crunchy Oven Baked Butterflied Shrimp

These crunchy oven baked butterflied shrimp are dipped in a flavorful batter before being coated with panko. Tender inside, crunchy outside! And so, so good!

A couple of years ago, I was looking for a recipe for oven baked chicken tenders and I came across one on Recipe Tin Eats that sounded wonderful. I made them that night and ever since, I’ve used a variation on the dipping batter for chicken tenders and various other things like my salt and vinegar chip crusted cod fingers and these butterflied shrimp. 

The first time I made the shrimp, the little tails stood straight up when I baked them so I said to my family that I really had to make these again for a blog post, they are so cute! Maybe I butterflied the shrimp a little deeper this time because, although they are just as crunchy and delicious, they aren’t as perky. 

But it’s taste that matters, right? 

Crunchy Oven Baked Butterflied Shrimp

These shrimp can be made a few hours ahead of serving up to the point where they are in the refrigerator. I like to serve them with either my easy homemade tartar sauce or when I’m feeling lazy, a mixture of 2/3 ketchup and 1/3 ABC Extra Hot Chili Sauce, which can be found in many Asian markets. 

Ingredients

1 lb or 450g peeled shrimp, tail on (about 22 extra large)

3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Ground cayenne pepper

For the batter: 

1 egg

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

2 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

For the breading:

1 1/2 cups or 120g panko-style bread crumbs

For baking: Olive oil cooking spray

Method

First clean and butterfly the tail-on shrimp. Pop them in a bowl. 

Dry them well then season with salt and pepper. Stir gently to make sure the whole bowl is seasoned. 

Add the batter ingredients to a large plate with sides and whisk till combined. 

Measure the panko into a mixing bowl. 

Coat the shrimp with the batter, allowing any excess to drip back on the plate. 

Dredge the coated shrimp in the panko.

Put them on a baking pan lined with silicone or foil, for easy clean up. Continue till all shrimp are coated and dredged. 

Preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C and put the shrimp pan in the refrigerator while it preheats. 

 When the oven is hot, spray the shrimp lightly with olive oil cooking spray.  

Bake the shrimp for 8-10 minutes in your preheated oven, or until the outsides are crispy golden and the little tails turn up a bit. Turn the pan around halfway through to make sure the shrimp brown evenly. 

If you’d like a little more crunch and color, you can turn the oven to broil for the last couple of minutes but do watch like a hawk so you don’t end up burning the shrimp, especially any upturned tails. 

Serve immediately with the dipping sauce of your choice.  

Enjoy!  

It’s the third Friday of the month so that means it’s time for my Fish Friday Foodie friends to share seafood recipes. I’m hosting and our theme is battered and crusted! Check out all the links below. 

• Air Fryer Crispy Coconut Shrimp from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Cremant Wine Battered Perch; Michigan and French Classics Collide from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Crispy Catfish Nuggets from Palatable Pastime 
• Crunchy Oven Baked Butterflied Shrimp from Food Lust People Love
• Keto Fried Fish in Whey Protein Powder from Sneha’s Recipe

Would you like to join Fish Friday Foodies? We post and share new seafood/fish recipes on the third Friday of the month. To join our group please email Wendy at wendyklik1517 (at) gmail.com. Visit our Facebook page and Pinterest page for more wonderful fish and seafood recipe ideas.

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Peanut Butter Babka Buns #BreadBakers

These peanut butter babka buns have a tender crumb filled with a delicious ribbon of peanut butter in a slightly sweet dough. 

If you’ve never made babka before, these buns are an easier entry point to learn. In real babka loaves, the baker must stretch the dough out super thin but with these rolls, you can just roll the balls out with a rolling pin. 

My son-in-law was the babka master and it was such a pleasure to watch him in action. He managed to stretch the dough so thin you could see the grain in the wooden table below it. Truly impressive.  Like everything Dai did in the kitchen, he did it to the highest level possible. I give you example one: 

I hope he’d be proud of my buns, even if they are a sacrilegious flavor. Traditional babka are chocolate, as above,  or cinnamon. 

Peanut Butter Babka Buns

Like any enriched dough, that is one with eggs and/or butter, this one is quite sticky initially. You can make it by hand with great effort but I highly recommend the use of a stand mixer. 

Ingredients - for 6 buns

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

3 tablespoons lukewarm milk

1 2/3 cups or 208g all-purpose flour

1/8 cup or 14g nonfat powdered milk 

1/4 cup or 25g sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 large egg

1 egg white (save yolk for egg wash before baking)

4 1/2 tablespoons or 63g room-temperature unsalted butter

Canola or other light oil for drizzling the dough bowl and greasing the muffin pan

For the peanut butter filling:

1/2 cup or 125g peanut butter, slightly warmed

1 1/2 tablespoon dark brown sugar

3/4 teaspoon vanilla

pinch salt

Egg Wash:

1 egg yolk, whisked with drizzle of water

Method

In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the yeast with the warm milk and set aside for  few minutes to activate the yeast. You should start seeing some foaming and bubbles which tell you the yeast is still alive. 

Add the flour, powdered milk, sugar, salt, the whole egg, egg white and butter.

With the dough hook, mix together all of the dough ingredients to form a mostly smooth, shiny dough. Don't worry; what starts out as a sticky mess becomes beautifully satiny as it kneads. Knead this dough on medium speed for about 5 minutes.

Drizzle a little canola around your dough and use a spatula to lift the dough and coat the bowl under it so the dough ball isn’t stuck to the bowl. 

Cover the bowl with cling film and let it rise for 1 1/2-2 hours, until doubled, or overnight in the refrigerator.

To make the peanut butter filling: Place all of the filling ingredients in a bowl and beat until thoroughly combined.

On a liberally floured surface, dump the dough out and form it into a rectangle.  Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces and roll them into balls. Cover with a damp cloth. 

With the first piece of dough, roll it out into a 4 1/2-inch wide by 12-inch wide long rectangle. 

Spread a few teaspoons of the filling evenly onto the rectangle, stopping before the edge. 

Roll the rectangle tightly, in a horizontal fashion, into a log. 

Transfer the log to a platter that can fit in your freezer and put it in there. Repeat with the other pieces of dough. Transfer the logs to the freezer as you make them. 

Brush the muffin pan with canola and set aside. 

Remove the first roll of dough you made from the freezer and trim off the edges on both sides of the roll. Using your clean kitchen scissors, cut the roll in half, lengthwise, almost all the way to the end, so the striations of the dough and filling are visible. Leave the very end connected on one side. 

With the cut sides facing up, place the left side of the log over the right and then repeat with the right over the left until you've braided or twisted the two together. Pinch the cut end closed. 

Shape the braided dough into a circle, making sure the "ends" go past the circle and overlap one another. 

Tuck the long ends under the up through the center hole.

 

Transfer to the greased cavities of your muffin pan. Repeat with the remaining logs.  

Cover with a clean kitchen towel and allow to rise 1 hour or until the rolls have risen out of the muffin pan. Preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C

Gently brush the tops of the buns with egg wash and transfer to the oven to bake for 15-17 minutes, until lightly golden brown.

Allow to cool in muffin pan for 5 minutes and then move to a cooling rack. 

Enjoy! 

It's time for my Bread Bakers group to share recipes for babka! Check out the links below. Many thanks to our host, Kelly from Passion Kneaded. 

• Baby Babkas from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Chocolate and Pistachio Babka from Passion Kneaded
• Chutney and Paneer Babka from Magical Ingredients
• Cinnamon Blueberry Babka from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Nutella Babka Buns from Sneha's Recipe
• Peanut Butter Babka Buns from Food Lust People Love
• Pecan Pie Babka from A Messy Kitchen
• Savoury Babka with Sun-dried Tomato, Feta, and Coriander Chutney from Cook with Renu

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

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