Here’s a green dessert with a filling made from avocado, cream cheese, agave syrup or honey, lime juice, whipped cream, and coconut extract. The yummy crust has oatmeal, cashews, and coconut in it. You could serve it on St. Patrick’s Day for a gathering of a few adults. It makes 8 moderate servings. It would be a good companion for coffee or tea.

You will want to invite enough guests to eat up the pie. Avocados’ lovely green coloring may begin to turn brownish after not that many hours, so you probably won’t want to keep the pie overnight. After doing some research online, I discovered that some say the only way to completely stop oxidation of avocado is to put a layer of water over it. That may work for guacamole, but it obviously wouldn’t work so well for pie. Even cellophane apparently only slows the process. Believe it or not, some oxygen can be absorbed through the cellophane. I later read that foil can be effective in slowing oxidation, too. There is lots of experimentation that could be done.

Using your avocados when they are at the right point of ripeness can be tricky. Be sure they aren’t overly ripe when you buy them. A ripe avocado should feel lightly soft when you press it gently. If it feels mushy, it’s already overly ripe. If it’s at the right amount of ripeness, put it in the fridge until you’re ready to use it, to stop the ripening process. Unfortunately, some of the avocados in the store are hard because of having been in cold storage, making it hard to discern which ones are ripe. On the other hand, the stores sometimes place stickers on the ripe ones to help you pick them out. Avocados that are still hard due to lack of ripening should be placed in a sunny spot in your kitchen. I sometimes put one on top of the coffeemaker that’s under my kitchen window. You can speed up the ripening process by placing the avocado in a paper bag, but don’t forget to check on it.

The crust on the pie in the photo above is a little darker than it should be. I was experimenting with baking times, but I decided the shorter baking time I had used before was better. I used unsweetened coconut in the crust. I was able to buy the coconut and the cashews in the bulk foods section of my grocery store. It saves on the cost if you only have to buy as much as you need to make the pie.

I used the coconut sugar option for the crust, which is a low glycemic index brown-colored sugar that tastes similar to brown sugar. I’ve heard that it, too, is available in the bulk foods area of some stores. I also used the agave syrup option rather than honey in the filling. Agave syrup has a lower glycemic level than sugar or honey. The coconut sugar, agave syrup, and unsweetened coconut would be helpful, if one of your guests happens to be diabetic or hypoglycemic.

Occasionally, when you buy citrus fruit, one piece turns out to be dry or spoiled in the middle. This happened to me when I bought the limes, so I ended up a little short on the juice needed. Fortunately, I had some lime extract on hand to bail me out. If you should need to use some, be careful. The extract is much stronger than the juice. Try adding 1/4 teaspoon at a time and then taste the filling again.

As you serve your coffee or tea and the pie, maybe you will be playing table games or watching a Celtic Woman concert or a pirate movie. Or maybe you will just be listening to some Celtic music while you catch up on all the latest with each other. Whatever you do, when you say grace, don’t forget to thank God for His grace to St. Patrick and for calling him and giving him the courage to spread the Gospel throughout Ireland. Those of us who have been saved by God’s grace, as St. Patrick was, should ask God to give us opportunities and courage to share the Good News in our own world.

Recipe