The All Powerful Pull of a Magazine Cover

On Saturday I went to woolies for a few things.  I'd grabbed the current issue of Taste as it is the inagural 'Reader Issue' and I was very interested to have a look, I've always wanted to be a reader recipe tester for Taste, I really should send in the email to tell them that shouldn't I?

As I was piling my groceries I caught sight of the winter Donna Hay magazine I spotted the pudding on the cover and darted 3 checkouts over to grab one.  I had to make it.  Soon.

When it comes to impulse purchasing magazines are a big weakness of mine.  It is the cover that will suck me in every.single.time.

It is the cover that will make me want to pick it up, in many instances the cover enough is enough for me to buy it.  In some cases, where the whole package seems a little on the flimsy side or the cover price is pretty high (like cloth paper scissors for example) I'll get a better idea of the content before I decide to buy.

Earlier this year I watched the series Park Street on Arena (It got totally killed in the reviews but I did enjoy the small insight into the world of magazine production) and they talked about how important the cover is and how involved the whole cover process is...the editorial team at Donna Hay kicked it this month as far as I'm concerned.

So tonight I enjoyed my Dark Chocolate and Caramel Pudding with a glass of Noble One (splashing out!) before Steven demolished the last of the bottle left over from Sunday night's dinner with friends.

It was just as good as it looked and even better than I thought it would be when I read the recipe.  I replaced the almond meal with pistachio because I'm all out of Almond (and, I mean, eveyone has pistachio meal lying around in the pantry as a replacement, duh!).  I thought that the entire tin of a caramel between 4 might be a little over the top, and it is, but in a good way...I do think you could split it into 6 slightly smaller serves without anyone feeling deprived though.

I found the recipe on Yahoo 7 so I'll happily repost it here so you can all enjoy it too!  Perfect comfort food for a Friday winter evening cuddling on the couch.  We had ours with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, it just finished it perfectly :)

Dark Chocolate and Caramel Pudding

A recipe by Donna Hay

Ingredients

• 1 x 380g can store-bought caramel filling*
• 1/3 cup (80ml) double (thick) cream
• 200g dark chocolate, chopped
• 60g butter
• 3 eggs
• ½ cup (90g) brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup (60g) almond meal (ground almonds)
• Cocoa, for dusting

Method

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 45 minutes

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Place the caramel in a bowl and whisk until smooth. Add the cream and mix well to combine. Place 1/3 cup (80ml) of the caramel mixture in the base of a 4 x 1 ½ cup-capacity (375ml) ovenproof dishes.

Place the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and stir until the chocolate is melted and smooth.

Place the eggs, sugar and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 8-10 minutes or until doubled in size. Fold the chocolate mixture and almond meal through the egg mixture and divide between the dishes.

Place on a baking tray and bake for 18-20 minutes or until risen and the centres are soft. Stand for 5 minutes. Dust with cocoa to serve.

Enjoy!

Happy Friday :)

Tatum xx