Dark chocolate and dulce de leche puddings

By your comments and emails I think you’ve been enjoying the healthier recipes I’ve been posting here in the past few months, and that makes me really glad – I believe that eating better food has increasingly become important to many people, even to young people like my sister.

However, I’m sure I’m not alone here when I say that certain situations call for decadent sweets: a celebration, friends coming over for dinner, a broken heart – these are not the time to think of nutritional values, these are the times for butter, cream, chocolate, or all of them together.

You can go ahead and add dulce de leche to that mix, too – why not? :D

All those ingredients are combined in these puddings, and they are delicious, but very, very rich, so be warned; they also work well for entertaining because they can be assembled in advance and be placed in the refrigerator – when you want to serve them, pop them in the oven, they are ready in no time at all.

Dark chocolate and dulce de leche puddings
slightly adapted from the always amazing Donna Hay magazine

1 can (380g) dulce de leche
1/3 cup (80ml) heavy cream
200g dark chocolate, chopped
¼ cup (56g) unsalted butter
3 eggs
½ cup (88g) brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup (50g) almond meal
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F. Place the dulce de leche in a bowl and whisk until smooth. Add the cream and mix well to combine. Divide the mixture among eight 1 cup (240ml) capacity ovenproof cups or ramekins.

Place the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and stir until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Cool slightly. 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, almond meal and salt through the egg mixture. Divide between the cups, on top of the dulce de leche. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes or until risen and the centers are soft – do not overbake or the mixture might overflow.
Stand for 5 minutes, then serve.

Serves 8