The good news about chocolate

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The Easter bunny might be long gone, but it could be that you still have some chocolate eggs hanging around waiting to be eaten. Or not!

If you have and you are feeling guilty about finishing it off, we are here to tell you not to.

We have it from the powers that be, that chocolate is good for you.

Now, we aren’t talking about cramming down a family bag of mini eggs followed by a KitKat chaser, but as with most things, eating it in moderation doesn’t hurt.

It would seem that good quality, dark chocolate with a cocoa percentage of around 70% or more, can be good for the heart, circulation and brain, and could be beneficial for managing conditions such as obesity and diabetes.

Dark chocolate is full of health boosting minerals including potassium, zinc and selenium, and a 100g bar of the really good stuff provides 67 per cent of the RDA of iron – great for anyone looking to boost their iron intake!

Blood sugar levels are tricky to control but eating a square or two of dark chocolate can help maintain healthy levels of insulin sensitivity and turn this helps to lower blood-glucose levels. Win, win.

Research published in the British Medical Journal has suggested that eating a little dark chocolate could help lower the risk of developing heart disease by one-third, and that’s got to be worth considering?

Eating an entire chocolate cake with a side of Mars Bar isn’t going to help your waistline but, a little can help control your weight. The scientist, Dr. Will Clower, believes a small square of good chocolate melted on the tongue 20 minutes before eating a main meal triggers the hormones in the brain that says you are full. so you eat less. Think about it and finishing a meal with the treat and trigger could reduce subsequent snacking.

Apparently one mug of cocoa (using pure cocoa powder) has double the antioxidants of green tea and we think it tastes way better too. It is also worth noting that two mugs of cocoa may help keep the brain healthy and prevent memory decline, thanks to better blood flow. That’s according to scientists at Harvard Medical School, so it must be true.

Dark chocolate is jam-packed with the helpful flavonols that help to protect your skin against sun damage. You still need to layer on the sun cream but good to know that evening snack is helping your beauty routine.

Forget happy pills, if you want to feel good a little chocolate will boost your levels of dopamine, a natural painkiller, and serotonin, which produces feelings of pleasure. Eat up and feel the love.

We believe researchers in Finland found that chocolate reduced stress in expectant mothers, and that the babies of those mothers smiled more often than the offspring of non-chocolate-eating parents. Watch out for those new baby photos on Facebook to see who is snacking on chocolate.

The bad news! Yes, you know you couldn’t have it all. Sorry. However much goodness is packed onto a bar of chocolate, it is still pretty high in calories, fat and sugar – so make sure you eat in moderation if you want the good to outweigh the bad.

Team Pure Beauty

Easter treats

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apart, £2 coin, bank holiday, blunt knife, bottles, bunny, buns, butter, butter and jam, caster sugar, catch up, chill, cling film, corners, cream, cross, crosses, cup of tea, cuppa, designs, digestives, dough, dried fruit, Easter, eating, egg, enjoy, flour, fluffy, fold, food colouring, full fat milk, fun, goodies ], hide, hone, honey, hop, ingredients, jam, mini eggs, mixed spice, oval, oven, packet, pipe, plastic food bag, pre-heat, rack, roll, rub, shapes, shopping basket, space, sprinkles, tablespoons, thickness, trim, vanilla extract, warm, yeats

With Easter just around the corner and the long bank holiday ahead of us, you just know people will be popping by for a cuppa and catch up.

Rather than being caught on the hop (see what we did there) and having to dig out a packet of dodgy digestives, what not make some Easter goodies at home and you will be ready for anything?

Easter isn’t Easter without hot cross buns and they taste better than ever if you make your own.

To make eight tasty treats, add the following ingredients to your shopping basket:

• 500g strong white
bread flour
• 1⁄2 teaspoon of salt
• 2 heaped teaspoons of mixed spice
• 50g caster sugar
• 50g salted butter
• 200ml full fat milk
• 200g mixed dried fruit
• 2 medium free range eggs
• 7g sachet easy-blend dried yeast
• Honey

To make the buns, first pre-heat your oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas.

Sift the flour into a bowl and stir in the mixed spice, salt and sugar then rub in the butter with your fingertips. Add the dried fruit, then sprinkle over the yeast and stir in. Gently warm the milk then beat with the eggs and pour in the dried ingredients. Using a blunt knife, mix the ingredients to a moist dough, then leave to settled for 20 minutes.

Cut the dough into eight equal pieces and shaped these into buns. Space apart on a baking sheet, cover loosely with cling film and leave in a warm place until for around 45 minutes until they are half the size again. Mix a little flour with two tablespoons of water to make a paste, pour into a plastic food bag and make a tiny hole in one of the corners. Pipe crosses on top of each bun, put them in the oven and cook for 15 minutes until risen and golden. Trim the excess cross mixture from the buns, then brush with the honey and enjoy warm with butter and jam.

A plate of beautiful biscuits will impress your guests. This recipe is super easy to make and you can be as creative as you like with the decorations. For one batch, you will need:

• 125g butter, softened
• 125g caster sugar, plus 1 tbsp. extra
• One free range egg, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 250g plain flour
• Icing sugar
• Bottles of food colouring
• Sprinkles and mini eggs

To get things started, pre-heat the oven to gas 5, 190°C, fan 170°C and line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper.

Cream together the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy then add the egg and vanilla extract. Gradually fold in the flour then create a ball of dough and wrapped this in cling film and chill in the fridge for an hour.

Take the dough out and roll out to the thickness of a £2 coin, then cut the dough into oval shapes; if you can find bunny or oval cutters, these are perfect.

Chill for another 30 minutes before baking for 15 minutes and then leave to cool on a rack.

Make up the icing according to pack instructions and add food colouring to make your designs really stand out. Ice, add sprinkles and mini eggs then leave to dry before eating with a cup of tea!

Now all that is left to do is hide those eggs and let the Easter fun begin.

Team Pure Beauty