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

How to Make Your Hair Look Thicker

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conditioner, dermalogica, Dermalogica Shine Therapy Shampoo, Dermalogica Silk Finish Conditioner, fine, follicles, fuller, hair, highlights, scalp, shampoo, thicker, thickness

Unless you’re one of those people who are blessed with naturally thick hair, there’s probably been times when you wished your hair looked thicker. Obviously there are a few old wives’ tales about how to improve the thickeness of your hair (just FYI, having it cut doesn’t actually make a difference…) but there are ways to improve the appearance of your hair to create the illusion of thickness and we thought we’d take a look at a few of them.

Keep it Clean

Keeping your hair super clean will really help to improve the look of your hair, as hair which is weighed down with sebum and pollution will automatically look lank and much thinner than it is. We suggest a shampoo like Dermalogica Shine Therapy Shampoo, which will clarify the hair and wash away excess oil, leaving your hair looking thicker and bouncier.

Don’t Weight it Down

Using conditioner is essential for keeping hair in tip-top condition, but using the wrong one can weigh the hair down, leaving it looking flat and thin. Using Dermalogica Silk Finish Conditioner will allow you to add moisture back to your hair without weighing it down and will leave your hair soft and in great condition.

Keep it Trimmed

Although getting your hair cut won’t actually make it thicker (you have a limited amount of hair-growing follicles on your head and not much will ever change that), getting your hair cut can make it appear thicker. Over time, hair ends spilt and wear away, leaving the bottoms if your hair looking slightly ratty. Getting it trimmed (to shoulder length for optimum results) will make is LOOK thicker and is a great excuse for a bit of pampering.

Tease it

Back-combing may seem like something confined to the “things your Mum used to do” box, but using a fine-toothed comb to tease your roots will add lift and volume, giving you an appearance of thickness without the need for products or any other sort of witchcraft!

Get Highlights

Hair which is all one colour can lack body and movement because it doesn’t have any textire or definition. Having some highlights, even if they’re only one shade lighter than your natural hair colour will add volume and body to your hair and will make it look nicely thick.