World Chocolate Day celebrates the introduction of chocolate – or cocoa – to Europe some centuries ago.

Before then, it was only available across South and Central America. Spanish explorers were given a chocolate-based drink called Xocolatl by the Aztec emperor. They decided to bring it back to their home country and add sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon to make it sweeter. From there on, it spread across Europe and over time it turned into what we can savour around the world today.

Cocoa contains large amounts of flavonoids, which have a range of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits. Of the three main types, dark chocolate contains higher amounts of flavonoids than white and milk chocolate. Please note this does not constitute medical advice and it’s best to talk to a nutritionist, although it looks like they’ll tell you that a little bit of dark chocolate a day will be good for you.

Celebrate World Chocolate Day with some mouth-watering brownies!

If you feel like trying out my creator Karin’s favourite sweet treat – which no doubt inspired her to create me – go ahead and download a copy of our famous brownies recipe. It’ll be a fun activity for the family if you have kids!