A Sugarhill Valentine

It's nearing the end of January, and what a wonderful beginning to 2013 it's been. And with the end of January comes the beginning of February - and, Valentine's Day.

So for us low-carbers, dieters, diabetics, and general healthy eaters, to help us avoid all the chocolatey temptations that may be in store for us, I have written us a recipe for some deliciously tempting (but not naughty) heart shaped Chocolate Tarts.

Ingredients:
Base:
130g butter
220g ground almonds*
6 tbsp. Splenda*
2 eggs
pinch of salt

Chocolate filling:
3x 85g bars (255g total) Cavalier dark chocolate*
255ml double cream
tbsp. Splenda*
tbsp. butter
2 drops vanilla extract

*ingredients can be bought here

First, set the oven to 180°C.

For the base, in a bowl, mix the ground almonds, butter, splenda and salt to make a breadcrumb-like mixture. Then mix in one of the eggs to make a sticky dough. Squeeze the dough down into heart shaped cases (makes 8-10). Brush the cases with the remaining beaten egg. Bake for 20 minutes and then leave to cool.
For the filling, heat the cream, splenda and vanilla on the hob. Melt the chocolate with the butter in the microwave, then add to the cream until completely melted. Fill your tart cases, chill for and hour, then serve with some raspberries or strawberries and some extra cream!

The dress I am wearing in my video is the beautiful Windsor dress from Sugarhill Boutique. Sugarhill Boutique is a Brighton based clothing line, set up by brother and sister Pawel and Aleksandra Przedpelska. They make adorable dresses, combining vintage styles with pretty prints and collars. I decided to take to the streets of Brighton myself, to show you a few of my favourites:

Sugarhill Boutique Windsor Dress

Wonderland Dress, an all time favourite of mine from their 2011 collection

Scallop Dress

Bird of Prey dress

  

 Which one should I wear on Valentine's Day?!

Low Carb Cookie Dough

So this is probably one of my favourite recipes - mainly because it's ready in about 3 minutes, so it's a really quick fix when you have a sweet craving.

I was inspired to make this by the Cookie Dough dessert you get at Pizza Hut - the warm half baked cookie dough with a dollop of ice cream in the middle - an indulgent pudding for two, that I used to always devour by myself.

And, with this recipe, you can now do the same without putting on any weight!

All it takes is:
2 tablespoons of butter
4 tablespoons of splenda
a few drops of vanilla extract
chopped up sugar-free chocolate - I use Cavalier Dark Chocolate (it has a much nicer taste than the Balance brand)
2 tablespoons Carbalose flour 

5 tablespoons ground almonds

The Splenda, Cavalier chocolate, Carbalose flour and ground almonds can all be bought here

You can, if you want, use just ground almonds and omit the Carbalose flour. You may also need to add more/less flour so that it is not too sticky.

Then you just mix all the ingredients together in a bowl, bung it in the microwave till the chocolate melts and goes all gooey, and then eat it straight away with a dollop of cream or sugar-free ice cream!

You can also just eat the dough raw, or roll it into little balls to make Cookie Dough Ice Cream (just like Ben & Jerry's)

Tastes so naughty...

But it's not.

A Twisted Lemon 21st

 So in April 2012 I turned the sweet age of 21, and to celebrate I went out to eat with my friends at Twisted Lemon in Brighton, and then the following day for lunch with my family at Hotel du Vin.

Outside our beautiful house in Brighton
Coat and shoes from Topshop

My Birthday dress: from Topshop

 Aswell as being served, at Twisted Lemon, one of the best burgers I've ever eaten (with halloumi to replace the bun) - I also found what is now my favourite cocktail: "Mint and Cookie Mudslide". Perhaps the highest carb option on the menu, it is made of Vodka, Mozart Dark Chocolate Liqueur, Creme de Menthe, Bailey's and Milk, crushed with ice, Oreo's and Ice Cream, My mission now is to make a low-carb alternative. Luckily, Oreos also come in sugar free: see here.

The Mint and Cookie Mudslide

 At Hotel du Vin, we were treated with Kir Royales and the most delicious French cuisine. And to top it off, an extremely rich and decadent dark chocolate torte (and disgustingly high carb!).

 I was given, from my parents, this rose gold Marc by Marc Jacobs Henry Chronograph watch:

It is the most beautiful thing to have ever been on my wrist!

From my sister, I was given a weekend in Milan with my friend Camille. I had such a wonderful weekend, and thankyou to everybody who made it so special!

Low Carb Vanilla Cheesecake Recipe

So this was the first "Jilly Bakes" video that I uploaded to YouTube in the Summer: a low carb New York style baked vanilla cheesecake.

Ingredients: 
For the base:

85g chopped mixed nuts

85g ounces ground almonds*

4 tablespoons butter

4-5 tablespoons Splenda*

2 tablespoons dessicated coconut (optional)

a teaspoon almond extract.

Filling:

500g mascarpone

200g soft cheese (I use Sainsbury's Be Good to Yourself)

16 tablespoons Splenda*

4 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

300ml double cream

300ml whipping cream

Optional - blueberries or other fruit

Recipe:

Preheat the oven to 150°C / 300°F / Gas Mark 2

You can really use any combination of the ingredients for the base, depending on what nuts you like and what phase of Atkins you are on. You can also use sugar free biscuits (crushed up) that can be found here, and milled flax seeds also work really nicely. I found the almond extract really made all the difference - it creates an almost marzipan-like taste.

Mix all the ingredients together and then squish into the base of a springform tin. Bake for 10 minutes then leave to cool.

For the filling, blend the mascarpone and cream cheese with the Splenda. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Fold in the vanilla, whipping cream  and double cream, then pour over the base.Cook in the oven for an hour, then turn the oven off and leave it to cook in the heat as the oven cools down for half an hour (so as to prevent the top from cracking. Towards the end of the cooking time, you can add blueberries to the top if you wish.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool at room temperature before refridgerating overnight in the tin.

The following day, take your cheesecake out of the tin, and enjoy!

CARB COUNT

For the cheesecake without the base:
A total of 3883 calories (using a lower fat soft cheese) and 52.5 carbs. So for 12 very large portions, 323 calories and 4 carbohydrates per portion.

The base will vary depending on what you use. As per the given ingredients, we have 1078 calories and 17 carbs, making an additional 90 calories and 1.4 carbs per serving.

 *ingredients can be found here: www.jillybakes.co.uk

A Foggy Poundance Memory

I think back now to my first, of many, nights at Brighton's Digital Club night "Poundance"

"Digital" Brighton - voted "Best Small UK Club 2011" by DJ Mag. Home to some fantastic resident DJ's, including the extremely talented George "Poundance" Nunn.

Ofcourse, the night began at home. Deciding what to wear and predrinking with my three beautiful house mates, Tom, Camille and Rachel.

Black lace back playsuit: Miss Selfridge. Blue sequin hotpants: Topshop

 Perhaps the best part of the night: capturing the progression of our drinking from the sillyness of our photos.

 After this photo, it was time to make our way to the Club night itself: endless drinks costing only a pound (hence the name, "Poundance") and the one pound entry. A concept in itself that will inevitably leave you wondering the next morning: "What happened last night? Where was I?".
Thank goodness we had the photos.

Skirt Innovations

 One of my fondest memories of 2012: playing dress up with Topshop maxi skirts and glitter. Such beautiful colours: emerald green and cobalt blue.

But why wear a skirt as a skirt, when you can wear a skirt as a dress?

 Just add a belt...and it works!

 The power pose:

How it all began

I will begin with the line: "Hi, my name's Jilly, and I'm on Atkins."

I create low carb recipes, and post videos of myself making them on YouTube. Here's one of my low carb Cookie Dough:

I also sell ingredients at www.jillybakes.co.uk

 

 But how did this all begin?

Well, it started in my Gap Year whilst working as a waitress in the heart of New Zealand's fashion capital - Newmarket, Auckland. 

I got fat.

When I arrived in NZ, I was 8 stone. When I returned home, I was 11 and a half. The unlimited supply of muffins and caramel slices at the end of my shifts, the Whittakers chocolate, the endless Cadbury creations in flavours that I had never seen in the UK. If it was sweet, I had to have it.

 I was miserable. Addicted to clothes and shopping, and yet none of the clothes fit. Not only did trousers split when I sat down - but so did leggings. LEGGINGS. Stretchy leggings.

When I got back to England, I had no choice but to diet. My mum had been on the Atkins diet for 7 years, and had started her own business, Avidlite, selling diet products. So, naturally, I followed suit. And, by cutting out carbs, I lost all the weight I had put on by the time my Fresher's Week at Uni began.

And nobody  there knew about my little, fat secret.