Sweet finger foods

So far we have published two parts to our finger foods series, which bring you great ideas for quick and easy foods that are great for entertaining. To round out the series, we have your mandatory sweet fix coming your way. What sort of party would it be without dessert? At Hungry Pumpkin, we are big fans of crêpes, so we decided to make a special version with fresh fruit that can be served in a special way. In addition to these, we also prepared various vegan balls from different dried fruits and nuts.

Perhaps the most interesting ingredient we worked with this time came from barberry. Common barberry (Berberis vulgaris) is primarily known as an ornamental shrub with red leaves and thorns that is often used in hedges. The plant naturally grows throughout Europe and the Middle East. But did you know that this plant is both toxic and medicinal? All parts of the plant, except its red fruits, contain aporphines and alkaloids, such as berbamine and oxyacanthin. The fresh fruits are used to make jams as they contain a high level of pectin while the dried fruits are often used in teas, especially as a folk medicine for the treatment of respiratory diseases, inflammations, and for flus and colds. These fruits bear a taste that is similar to pomegranate, as well as having similar colour and healthy substances in them; their high levels of vitamin C leads to them having a very acidic taste.

These berries are often used in the diet in Iran, where one of our Hungry Pumpkin team members recently travelled. As a treat, they brought back a package of berries! That being said, the barberry used in Iran is Berberis integerrima. In Persian, it is called zereshk. It is most often added to rice, creating a dish they call zereshk polo. In our balls, the fruits gave a pleasant, acidic taste and enriched them with Vitamin C.


Recipe, cost, and preparation

 

Quantity (ml or g)

Price for 6 person (EUR)

Vegan balls

 

 

Dates

100

0,70

Common barberry

20

0,16

Cashews

70

0,87

Dried figs

50

0,59

Vegan balls 2

Dry apricots

150

0,87

Hazelnuts

80

0,93

Almonds

80

0,86

Dry cranberries

50

0,39

Walnuts

50

0,66

Coconut oil

20

0,08

Vegan crepes

Chickpea flor

25

0,17

Buckwheat flour

25

0,07

Almond flour

25

0,83

Flax flour

3

0,06

Salt

2

0,00

Raspberries

100

1,59

Blueberries

100

1,91

Together

10,75

 

For our vegan crêpes, we used a blend of four flours; we combined chickpea, buckwheat, almond, and flax flour to get our perfect mixture. While the first three types of flour contribute to the look and taste, the flaxseed flour is critical as a binding agent. We mixed the flour with water, but since the batter already had an intense taste, we did not add in any seasoning. After cooking, you can use a variety of chocolate or fruit spreads when serving your crêpes, and we settled on cherry jam. To make them a finger food, we sliced them into individual pieces and served them with fresh raspberries and blueberries.

The preparation of our vegan balls was even simpler. All you need is a strong blender and nuts and fruits of your choice. We made two mixes: in one, we used dates, dried figs, cashews, and barberry fruits with a little water while the other had roasted hazelnuts, almonds, walnuts, dried apricots and cranberries, and some coconut oil and water. These mixtures need to be blended until the mixture is of a suitable consistency to form it into balls. Once you have rolled out your balls, they can be rolled in various ingredients to add colour and flavour; coconut flour, cocoa, sprinkles, and ground pumpkin seeds were our choices. That being said, you can really use anything you choose, such as dipping in melted chocolate!

The price for our sweet treats for six people came out to just under 11€, making the price about 2€ per person. You may even be able to serve another person as this recipe creates quite a few balls! Though the huts and fruits for these treats are quite expensive, they’re also quite nutritious!


Nutritional value

With lunch consumed quantity

% From daily needs

Energy

511,40

kcal

25,60

Proteins

12,81

g

22,90

Total fats

30,26

g

60,52

Carbohydrates

57,15

g

114,30

Starch

9,57

g

 

Sugar

33,98

g

 

Fibers

11,38

g

45,50

Calcium (Ca)

118,15

mg

11,80

Iron (Fe)

4,20

mg

42,00

Magnesium (Mg)

172,50

mg

43,10

Phosphorus (P)

315,74

mg

45,10

Potassium (K)

931,11

mg

46,60

Sodium (Na)

137,49

mg

25,00

Zinc (Zn)

2,64

mg

26,40

Copper (Cu)

1,09

mg

120,80

Manganese (Mn)

2,83

mg

123,00

Selenium (Se)

6,78

µg

13,60

Vitamin A

46,59

µg

4,70

Vitamin E

8,22

mg

54,80

Vitamin D

0,00

µg

0,00

Vitamin C

10,23

mg

10,20

Thiamin (B1)

0,25

mg

18,90

Riboflavin (B2)

0,30

mg

19,90

Niacin (B3)

2,61

mg

18,00

Pantothenic acid (B5)

0,85

mg

14,10

Vitamin B6

0,34

mg

22,40

Folic acid (B9)

63,69

µg

15,90

Vitamin B12

0,00

µg

0,00

Vitamin K

15,48

µg

22,10

 

Even though these sweet treats are only meant to be a dessert in good company, we still managed to get 25% of our daily caloric requirements from them. The content of the vegan balls makes them inherently nutritious; the pancakes, with their mixture of flours, were rich in protein. As a result of these two dishes, we got a lot of protein as well as a good amount of fibre. Besides these, we consumed lots of iron, magnesium, as well as some other minerals. We were, however, lacking in vitamins. What we can all agree on is that even though these treats were just meant to be a party snack, they still offer much more nutrition than candy and many sweets you would buy at the store. After all, the holiday season is all about getting the best bang for your buck!

If you have questions about our tasty sweets or ideas for future recipes, send us an email at hungry.pumpkin.blog@gmail.com and we will get back to you!

Have a great week!

The Hungry Pumpkin Team

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