Maltese Christmas Recipes

By: Daniela SpiteriYear 5 Tulips

Christmas PuddingChristmas puddings take two days to make. On the first day, youmix the ingredients. On the second day, you prepare the basins andsteam the puddings.These Ingredients will make one 2lb / 900g pudding or two 1lb / 450gpuddings

Ingredients• 200g Currants, washed• 200g Sultanas, washed• 200g Raisins, stoned and chopped• 100g Mixed Peel, chopped• 200g Breadcrumbs• 200g Demerara Sugar• 200g Shredded Suet• The finely grated rind and juice of one Lemon

• 100g Almonds• 200g Plain Flour• 1/4 teaspoon Salt• 1 level teaspoon ground Nutmeg• 1 level teaspoon ground Cinnamon• 1 level teaspoon Mixed Spice• 3 eggs• 275ml of old beer or stout

Method:Mix the currants, sultanas, raisins and peel together in a largebasin. Stir in the breadcrumbs, sugar, suet and lemon rind.Blanch the almonds; to do this by pouring boiling water over the nutsand then leave them to stand for a few minutes. The skins willnow come off easily. Chop the almonds fairly finely and add tothe fruit. Sift the flour, salt and spices together. Beat the eggsand add the lemon juice and stout/beer to them.

Add the flour and egg mixture to the other ingredients and mixall well together. Leave overnight.Next day, brush the basin with melted fat and fill with thepudding mixture. Cover the basin with greased greaseproofpaper, pleated across the top, and tie firmly with string. Steamthe large pudding for at least eight hours, or the smaller ones forsix hours.When the pudding is cold, re-cover it with fresh greaseproofpaper, and store it in a cool, dry place. On Christmas Day (orwhen you want to eat it!) re-heat the pudding exactly the sameway, steaming for at least two hours.

Sweet Chestnut Soup

Ingredients• 400 g dried chestnuts• 175 g sugar• 50 g drinking chocolate• Zest of orange or tangerine• Water

MethodWash the chestnuts thoroughly and place them into a pan full ofwater. Leave them to soak for about 10 hours.Boil the chestnutsusing the same water. Add the rest of the ingredients and leave to simmer until the chestnut are tender. Serve very hot.

Qaghaq tal-Ghasel (Honey Rings)

Ingredients(for the pastry)• 400g flour• 75g semolina• 1 egg yolk• 100g unsalted butter• 1 tablespoon sugar• Water(for the filling)• 400g treacle• 150g sugar• 1 tablespoon chopped candied fruit• Grated rind of an orange or tangerine• Grated rind of a lemon• 1 tablespoon cocoa

• 1 tablespoon aniseed liqueur• A little semolina• Pinch of cloves• 2 cups of water

How to make the pastrySieve the flour in a bowl with the semolina. Rub in the unsaltedbutter and pour in the egg yolk and sugar. Mix and knead well toform a dough. If necessary add some water. Tip: You can make the pastry beforehand and keep it in the fridge until you’re readyto do the filling.Making the fillingMix all the ingredients except for the semolina in a saucepan.Bring to the boil slowly and simmer. Add semolina gradually to

to the mixture until you get a thick consistency. It is veryimportant that you keep stirring the mixture constantly. Let themixture cool down before continuing.Making the honey ringsFirst roll out the pastry thinly. Cut it in rectangles (approx. 20 cmx 8 cm). Now take some of the filling and place down the middleof the pastry rectangles strips and form into cigar like strips. Then roll the pastry over the filling and bring the ends togetherto form a ring. Cut short slits into the pastry at intervals. Whilebaking, some of the filling will come out of these slits andtransform the rings into attractive black and white rings. Put therings into a floured baking tray. Bake in a moderate oven untilthe pastry is barely coloured (usually takes some 20 minutes).

Christmas Log

Ingredients:• 2 Packets biscuits plain (you can use Morning Coffee or

Digestive)• 1 large tin Condensed milk• 100g Glace cherries• 100g Walnuts• 100gCandied peel• 150g Hazelnuts and Almonds (crushed)• 100g Bar Milk Chocolate• Some Brandy

Method:Crush the biscuitsChop the nuts (make sure they are roasted beforehand)Mix all ingredients (except Bar Milk Chocolate) by hand in alarge bowl. Shape Mixture to form the log and wrap in agreaseproof paper. Put into the fridge and leave it for12hours to harden. Remove the log shaped mixture frompaper. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over boiling water andcover to decorate the Christmas log.- you can use flakes of hardened choc to add texture to your Christmas log.

Mince Pie

Ingredients:• 350g all purpose/plain flour • Pinch of salt• 225g butter, cubed or an equal mix of butter and lard• 1 beaten egg + 1 cold water as needed• 1 jar of mincemeat• 2 tbsp icing sugarPreparation:Heat the oven to 400°F/205°C/Gas 6

Make the Pastry

Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean bowl. RubThe butter into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs, working as quickly aspossible to prevent the dough becoming warm. Add the eggto the mixture and using a cold knife stir, add cold water ateaspoon at a time until the mixture binds but don't make ittoo wet that it is sticky. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap andchill for a minimum of 15 minutes, up to 30 minutes. Thedough can also be made in a food processor by mixing theflour, butter and salt in the bowl of the processor on a pulsesetting. When the mixture resembles breadcrumbs, add theegg slowly, through the funnel, then add water a tsp at a

time until the dough comes together in a ball. Wrap inplastic wrap and chill as above.Assemble the PiesChoose a muffin or bun tin for the size of the pie you want.Choose from a standard 12-cup muffin tin down to smallCanapé size. The number of pies will depend on the size ofcup you choose. Dust a work surface lightly with a littleflour and roll out two-thirds of the pastry to 1/8"/3mmthick. Cut circles to line the cups of your tin, don't worry ifthe pastry doesn't come to the top. Fill the pastry lined tins2/3 full with mincemeat. Roll out the remaining pastry tothe same thickness and cut smaller circles to fit as lidson the tarts or to be decorative, cut stars or other fancy shapes. Dampen the edges of the tart bases with a

little cold water and press the lids on. Make a small hole inthe surface of each pie with a small sharp knife to allow thesteam to escape (you can omit this if using star-shapedlids). Bake in the preheated oven for 20 min until goldenbrown. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the icingsugar.Mince pies are delicious served hot or cold on their own.They will keep well if placed in an airtight tin - up to sevenSometimes they benefit from a gentle warming in theoven before serving.

Christmas Cake

Ingredients(for the cake)

• 300g flour• 1 teaspoon mixed spice• 100g ground almonds • 200g butter• 200g caster sugar• 4 eggs beaten with 8 table spoons milk (or 4 tablespoons milk

and brandy)• 200g currants• 200g sultanas

• 200g raisins• 100g halved glace’ cherries• 100g cut mixed peel(for the almond paste)

• 300g ground almonds• 150g caster sugar• 150g icing sugar• 1 egg• Juice of half a lemon(for the icing)

• 9 cupes• Whites of 4 eggs• 2 teaspoons lemon juice for a firm icing

Method(for the cake)

Sieve together flour, spice and ground almonds. CreamButter and sugar, stir in flour mixture and eggs with milk(alternately, a little at a time). Lastly add fruit. Mixthoroughly. Place mixture in a greased and lined 9-inchround or 8-inch square tin. Protect with brown paper. Bakein slow oven(300°F, gas mark 2) about 4½ hours. (for almond paste)

Place dry ingredients in a bowl. Add lemon juice, then justenough beaten egg to make a pliable paste.Level top of cake if necessary, by trimming with a knife, oradding pieces of almond paste. Brush cake over with egg

white or lemon curd. Cut off one-third of almond paste.Dredge worktop with icing sugar and roll out remainingtwo-thirds of paste into a strip the depth of, and longenough to go round, the cake. Press almond paste on tosides of cake. Rollout remainder of paste into a circle, presson top of cake. Smooth all joins with a knife or rolling pin,to give a level top with a sharp edge to the sides. Coverwith greaseproof paper and leave to dry for about a weekbefore decorating. (for icing)

Lightly beat egg whites and lemon juice together. Sieve icingsugar, add half to egg whites, beat well. Add remainder ofsugar gradually, stirring well until stiff enough to stand in

peaks in the bowl.Stand cake on icing table, a cake tin or inverted dinnerplate. Using a palette knife or broad knife, cover the entirecake with an even thickness icing. For a rough surfaceeffect, pull the icing up into peaks with flat of the knife. Adddecorations before the icing sets. For a smooth finish, leveltop and sides with a knife. If icing sticks to knife, dip intovery hot water then shake to remove surplus moisture.Allow icing to harden, the secure cake board with a littleicing. Add piped decorations, using tinted icing for addedeffect.