Maltese Christmas Recipes

1. Maltese Christmas Recipes By: Daniela Spiteri Year 5 Tulips

2. Christmas Pudding Christmas puddings take two days to make. On the first day, you mix the ingredients. On the second day, you prepare the basins and steam the puddings. These Ingredients will make one 2lb / 900g pudding or two 1lb / 450g puddings 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

3. 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 large basin. Stir in the breadcrumbs, sugar, suet and lemon rind.Blanch the almonds; to do this by pouring boiling water over the nuts and then leave them to stand for a few minutes. The skins will now come off easily. Chop the almonds fairly finely and add to the fruit. Sift the flour, salt and spices together. Beat the eggs and add thelemon juice and stout/beer to them.

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

5. Sweet Chestnut Soup Ingredients • 400 gdried chestnuts • 175 g sugar • 50 g drinking chocolate • Zest of orange or tangerine • Water Method Wash the chestnuts thoroughly and place them into a pan full of water. Leave them to soak for about 10 hours.Boil the chestnuts using the same water.  Add the rest of the ingredients and leave  to simmer until the chestnut are tender. Serve very hot.

6. Qaghaqtal-Ghasel (Honey Rings) Ingredients (for the pastry) • 400gflour • 75gsemolina • 1 egg yolk • 100gunsalted butter • 1 tablespoon sugar • Water (for the filling) • 400g treacle • 150gsugar • 1 tablespoon chopped candied fruit • Grated rind of an orange or tangerine • Grated rind of a lemon • 1 tablespoon cocoa

7. 1 tablespoon aniseed liqueur • A little semolina • Pinch of cloves • 2 cups of water How to make the pastry Sieve the flour in a bowl with the semolina. Rub in the unsalted butter and pour in the egg yolk and sugar. Mix and knead well to form a dough. If necessary add some water. Tip: You can make the pastry beforehand and keep it in the fridge until you’re ready to do the filling. Making the filling Mix all the ingredients except for the semolina in a saucepan. Bring to the boil slowly and simmer. Add semolina gradually to

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

9. 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

10. Method: Crush the biscuits Chop the nuts (make sure they are roasted beforehand) Mix all ingredients (except Bar Milk Chocolate) by hand in a large bowl. Shape Mixture to form the log and wrap in a greaseproof paper. Put into the fridge and leave it for 12hours to harden. Remove the log shaped mixture from paper. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over boiling water and cover to decorate the Christmas log.- you can use flakes of hardened choc to add texture to your Christmas log.

11. 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 sugar Preparation: Heat the oven to 400°F/205°C/Gas 6

12. Make the Pastry Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean bowl. Rub The butter into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs, working as quickly as possible to prevent the dough becoming warm. Add the egg to the mixture and using a cold knife stir, add cold water a teaspoon at a time until the mixture binds but don't make it too wet that it is sticky. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for a minimum of 15 minutes, up to 30 minutes. The dough can also be made in a food processor by mixing the flour, butter and salt in the bowl of the processor on a pulse setting. When the mixture resembles breadcrumbs, add the egg slowly, through the funnel, then add water a tsp at a

13. time until the dough comes together in a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill as above. Assemble the Pies Choose a muffin or bun tin for the size of the pie you want. Choose from a standard 12-cup muffin tin down to small Canapé size. The number of pies will depend on the size of cup you choose. Dust a work surface lightly with a little flour and roll out two-thirds of the pastry to 1/8"/3mm thick. Cut circles to line the cups of your tin, don't worry if the pastry doesn't come to the top. Fill the pastry lined tins 2/3 full with mincemeat. Roll out the remaining pastry to the same thickness and cut smaller circles to fit as lids on the tarts or to be decorative, cut stars or other fancy shapes. Dampen the edges of the tart bases with a

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

15. 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

16. 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

17. Method (for the cake) Sieve together flour, spice and ground almonds. Cream Butter and sugar, stir in flour mixture and eggs with milk (alternately, a little at a time). Lastly add fruit. Mix thoroughly. Place mixture in a greased and lined 9-inch round or 8-inch square tin. Protect with brown paper. Bake in slow oven(300°F, gas mark 2) about 4½ hours. (for almond paste) Place dry ingredients in a bowl. Add lemon juice, then just enough beaten egg to make a pliable paste. Level top of cake if necessary, by trimming with a knife, or adding pieces of almond paste. Brush cake over with egg

18. white or lemon curd. Cut off one-third of almond paste. Dredge worktop with icing sugar and roll out remaining two-thirds of paste into a strip the depth of, and long enough to go round, the cake. Press almond paste on to sides of cake. Rollout remainder of paste into a circle, press on top of cake. Smooth all joins with a knife or rolling pin, to give a level top with a sharp edge to the sides. Cover with greaseproof paper and leave to dry for about a week before decorating. (for icing) Lightly beat egg whites and lemon juice together. Sieve icing sugar, add half to egg whites, beat well. Add remainder of sugar gradually, stirring well until stiff enough to stand in

19. peaks in the bowl. Stand cake on icing table, a cake tin or inverted dinner plate. Using a palette knife or broad knife, cover the entire cake with an even thickness icing. For a rough surface effect, pull the icing up into peaks with flat of the knife. Add decorations before the icing sets. For a smooth finish, level top and sides with a knife. If icing sticks to knife, dip into very hot water then shake to remove surplus moisture. Allow icing to harden, the secure cake board with a little icing. Add piped decorations, using tinted icing for added effect.