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Two main traditional Christmas sweets are the following:
Hot Chestnut and Cocoa Soup – Imbuljuta Tal-Qastan
Imbuljuta is the traditional Maltese drink served after Midnight Mass on Christmas and New Year’s Eve. It is the perfect recipe for those special nights when you want something hot, spicy and deliciously seasonal. This drink has that wonderful Christmassy smell to it, with the cloves, cinnamon and chocolate and orange and tangerine rinds as ingredients. And of course chestnuts! Generally it is served in mugs or small bowls and always piping hot.
Honey or Treacle Rings – Qagħaq tal-Għasel
Qagħaq tal-għasel are sweet pastry rings filled with a treacle mixture. Literally translated they are ‘honey rings’; but there is absolutely no honey in the recipe. The main ingredient in the filling is treacle. In Maltese treacle is known as għasel iswed; so probably that is why they are known as honey rings. Years ago village people used qastanija, and not treacle, for their qagħaq tal-għasel. This was made by melting down honey-combs after the honey had been extracted from them. In all probability qastanija is a corruption of the Italian castagna, which means chestnut. It might be that it was so called because the mixture was the colour of chestnuts. But there are absolutely no chestnuts in the mixture. Through the years qastanija was substituted by black treacle. For those who have a very sweet tooth, sugar is added to the filling mixture.
Enjoy trying out these two Maltese traditional recipes during this festive season!
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