Recipe Monday – Qagħaq Ta’ L-Għasel

Christmas is soon upon us, and with Christmas come all the delicious delicacies associated with the holiday! Malta has some truly decadent sweets associated with this time of year, and we’ll start from the popular Qagħaq Ta’ L-Għasel, or Honey Rings. These treacle stuffed pieces of heaven are everywhere come Christmas time in Malta, and now you can prepare them in your own home!

Ingredients:

Pastry Ingredients

• 750ml water
• 600g flour
• 2 egg yolks
• 250g semolina
• 50g. very finely chopped candied peel
• 50g margarine
• pinch of ground cloves
• water

Filling Ingredients

• 75g. jam
• 150g. sugar
• 600g. treacle
• lemon zest, orange and tangerine

Method:

1. Put all the filling ingredients (except the semolina) into a saucepan and bring to the boil.
2. After boiling, thicken with semolina, adding only a little at a time.
3. Continue cooking tor a few seconds and leave to cool and then rub the margarine into the flour, bind with the yolks and a little water.
4. Leave the pastry to set for two hours before using. Roll out the pastry into long strips of 10cm by 18cm .
5. Put some filling in the middle, the whole length of the pastry. fold the pastry.
6. Now bring the two ends of the pastry together to form a ring.
7. Sprinkle a baking sheet with semolina, put the rings on the sheet and bake in a moderate oven for 25 minutes.
8. Before cooking, take a sharp knife and lash the pastry in different places.

Happy Cooking!