Imqaret (Maltese Date Pastries)
Traditional Maltese fried date pastries scented with citrus, aniseed, and warm spice. Crisp outside, sticky and aromatic inside.
Ingredients
Have your ingredients ready? Go to instructionsInstructions
- Make the pastry: Mix the flour, semolina, sugar, and salt. Rub in the butter or margarine, then add water gradually until a firm dough forms. Knead briefly, cover, and rest for 30 minutes.
- Make the filling: Place the dates, water, orange zest, aniseed, cinnamon, and cloves in a small pan. Cook gently for 8-10 minutes, stirring often, until the dates soften into a thick paste. Stir in orange blossom water if using, then cool completely.
- Fill and shape: Roll the dough into long strips about 10cm wide. Spoon a line of date filling along one side of each strip, fold over to enclose, and press the seam gently. Cut diagonally into diamond shapes.
- Fry: Heat vegetable oil to 170-180°C. Fry the imqaret in batches for 3-4 minutes, turning until golden and crisp. Drain on kitchen paper.
- Serve: Let them cool slightly before eating; the filling stays very hot.
Imqaret are one of Malta’s best-loved sweets: diamond-shaped pastries filled with spiced dates and fried until crisp. They are often sold from street stalls and at village festas, where the smell of warm dates, citrus, and spice is hard to miss.
Ingredient Substitutions Outside Malta
Choose pitted dates and plain wheat semolina; couscous and cornmeal will not give the same pastry. Aniseed is also sold as anise seed, and the recipe allows ground anise. Orange blossom water is optional: use a food-grade product from the baking or grocery aisle, not a fragrance. Plain flour is all-purpose flour.
Serving Suggestions
- Serve warm as a dessert or afternoon sweet
- Dust lightly with icing sugar if desired
- Pair with coffee or tea
- Excellent with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream
Traditional Notes & Tips
- The filling should be thick enough to hold its shape
- Do not overfill or the pastry may burst while frying
- Semolina gives the pastry a pleasant bite
- Orange zest and aniseed are key flavours
- Imqaret are best eaten fresh, though they can be reheated briefly in the oven
A sweet at the festa
Imqaret have a place among the street foods of village festas. Visit Gozo describes date pastries alongside nougat, processions, and fireworks.
This gives them a setting beyond the dessert plate. At home, make a small batch to share after frying, allowing the hot filling to cool enough to eat. Their crisp shell and date centre offer a different texture from the almond biscuits and larger cakes in the celebration collection.