Imqaret - The date slice recipe that everyone in Malta loves
A healthy twist on one of the best Maltese desserts
Equipment
- Mixing Bowl
- Rolling Pin
Ingredients
For the Pastry
- 100 g Soy Flour
- 100 g Wholemeal Flour
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Xanthan Gum
- 50 g Dairy-Free Yogurt vanilla is best
- 40 g Olive Oil
- 15 g Sunflower Seed Butter
- 1 Flax Egg
- 1 tbsp Coconut Sugar
- 1 tsp Orange Blossom Water (Ilma Zahar)
- 150 ml Water
For the Filling
- 400 g Medjool Dates soft
- Zest of 1 lemon
- Zest of 1 Orange
- Juice of 1 Orange
- 1 Tbsp Anisette or Licorice Liqueur
- 1 tsp Orange Blossom Water (Ilma Zahar)
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp Cloves
- 1/2 tsp Nutmeg
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- 1/2 cup Water
Instructions
How to make Healthy Pastry
- Sift the soy flour, wholemeal flour, baking powder and Xanthan Gum in a mixing bowl. Add coconut sugar
- Make a small well in the middle and add in the olive oil, sunflower seed butter, yogurt and flax egg. Mix ingredients together
- Rub into the flour until you the mix looks like sticky breadcrumbs
- Add orange blossom water and mix in a teaspoon of water at a time until a dough forms
- Refrigerate while you prepare the filling
How to make Imqaret Filling
- Add all the filling ingredients to a saucepan and simmer for around 15 minutes
- Keep stirring the mixture and mashing the dates until you achieve the consistency of a mushy paste
Assembling Imqaret
- This pastry is a bit more fragile than the store-bought type, so it's best to divide into 4, making it easier for you to roll and handle
- While your date paste cools, roll out the pastry to 4 long rectangles of a 2-3mm thickness
- Place the date filling along half of the pastry rectangles
- Wet the edges and fold the dough over to enclose the date filling into a parcel
- From each rectangle, cut out 6 slices diagonally and place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper
- Bake at 185°C for around 20 minutes until golden brown