Imqaret are the iconic Maltese street sweet, sold hot near city gates and festas. The name comes from the Arabic for 'diamond' (their shape); the date filling reflects Malta's Arab culinary heritage.
Bite a hot imqaret and the crisp fried pastry shatters into a soft, dark, sticky date filling fragrant with orange and aniseed. Bite: the shell is shatter-crisp and faintly savory, the date paste sweet and chewy, the aniseed giving a warm liquorice note and the orange a bright lift. Sold piping hot in paper from carts, dusted in sugar, it is the smell of a Maltese festa.
Cooking the dates with orange and aniseed into a paste concentrates their sweetness and sets the flavor before frying. Sealing the filling in pastry protects it while the shell crisps in hot oil; the quick fry crisps the exterior without drying the moist date center. Sugar at the end balances the savory fried shell.
Variations
Dipped in sugar syrup instead of dusted. With a splash of anisette liqueur. Baked instead of fried (lighter). With chopped almonds in the filling. Smaller bite-sized pieces. With a hint of clove.
On the Palate
Where Imqaret sits in the Maltese flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 8How it's made
8 steps · 40 min active + 50 min waiting
- 118 min
Simmer 400 g chopped dates with the zest and juice of 1 orange, 1 tsp aniseed, and a little water into a thick paste; cool.
Watch outCook the dates down until a spoon leaves a clear trail — too wet and the filling bursts the pastry in the oil.
- 235 min
Make a pastry from 400 g flour, 100 g butter, a little sugar, and water; rest 30 min.
- 35 min
Roll the pastry into long strips.
- 45 min
Pipe a line of date paste down the center of each strip.
- 56 min
Fold the pastry over the filling and seal into a long filled rope.
Watch outPress the seam firmly shut — any gap lets hot oil in and the date paste leaks out.
- 64 min
Cut diagonally into diamond shapes.
- 712 min
Deep-fry in hot oil 3-4 min until golden and crisp; drain.
Watch outFry until deep gold and the surface blisters — the crisp shell is the point, so don't pull them pale.
- 83 min
Dust with sugar (or dip in syrup) and serve hot.
