While you might want to hold off on roasting the turkey for now, one of Malta’s favorite traditional Christmas sweets is easy to prepare and will keep well until Christmas Day—perfect if you can't wait to start enjoying the festive flavours!

The Maltese Christmas Log is quite different from the ones served across the rest of Europe, the latter often referred to as the 'roly-poly' in Malta. Rather than sponge cake, the Maltese version of the log is made with crushed biscuits, a variety of nuts, dried fruits, and sometimes chocolate chips. It's a popular treat during the holiday season, and aside from being delicious, it’s surprisingly simple to make and requires no baking!

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A post shared by Apron&Whisk | Yesenia (@apronandwhisk)

Here’s the recipe shared by Yesenia Consoli at Apron & Whisk. As with most traditional recipes, variations exist, and some may swap the walnuts and hazelnuts for almonds, or add spices like cinnamon and ground cloves. If you enjoy these flavours, feel free to include them in your mix! Of course, you could be even more adventurous and make a Baileys-flavoured one...

Ingredients

450 g semi-sweet biscuits like Morning Coffee or Petit Beurre

45 g cocoa powder (6 tbsp)

100 g walnuts

100 g hazelnuts

125 ml vermouth (1/2 cup, optional)

100 g whole candied cherries

400 g condensed milk

150 g chocolate melted

Instructions

1. Start by roasting the walnuts and hazelnuts until fragrant. Let them cool and chop into medium sized pieces.
2. In a food processor finely crush all the biscuits.
3. In a large bowl, add the crushed biscuits, chopped nuts, cocoa powder, and whole candied cherries. Combine together.
4. Add the condensed milk and the vermouth, if desired. With your hands mix everything well together until you achieve a sticky mixture.
5. Roll this mixture in a cylindrical shape and set aside for now.
6. Melt the chocolate and cover the log shaped dessert completely. To get the trunk texture, you can simply pass through the melted chocolate with a fork to get those ridges.
7. Let the chocolate harden before slicing through it and don’t forget to add your decorations with a sprinkle of icing sugar.

Note: Ideally, don’t store the Christmas log in the fridge as this will make it dry.

Are you a Christmas log fan or do you prefer mince pies?