Guava and Cheese Pastries (Pastelitos de Guayaba Con Queso)
If you’re looking for something different than your average cookie, tries these little pockets of joy. If this is your first introduction to guava, you won’t be disappointed. Sweet guava and cream cheese inside a pocket of dough that look like mini empanadas. Like potato chips, or cats, it’s hard to just have one. They are perfect after enjoying some of my Cuban Fricase de Pollo.
Originating in Mexico, Central American, and the Caribbean, guava is a fruit used in many Hispanic dishes and drinks. With it’s mild, sweet flavor, likened to a pear mixed with strawberry, it’s easy to see why. Mixed with sweetened cream cheese and wrapped in a flaky crust, pastelitos de guayaba con queso is a favorite treat amongst the Cuban community.
And Cubans love their guava paste. It’s not uncommon to be served guava paste with cheese and crackers upon entering a Cuban household. And Cubans love to feed you when you come over. Guava paste, cheese, and crackers, along with what I like to call a ‘Cuban salad’ (lettuce, tomato, and onion with olive oil and vinegar) would always be served at my Tia Vilma’s house when we would visit her.
Ingredients
Dough I like to make homemade dough for this recipe. It’s a simple dough made of cream cheese, butter, and flour. The butter and cream cheese must be softened so they will mix together, then the flour is added slowly. You form a dough ball, wrap it in plastic, then set it in the fridge for at least an hour before using it. If you don’t want to make your own dough, or you’re in a hurry, you can use store bought puff pastry.
Guava paste Guava paste is a deep red, firm paste found in the Hispanic section of many grocery stores. If you can’t find it there, you can find it at your local Hispanic grocery store. It comes in a tin or wrapped in plastic. Goya is a popular Hispanic food brand that makes guava paste, but there are other brands that make guava paste as well.
Sweetened cream cheese This is simply cream cheese that is mixed with a little bit of powdered sugar to give it a little sweetness. You don’t want to put too much as the guava paste is very sweet on it’s own.
How to Make Guava and Cheese Pastries
Once you make the dough, the process of making these is quite simple. You’re just rolling out the dough, cutting out the circles, adding the guava and cheese, sealing them up, sprinkling on the sugar (if desired), then baking. Wa-la, you are done! I do not use an egg wash to seal these up. They don’t really need it, you’ll see they seal just fine. The butter and cream cheese in the dough helps to keep them closed. You could choose to use an egg wash on top to get the golden hue, but this is totally optional.
While it is faster to use puff pastry, it just does not have the flavor of this homemade dough. To get the circle shapes, I use a cup. It’s 3 inches across. You will roll out the dough, cut out as many circles as you can, then re-roll out the dough, cut out more circles, etc until you cannot get any more circles. I usually get roughly 30 circles. I choose to fold the filled circles in half, however, you could have a top and bottom layer with more filling in each one, yielding you roughly 15 pastelitos. My personal preference is to fold them in half like mini empanadas.
You could also use a sharp knife or pizza cutter to cut squares out of the dough. They are a pretty customizable dessert.
Since I made these close to Valentine’s Day, I had to make heart shaped ones of course. These would make great Valentine treats for your sweetheart, or yourself. My Homemade Tres Leches or White Chocolate Cranberry Blondies would make excellent Valentine treats as well.
Tips for Success
- If some filling leaks out while baking, this is ok. They’ll still taste yummy.
- Since the guava paste is so sweet, don’t add too much sugar to the cream cheese. I add 1/2 a cup of powdered sugar to 8 ounces of cream cheese.
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FAQ’s
Because they have cream cheese in them, they must be stored in the fridge. They can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Yes, you can freeze these. You can freeze then before you bake them or after. If you’re freezing before you bake them, lay them flat on a tray to freeze, then transfer to a freezer safe container and freeze for up to 3 months. You’ll need to add a few extra minutes when you bake them.
Pastelitos de Guayaba Con Queso
Ingredients
Dough
- 8 ounces cream cheese, full-fat block style, softened
- 8 tablespoons butter, softened
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
Pastelitos
- 8 ounces guava pasted
- 8 ounces cream cheese, full-fat block style, softened
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon raw sugar
Instructions
Dough
- Using either a stand mixer or a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Add the flour half a cup at a time. Once you notice the mixer struggling to mix the ingredients, stop mixing. You will need to use your hands to form the dough ball. Some of the flour will be at the bottom of the bowl. Work as much of that into the dough ball as you can. That's ok if there is a little bit left over.
- Wrap the dough ball in plastic wrap and store in the fridge for at least one hour before making the pastelitos.
Pastelitos
- Remove the dough ball from the fridge about 10 minutes before you will need it. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- Using a hand mixer, beat together the softened 8 ounces of cream cheese and half cup of powdered sugar. Add this mixture to a pastry bag fitted with a circle tip. Set aside while you cut out the circles. Cut the guava paste into small rectangles, not too thick. They need to fit inside the circles.
- After about 10 minutes, roll the dough out onto a floured work surface. Using a cup with a roughly 3-inch diameter opening, cut out the circles. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
- Lay the dough circles evenly on the baking sheets. Put 1-2 pieces of guava paste on each circle. Add some sweetened cream cheese onto the guava paste. Fold the dough around the guava and cheese mixture, covering all of the filling. Press the edges together. The end result should look like mini empanadas.
- Repeat this process until all of the cookies are made. If you want to make the heart-shaped pastelis, you'll need some heart-shaped cookie cutters. Cut out an equal number of larger hearts. Then, using a small heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut out a small heart from half of the hearts. Place the guava and cheese on the whole hearts and top with the cutout heart.
- If desired, top with large crystal turbinado cane sugar. Bake one sheet of pastelitos at a time for 20 minutes at 350 F.
- Let the pastelitos sit for 10 minutes before enjoying. They will be hot! They are so delicious, you won't be able to stop at one!
Notes
- Store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
- You can freeze them before you bake them or after. If you’re freezing before you bake them, lay them flat on a tray to freeze, then transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze for up to 3 months. You’ll need to add a few extra minutes of baking time when baking from frozen.
- You should be able to find guava paste in the International section of most grocery stores. You can also find it at your local Hispanic grocery store.
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