Cuban Guava Pastries, known as Pastelitos de Guayaba y Queso, are an incredibly delicious treat that are surprisingly easy to make! You’ll just drool over these delicate golden brown puff pastry squares filled with cream cheese and guava paste.
Family Traditions
My husband is half Cuban and when we were dating (half a lifetime ago!) he introduced me to Cuban food. OH.EMM.GEE. Cuban food is so delicioso! I love my mother-in-laws arroz con pollo, which my husband has now also learned to make for me. My guy also absolutely perfected Ropa Vieja. It is the ultimate comfort food! You can see the recipe I posted here years ago that, in spite of lousy photography, still brings visitors to this site to get the recipe.
My all-time favorite Cuban treat is hands down Pastelitos de Guayaba y Queso. We just call them Cuban Guava Pastries and they disappear SO FAST whenever we make them.
Guava Paste
I live in small town USA, so guava paste isn’t easy to come by. It most certainly exists nowhere in my county, so to avoid a trip to the city for a can of guava paste, I order it on Amazon (affiliate link). Because I have Prime, it comes to my door just two days later.
The can of Goya Guava Paste that I order is big enough for two batches of Pastelitos plus a few spoonfuls that my daughter and I sneak as a snack.
Here she is, unaware that she’s been caught on camera digging into the guava paste. 🙂
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Making Cuban Guava Pastries – Pastelitos de Guayaba y Queso
When making Cuban Guava Pastries (Pastelitos de Guayaba y Queso), I use Pepperidge Farm’s Puff Pastry. It’s just so perfect and easy to use, so I don’t see the need to trouble with making the pastry from scratch.
I thaw the puff pastry on the counter for 45 minutes then open it and lay it flat on a cookie sheet. I use a knife to score the top of one of the sheets of dough to create 9 squares. Scoring means to just cut the top portion of the dough without cutting all the way through. I just do this to serve as a guide when I add the filling.
Next, I slice the cream cheese and guava paste into 9 equal portions. I lay the cream cheese onto the center area of each of the 9 squares, then top with the sliced guava paste.
I also need to mention that I highly recommend you bake your Pastelitos on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat. This is to make clean up easier if the guava paste spills out of the pastries a little bit.
I placed the second sheet of puff pastry on top of the first sheet with the cream cheese and guava filling. I then used the side of my hand to press down a little around the filling. This allowed me to easily see where I needed to cut to separate the 9 squares.
Use a sharp knife to cut three slits across the top of the Pastelitos.
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Before baking, you’ll want to brush the Pastelitos with an egg wash to give them a beautiful golden brown color as they bake. This job was perfect for my little six year old helper!
After baking… Pastelitos perfection!
Let them cool a little, then dig in!
Pastelitos are just perfect as they are, but also really pretty when sprinkled with a light dusting of powdered sugar.
If you have any left over Pastelitos, and I cannot guarantee that you will, be sure to store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Reheat the Pastelitos on a microwave safe plate for a few second (be careful; the filling will get hot!).
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Cuban Guava Pastries – Pastelitos de Guayaba y Queso
Description
Cuban Guava Pastries, known as Pastelitos de Guayaba y Queso, are an incredibly delicious treat that are surprisingly easy to make! You’ll just drool over these delicate golden brown puff pastry squares filled with cream cheese and guava paste.
Ingredients
Instructions
Do You Love Your Pastelitos?
Did you make Pastelitos? How do you love them? You can leave me a five star rating in the comments!
After you make these Pastelitos, be sure to snap a picture and upload it to Pinterest. All you have to do is click here to see the pin and then click on the “Add Photo” button to add your own photo and show others how they turned out for you.
Enjoy!
Omg these turned out beautifully. Golden beauties and delicious!