Easy Guava Pastries (Guayaba Pastelitos)

First things first: had I realized how easy these guava cream cheese pastries (guayaba pastelitos) were to make, I would have been making them a long time ago!! Also, it’s so dangerous that I have this recipe now and can make pastelitos any time I want!! So you’ve been warned. You may become everyone’s new best friend if you start bringing these around. They’re dangerously easy and so MOUTH WATERING and you can make these with or without cream cheese too…because cream cheese makes everything better!

If you’ve never had guava pastries before, you’ve been missing out! Guava is a tropical fruit and it gets made into a paste that’s almost like a really thick jelly that’s fruity and sweet. Stuff that inside of a pastry and it’s perfection!!  These are made with frozen puff-pastry so they take only a few minutes to put together.

If you’re making them with cream cheese, just slice a block of cream cheese about 1/4 inch thick and lay one slice across the guava paste. I like to lay it diagonally so you get some in every bite. You can see it in the video below.

Guava Pastries (Pastelitos de Guayaba)

Coco and Ash

Print Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Total Time 35 minutes mins

Servings 9

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1 package pepperidge farm puff pastry (Thawed but kept very cold)
• 1 14 ounce package guava paste (sliced into 18, 1/4 inch slices)
• 6 ounces cream cheese (sliced into 9, 1/4 thick slices)
• 1 egg (beaten)
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar (optional)

Instructions

 

• Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees and beat your egg and set aside. Also take out your puff pastry from the freezer. (You don't want it to get all the way to room temperature but you do want it to be JUST soft enough that you can unfold it.)
• Slice your guava paste into 18 slices. (About 1/4 inch thick). 
• Unfold 1 puff pastry sheet and lay on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. (keep the other pastry sheet in the fridge until ready to use)
• Take two pieces of guava paste and place them together where each pastry will be. (See photos and/or video)  (This recipe makes 9 pastries so 3 pastries across and 3 pastries down.)
• If you're adding cream cheese, take 1, 1/4 inch slice of cream cheese and place it in right on top of the guava pieces. I just use one piece per pastry so it doesn't overwhelm the guava. 
• Take out the second sheet of puff pastry and unfold over the top of the guava pieces. Don't worry about sealing the edges. 
• Cut the pastry sheets into 9 equal squares. Just do your best to cut in between the guava pieces. Go slowly!! The guava is very sticky so you don't want your knife to pull everything apart. 
• Cut 2 slits in the top of each square to vent. 
• Brush the tops with the egg wash.
• Place in the oven for 25-30 minutes. 
• After they've cooled for about 10 minutes, you can dust them with powdered sugar if you'd like. They're great either way!! ENJOY!

Notes

Make sure that you keep the puff pastry VERY cold. It can still be hard. If it gets too soft, the pastry won't puff up and these can come out greasy.  

Tried this recipe?Leave a comment!

Recipe adapted from My Big Fat Cuban Family