VeganMoFo Day 4: Pastelitos de Guayaba (Guava Pastries)

I’m pretty much obsessed with all things guava.  I’ve never had guava cake, but have heard such great things about it from friends who’ve tried it in Hawaii or at Aki's Bakery (San Jose, CA).  While surfing the internet for a guava cake recipe, I came across recipes for Cuban pastelitos de guayaba (guava pastries), which I had also heard about from many devout fans of Porto's Bakery in Southern California.  They sounded absolutely dreamy and pretty easy to make with only 3 main ingredients:  guava paste, cream cheese, and puff pastry.  Ooh la la! 

One ingredient that you may have trouble finding is the pre-made guava paste.  It’s available in most Latin grocery stores.  However, I had to search far and wide for one that didn’t contain artificial food coloring or high fructose corn syrup.  Luckily, I found a brand at Mexicana Produce (San Bruno, CA) that was made of only guava, sugar, pectin, and citric acid.  Score! 

Ingredients:

• Ready-made vegan puff pastry (such as Pepperidge Farm) or vegan pie crust
• Guava paste, cut into small pieces (guava jam or jelly would also work)
• Non-Dairy Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese
• Soy or almond milk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface. Cut into squares or circles and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
3. Place 1 or 2 pieces of guava paste and a spoonful of cream cheese in the center of each square or circle.
4. Fold dough over to form triangles or half circles and press edges together with a fork to seal.
5. Brush each pastry with soy or almond milk.
6. Bake for approximately 30-40 minutes until pastries are puffed and lightly browned.
7. Cool on a wire rack (but not completely…they’re so good warm)

There are two great instructional videos on how to make pastelitos de guayaba here and here. You can tailor the amounts of guava paste or cream cheese to your liking. I’ve also made muffins filled with this flavor combo and they were just as delicious. I’ll try my hand at making a guava cake next (my original intention). Stay tuned!