Guava pastry recipe

South Florida will forever be my first home. Cuba is literally in my blood. This past year, I have been taking the time to learn how to make more authentic cuban meals from scratch. But there is one easy thing (not fully from scratch) that I learned yearssss ago. Everytime I order these, I can't just have one, two, or three. So I learned how to make them and everyone always asks me for the recipe!

via GIPHY

Guava pastries!
In this post you will find a super easy way to make guava pastries in 20-25 mins!

Easy guava pastry recipe:

Puff Pastry dough, not filo
Guava paste
1 full egg for egg wash
(raw sugar topping is optional)

Baking Instructions: THE PUFF PASTRY DOUGH

Set the oven to pre-heat to 400 degrees F.
Open a box of puff pastry dough and you will find two, folded into thirds, sheets of dough. Fold them out, and break apart the thirds.
Cut each new rectangle of dough into thirds. As evenly as possible, cut the slices to where each slice you make can be a sort of sandwich parallel slice. You are basically putting a slice of guava paste between two slices of puff pastry dough. It is that simple lol. Move the dough away from the oven so it doesn't get too hot. Line the bottom of a large baking sheet with parchment paper and place the cut outs individually.

Baking Instructions: THE GUAVA FILLING

TIP: Use a pastry chopper/scraper to cut up the paste. Guava paste is made from a sweet tropical guava fruit. Slice the guava paste into very thin strips to fit between two slices of the dough. The thinner the better in my opinion, but I looooove trying to have the guava paste almost completely take up the center of the dough square; just leaving the edges of the dough clear for binding. Tip: try to avoid the edges so that the guava doesn't melt out onto the baking sheet in the oven.
Now you can hand bind together the dough around the guava to almost make raviolis. Try not to handle the dough too much, you don't need to be perfect with these. The more you handle the dough, the warmer the dough gets and then it gets soggy. You can still cook it like this, but I think they come out fluffier when not as soggy. Cut three ventilation slits on the top of the pastries. If you didn't move the dough away from the oven earlier, it is good to do it now to keep the dough cold.

Pic from when I showed my friend Jenna the recipe 😍

Baking Instructions: THE EGG WASH

Whisk one large egg, then brush the egg onto the raw pastries you just created. Egg yolk can get clumpy and uneven when brushed on, so try to whisk it really good before doing so. I like to put it into a solo cup so that I can brush off some yolk too before brushing it on to the dough. If you do accidentally use a bunch of egg on a slice of dough, that's fine, but try to evenly brush it on as quickly as possible to keep the dough cold. lol Sorry to say it so much, but it really does look more like this picture when the dough is kept cold. Now they are ready to bake as is! But if you want some extra sweetness, speckle some sugar on top of the pastries before baking.

via GIPHY

Baking Instructions: TIME TO BAKE!

Bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees F. I enjoy leaving the light on so I can see how puffed up they get. Let it cook until the egg-wash looks nice and golden. Try not to bake it less than 20 minutes cause the guava paste will taste more raw. Sometimes the two slices of dough may appear to be separating, don't worry! That is totally normal, but if you're super stressed, use a spatula to press down on the pastry like a sandwich while it is baking. The guava paste is burning hottttt when you first take it out of the oven, so try to wait 5-7 minutes before consuming. Yesssss, now you get a nice fresh warm guava pastry. Great for breakfast, a snack, or dessert. I personally do not add cheese, but you can add cream cheese with the paste if you would like.