Guava Quesitos

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In these classic Puerto Rican sweet treats, a filling of cream cheese and sweet guava paste breathes new life into leftover puff pastry.

By Brandon Ivan Peña

Updated on July 26, 2023

Tested by

Food & Wine Test Kitchen

Guava Quesitos — Photo:
Christopher Testani / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Christina Daley

Active Time:

25 mins

Total Time:

1 hr 10 mins

Servings:

12 servings

Remember that leftover box of puff pastry sheets in your freezer? The one purchased over the holidays for celebratory appetizers and desserts that now finds itself lonely and left in the cold? This recipe for quesitos, the classic and beloved Puerto Rican pastries, is a delicious way to use it up. Quesitos (which translates as “little cheeses”) are golden and flakey pastry twists are filled with sugar-sweetened cream cheese. The recipe comes from 787 Coffee, which has shops in both Puerto Rico and New York. At their cafes, quesitos are a fast-selling treat paired with ones of their specialty coffee beverages. Their Quesitos de Guayaba use guava paste in the filling with the cream cheese, giving each pastry a unique sweetness underlined with hints of floral notes.

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Ingredients

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 (14-ounce) package frozen puff pastry sheets (such as Dufour), thawed
10 ounces packaged guava paste (from 1 [14-ounce] block) (such as Iberia), cut crosswise into 12 (1/8-inch-thick) strips
1 large egg, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons granulated sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in lower third position. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside. Stir together cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla in a medium bowl until combined.
Cut 6 (4-inch) squares from each puff pastry sheet to yield 12 squares; discard scraps. Divide pastry squares evenly among prepared baking sheets.
Working with 1 pastry square at a time, spread about 1 1/2 tablespoons cream cheese mixture from 1 corner diagonally to opposite corner. Top each cream cheese strip with 1 strip guava paste. Brush pastry edges with some of the beaten egg. Fold 1 corner over guava paste but not all the way to opposite corner, pressing lightly to adhere to pastry. Fold the opposite corner over the folded pastry to the other side, creating a cylinder with the guava in the center and 2 open ends. Brush each cylinder with beaten egg, and sprinkle each with 3/4 teaspoon granulated sugar. After finishing the first baking sheet, transfer to refrigerator; chill, uncovered, 15 minutes. Repeat process with remaining 6 pastry squares, cream cheese mixture, guava paste, beaten egg, and granulated sugar.
Remove the first baking sheet from refrigerator, and replace with the second baking sheet of prepared pastries. Bake first sheet in preheated oven until pastry is golden brown and crisp, 22 to 25 minutes. Remove from oven, and repeat with second batch.