Recipes Breakfast & Brunch Breakfast Breads & Pastries Pastries Guava Quesitos Be the first to rate & review! 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 Tested by Food & Wine Test Kitchen Recipes published by Food & Wine are rigorously tested by the culinary professionals at the Dotdash Meredith Food Studios in order to empower home cooks to enjoy being in the kitchen and preparing meals they will love. Our expert culinary team tests and retests each recipe using equipment and ingredients found in home kitchens to ensure that every recipe is delicious and works for cooks at home every single time. Meet the Food & Wine Test Kitchen Rate Print Share 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. 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. Note Iberia guava paste can be found at Latin American grocery stores or online at parthenonfoods.com. Rate It Print