If you’re going to treat yourself to a breakfast pastry, then it has to be this delicious pastel de guayaba y queso! It’s sweet, tangy, crispy, and so so fluffy with tons of soft layers inside.
I love eating this guava and cheese danish with a hot comfort drink like chocolate con leche or café con leche. It’s honestly the best way to start an early morning and enjoy something warm and cozy.
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Use homemade puff pastry
Or your favorite, high quality store brought dough! The pastry is the star of this recipe, so if you have the time, making it from scratch is totally worth it for that extra flaky, buttery texture. And it’s just a few basic ingredients to make it from scratch: flour, salt, sugar, instant yeast, butter, milk, and an egg.
Use guava paste to make the jelly topping
To get the perfect consistency for topping your pastel de guayaba y queso, just combine guava paste with a little water in a pot over medium heat. Stir it while it melts down into a smooth, glossy mixture. Once it’s all combined, let it cool completely. That’s the key part because as it cools, it thickens up just right for topping over the danishes.
Press the center of the danish before topping
If you skip this step your danishes won’t have the same look! Cut a small rectangle in the center of the puff pastry, not all the way through, and just press it down. It makes this little spot that’s perfect for holding the topping. Pressing the middle helps the edges puff up while the center stays flat, so it looks super neat and holds all that guayaba y queso perfectly.
Brush with egg white wash
Brushing the pastries with an egg white wash makes such a difference. It gives the guava and cheese danishes a gorgeous golden color and a slight crispness once baked. I just whisk the egg white and brush it on right before they go in the oven.
Drizzle with icing for a sweet touch
For a sweet touch, you can drizzle some icing on top of your pastel de guayaba y queso if you want. Just mix powdered sugar with a little milk until it’s smooth and easy to drizzle. It’s totally optional, but it adds a nice bit of sweetness and ties all the flavors of the pastry together!
Guava and Cheese Danish (Pastel de Guayaba y Queso)
Ingredients
Puff pastry
- 1 puff pastry sheet
Cream cheese topping
- 8 oz cream cheese at room temperature
- 1 egg yolk
- 3 tbsp sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
Guava topping
- 2 tbsp guava paste
- ½ cup water
Egg white wash
- 1 egg white
- 1 tbsp water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Roll out the puff pastry and cut it into 6 rectangles. Score a smaller rectangle in the center of each piece and press down to create a pocket.
- Use a hand mixer to beat the cream cheese, egg yolk, sugar, and salt until smooth, then set it aside.
- In a small pot, heat guava paste and water over medium heat, stirring until smooth, then set it aside and let it cool.
- Whisk together the egg white and water. then brush the edges of the puff pastry with the egg wash.
- Use a spoon or a piping bag to spread the cream cheese mixture onto the center of each pastry, then spoon the guava mixture on top of the cream cheese.
- Bake for 18–20 minutes until the puff pastry is golden and flaky. Cool slightly before serving and buen provecho!
