Pastelito de Guayaba

Puff Pastry, Whipped Cream Cheese, and Guava Marmalade

Baker Arturo Enciso of Gusto Bread | Long Beach, CA
Yield: 8 pastelitos

Adapted by StarChefs | May 2021

INGREDIENTS:

Puff Pastry:
1 kilogram bread flour
15 grams salt
750 grams French butter

Whipped Cream Cheese:
8 ounces cream cheese
50 grams sugar

To Assemble and Serve:
Eggs, beaten
12 ounces guava marmalade
Sugar

METHOD:

For the Puff Pastry:
Mix flour and salt and set aside. Cube 100 grams butter into pea-sized pieces. Toss into flour mixture and slowly add 550 milliliters cold water, mixing by hand until it comes together and no dry flour remains. Don’t knead; that will develop the gluten. Shape dough into a ball and wrap in plastic. Let rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

In the meantime, pound a 650-gram block of butter to soften. With parchment paper, shape into a square roughly 9 by 9 inches. Leave out for laminating with the ball of dough. Press the dough ball down and slowly roll out 1 edge to about 6 inches long. Now, do the same for the other end and then again for the other corners until you have a cross shape while leaving the center slightly thicker. Place your butter block in the center and fold the flaps over it so it's completely encased. Pinch any open seams. Lightly flour the worktable and roll the laminated block out to 12 by 18 inches. With the long side facing you, do a trifold (letter fold). Roll out to 12 by 18 inches again and do another letter fold. Cover in plastic and chill for 1 hour. This is 2 folds. Repeat these steps for a total of 6 folds. After the last fold, chill at least 1 hour before working with it or let rest overnight. Divide in half and roll out each block to 18 by 18 inches. Then cut to 9-by-9-inch sheets to build the pastelitos. Freeze extra sheets to have puff pastry for future pastelitos.

For the Whipped Cream Cheese:
In the bowl of a small mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and sugar at medium speed, about 3 minutes or until fully homogenous and fluffy. Place in a piping bag with a ¼-inch straight tip.

To Assemble and Serve:
Carefully cut two 9-by-9-inch puff pastry squares to 4½ inches. Line 2 half sheet pans with parchment paper and transfer 4 squares per pan. Brush each square with egg then pipe a ring of Whipped Cream Cheese inside the perimeter, roughly 3 inches in diameter. Scoop ¾ ounce of the guava marmalade inside the rings. Finish each square with a sprinkle of sugar to help caramelize the puff pastry.

Bake at 375°F for 10 minutes then rotate and turn the oven down to 325°F. Finish baking for another 5 to 10 minutes until tops are golden brown and the bottoms are crisp.

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