These Guava Cream Cheese Pastries Are Deliciously Vegan

The following recipe and excerpt for Guava Cream Cheese Pastry are from “Miami Vegan: Plant-Based Recipes from the Tropics to Your Table” by Ellen Kanner. It’s available for purchase at Walmart.

Puff pastry, vegan cream cheese, and guava paste, all gettable at your grocery store, come together for something easy to make, Instagram-worthy, and sublime to eat — crispy, flaky, creamy, sticky, and sweet in every bite.

Pastelitos de guayaba are eaten at breakfast with a café Cubano and enjoyed throughout the day just because we can. Pastelitos taste best right out of the oven. They’ll be snatched up for brunch, so make a double batch.

Guava Cream Cheese Pastry (Pastelitos de Guayaba)

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time: 25 minutesCook time: 30 minutesTotal time: 55 minutesServings:8 servings

Ingredients

• 1 14-ounce package frozen puff pastry (see note)
• 1 8-ounce package vegan cream cheese, chilled (see note)
• 4 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 7 to 8 ounces guava paste (half a 14-ounce package) (see note)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with a parchment sheet or Silpat.
2. Unroll one sheet of puff pastry and fit onto the prepared baking sheet.
3. In a small bowl, mix together the vegan cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth and creamy. Powdered sugar contains a little cornstarch for lightness and structure. It helps the cream cheese here keep its shape and not go totally oozy on you.
4. Pop the vegan cream cheese mixture in the freezer for a few minutes while you roll out the puff pastry.
5. Take about half the brick of guava paste and slice it thinly, reserving the rest for another use.
6. Spread cream cheese evenly on the bottom sheet of pastry, covering as much as possible and leaving just a little pastry bare at the edges.
7. Fit the slices of guava paste on top, again covering as much as possible.
8. Roll out the remaining sheet of puff pastry. Fit it on top of the guava and cream cheese. Gently press the edges of the pastry sheets together.
9. Make diagonal slits across the top, about 2 inches apart, to let steam escape. Then lightly score the pastry into 16 individual pieces, but do not separate them.
10. Bake for 30 minutes or until pastry has puffed and turned a rich golden brown, and your kitchen smells buttery. Remove pastry from oven and allow it to cool.
11. Slice through where you have scored the pastry. The pieces should separate easily.

Notes

• Choose frozen puff pastry sheets made with palm oil, not butter or, dios mio, lard.
• Different vegan cream cheese brands perform differently. Choose a kind that’s firm, rather than spreadable. You can also omit the vegan cream cheese entirely; make all-guava pastries and get on with your life.
• Guava paste is available in every Miami grocery store, many grocery stores throughout the country, online, and in specialty markets. Brands include Conchita and Iberia.

Excerpted from Miami Vegan: Plant-Based Recipes from the Tropics to Your Table by Ellen Kanner. Copyright © 2025. Published by LCIX Editions. Photographs © 2025 by Kathleen Ballard Photography.

• Breakfast Recipes
• Dessert
• Vegan