Guava Pastry....thanks to Pepperidge Farms...yummm

The generous folks at Pepperidge Farms and Foodbuzz (a lovely new partnership) very kindly sent me a certificate for free puff pastry. Free. That’s right……..being a featured publisher has its perks.

When I brought the puff pastry home I immediately made another chicken, bacon and mushroom pie which I had written about here. I used just the one sheet.



Now…… the other sheet of puff pastry was calling out to be used for something new…(new to me anyway), and something just a bit out of the ordinary….

My SIL Barb visited during Thanksgiving and suggested I make guava turnovers. Have you ever had guava? Oh. My. I had not had any before last evening when I made a big pastry with it. Love it!



I planned on turnovers but after sharing a bottle of wine with steamed shrimp (don’t judge…I said I shared) I went the easy route. No triangles.

So, before dinner I got the following ready for prep:


1 large egg

About ½ tablespoon of water

6 ounces of softened cream cheese

1 tablespoon sugar

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

5 ounces guava paste (about 2/3 cup)

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 sheet thawed puff pastry sheet


Preheat the oven to 425 F.

Step One - OK….you are supposed to beat the egg with a fork and then put 1 ½ TBSP egg in separate bowl with ½ TBSP water.. Lightly beat and make egg wash.



Here is what I did - Beat egg and add water. I didn’t leave any of the egg minus the water aside for later. Will that make a difference you ask…wait for it!


Step Two - If you followed step one correctly then put remaining egg in food processor with cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Puree until smooth. Transfer to a small bowl.


Here is what I did – Took the beaten egg and water and put in food processor with cream cheese, sugar, vanilla (free hand poured so probably more than ¼ teaspoon). Pureed until smooth. Transferred to a small bowl.


Step Three – Puree guava paste with lemon juice in cleaned processor until smooth.



I cleaned the processor and I did not cut myself on the wicked sharp blades. Good on me, huh?

While I DID follow step three to the letter, here is an interesting note for those of you with a mini-processor such as I have.



Guava paste is not as pliable as one might think. I think I smelled smoke! It whirled and whirled and a strained sound issued forth.…then the bowl would unseat itself off the processor and jar to a stop. I’d lock it back into place and pulsed again.

It did finally make a smooth paste but I am not sure if the rocking about didn’t cause the bottom of the blade attachment to crack. Just slightly…but still……

Ok, back to baking the rectangle non-turnovers……….

Put a baking sheet in the preheated oven to warm up for about 5 minutes.

Roll out the puff pastry on a floured surface. I did not use flour, rebelliously rolling the pastry out without benefit of flour and you know what? It didn’t stick. It was perfect!



I placed the rolled out pastry on the baking sheet and poured the cream cheese mixture out evenly along the pastry. If you had followed step one then your cream cheese wouldn’t have been as liquidy. The cream cheese starts slowly rolling toward the sides. No problem.



Plop spoonfuls of guava paste atop the cream cheese. Now the cream cheese mixture is definitely coming out the ends of the pastry! Quickly fold the flaps of the puff pastry and seal. Now fold up the ends to capture the escaping cream cheese.



I scored the top of the pastry with a knife, gently, just enough to make some nice looking slices after it baked.

If you followed step one then you will have a small amount of the egg wash mixture left to brush on the enclosed pastry. I just used a small amount of water at that point.

Bake 25 minutes, then cook on a rack before cutting.



Was this good? Oh… yes…this was amazingly good. It was browned properly. It was flaky. In spite of my slightly inebriated happy mindset in the beginning of this endeavor…..it came out so well and looked bakery quality.



Content with a dessert we’d never made before, just the right amount of sweetness, the correct blend of flaky sweet pastry dough. And it was relatively easy.



If you try it please let me know what you think. I’m sure you could substitute another fruit for the guava if you are not a fan.

Cheers!