Pastelitos de Guayaba (Guava Pastelitos)

By: Rocio Laucerica

Ingredients:

• 1 pound boxed frozen puff pastry dough, defrosted in the fridge for a few hours per the box's instructions.
• 1 cup guava jam
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 Tbsp water, boiling
• 2 Tbsp granulated suga

instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 375 °F. Line a sheet pan with a piece of parchment paper.
• Sprinkle some flour onto your work surface and a rolling pin and, working quickly, roll out the puff pastry dough to a 10-inch by 15-inch rectangle. Repeat with the second piece of dough.
• Use a pizza cutter to slice each sheet of dough in half once along the long side (so you have four 5-inch by 15-inch rectangles). Do this again, but this time along the short sides so you end up with eight roughly 5-inch by 7½-inch pieces, and then again in the same direction so you have 16 pieces, each roughly 5-inch by 3¼-inch
• Place half of the puff pastry pieces (8 of them, set aside the other 8) on your prepped baking sheet and top each piece with ~2Tbsp of guava jam in the middle.
• Working on a few pieces at a time, use a pastry brush (or your finger) dipped in some water and brush a little of the water along the perimeter of the puff pastry dough, around the dollop of guava. Top with one of the pastry pieces you had set aside, pressing slightly along the edges of the dough- your goal is not to squish or flatten them together, just to get the two pieces to adhere to each other. You should end up with 8 pop tart-looking pastelitos on a pan.
• Brush the tops of the pastelitos with the egg before placing the baking sheet in the fridge for 10-15 minutes to cool down the butter in the dough before it heads into the oven.
• placing the pastries in the oven, cut a single slit on the top of the pastry to allow for steam to escape. Bake the pastelitos for 30-35 minutes. They are done when you can gently shake the baking sheet and the pastries are able to move around on the pan.
• While the pastelitos are baking, combine the 2Tbsp boiling water with 2Tbsp sugar and stir to dissolve. Set aside to cool down.
• When the pastries are done, use a pastry brush to brush the tops of the pastelitos with the sugar water. Allow to cool slightly before enjoying pastelitos