Strawberry and Cream Cheese Pastelitos (Pastries) {Recipe}

Pastelitos have always been a favorite pastry dessert of mine, especially pastelitos de guayaba. We actually call them pastelillos in Puerto Rico, but they’re more commonly known as pastelitos in most Latin American countries. This delicious puff pastry dessert can come with a variety of fillings, but guayaba (guava) is one of the most common, as is guava combined with cream cheese. Now, I’ve never made them myself – we’ve always just bought them from a bakery – but, I’ve been wanting to try my friend Marta’s recipe for homemade pastelitos de guayaba for a while!

As Spring is in full effect, I wanted to take advantage of spring produce and seasonal fruits to recreate this pastry dessert. With local grocery stores, such as Walmart, known to carry lots of strawberries in spring, I knew it would be the perfect fruit to make pastelitos a favorite dessert for spring. Using Marta’s base recipe and method for homemade pastelitos, I modified it to create delicious strawberry and cream cheese pastelitos! Read on to see how easy it is to make this puff pastry yourself!

Strawberry and Cream Cheese Pastelitos (Pastries)

Ingredients

• Strawberries (about 15 medium)
• Puff Pastry Sheets (2), thawed according to package directions
• Cream Cheese, softened
• Sugar or Splenda

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400° F.
2. Line a cookie sheet with wax paper and spray with cooking spray.
3. Cut strawberries into quarters, removing the stems. The idea is to cut the strawberries into small enough pieces so they’ll be easy to mash.
4. In a small bowl, hand mash the strawberries using a potato masher or similar tool.
5. Add sugar (or Splenda) to taste and set aside.
6. Lay one puff pastry sheet on the cookie sheet.
7. Spread cream cheese evenly on puff pastry sheet.
8. Drain your strawberry mixture to reduce the amount of liquid and spread over cream cheese.
9. Place the remaining puff pastry sheet on top.
10. Cut into 9 squares, following the natural segments of the puff pastry sheets.
11. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.
12. Remove from oven and let pastelitos cool down before enjoying!

What is one of your favorite spring recipes?

Disclosure: As a participant in the Walmart Moms Program, I received compensation for my time and efforts in creating this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

All photos © Melanie Edwards/modernmami™