Guava Cheesecake Tart

Cuban pastelitos have long been my favorite thing to make with guava paste. They were also, incidentally, the only thing I knew how to make with guava paste. They’re super straightforward: just squares of puff pastry folded over bits of guava paste and cream cheese and baked. Eat a few with a coffee¹ and pretend you’re in Miami.² The cream cheese and crust made me think of cheesecake, though, and long story short I’m now up to two guava paste recipes to choose from.

Tart to Tart

Ok, let’s turn pastelitos into a tart. There are three components to consider: the guava paste, cream cheese, and puff pastry. We can substitute a tart crust for the pastry and fill it with a quick cheesecake-like filling flavored with guava paste. If you haven’t had it before, guava paste is dense and sticky–closer in texture to a soft caramel than a jam–and sweet enough that we don’t need to add any sugar to the recipe. It’s sold in dark purple bricks in the same aisles and stores you’ll find other Hispanic or Caribbean products. It’s too firm to mix directly into a filling, so we begin by gently melting the paste with a splash of water. Once the paste is smooth, transfer it to a stand mixer (or a bowl if you’re using a hand mixer or whisk) and mix it to break up and last bits of paste.

Next, beat in softened cream cheese; you’ll end up with a curiously orange mixture that looks a lot like pumpkin pie filling. Color theory has never been my strong suit, but just go with it. Make sure you’re thorough here; you don’t want bits of guava paste or cream cheese in your final tart. It’s important to use a flexible spatula to clean up the sides and bottom of the bowl, as unincorporated bits tend to stick there if you don’t take care of them. Next, we add lemon and vanilla to bring back some fresh guava flavor and aroma that’s lost when cooking the fruit down into paste, as well as an optional splash of rum–not enough to really taste, but the alcohol helps bring out other flavors in the same way that a vodka sauce tastes different from plain tomato sauce. A few eggs help the whole thing set when baked, and just like that it’s ready to pour into the tart dough that you made earlier (you did make the tart dough earlier, didn’t you?)

The tart is pretty thin, so it cooks a lot faster than a full-sized cheesecake, but you still want to look for the same cues it’s cooked that you would for any baked custard. When you gently shake the tart, you want the filling around the edges to be set, but the center should still wobble. You don’t want the filling to slosh around wetly, though; it should move around as a single mass, like jello that isn’t quite set. The carryover heat will continue cooking the eggs in the filling as it cools, and both the cream cheese and guava paste will thicken. Once the tart is mostly cooled, it’ll be firm enough to slice. Remove from the pan, cut into wedges, top with whipped cream if you want, and serve. Not quite what you’ll find in Miami, but you can pretend you’re there just the same.

Play Around

• You’ll have half a package of guava paste left after making this recipe, if you find them in the same 400 gram size that I do. You can make a double batch of filling and bake the extra in ramekins, or make a few actual pastelitos with some cream cheese and frozen puff pastry.
• You could also use a double batch of filling to fill a larger pie crust. You could also use a graham cracker crust if you didn’t want to deal with making the tart dough.
• Quince paste would be a good swap for guava, and jam might also be tasty, though you’ll probably have a slightly more fluid final texture.

Notes

1. I don’t drink coffee.
2. I’ve never had a pastelito in Miami.

Guava Cheesecake Tart

Prep List

Equipment

Procedure

Notes