Homemade Pastelitos de Guayaba - in 3 Acts.

I don't give it much thought anymore. One of my kids will say they are craving Cuban guava pastries (Pastelitos de Guayaba).

This inevitably makes me smile because I remember having this same craving growing up. Sadly, it was only when we were on a random trip to L.A. that there was even a remote chance that my pastelito craving could be indulged.

Living here in Southern California, I had often lamented that there were no pastelitos to be had, unless, of course, I wanted to take the time out to roll out dough and all that. I did it on occasion, because the other alternative was to drive five area codes in So Cal traffic to procure the beloved pastelito. And that road trip, while eventually satisfying, was also time consuming and gas-guzzling.

Necessity, as they say, is the mother of invention. (Well, in this case, it wasn't technically a necessity. It was a craving. But that's not important right now.) And I figured out a way to make easy pastelitos de guayaba at home. Easy. Pastelitos. (I firmly believe and maintain that it was Divine Inspiration.)

So I shared my recipe and there was great rejoicing in the land. (Yay! *confetti canons explode*)

Now when someone has a craving, they reach into the cupboard for the guava paste (always on hand) and into the freezer for some frozen pastry dough (also always available). You never know when the craving will strike and it's best to be prepared, no?

That's the story of my life. Or rather, this might be....

Pastelitos de Guayaba - in 3 Acts

• Act 1 - Bake a batch of pastelitos. (Recipe can be found right here.)
• Act 2 - Wait (impatiently, with lots of finger tapping and pacing) for them to cool.
• Act 3 - Serve them on a platter (listen closely for all the oohs and aahs).

Wait for the applause. Take your bow.

Bravo!  ;-)