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!  ;-)

For the love of guava...

WARNING: I've used a lot (!) of exclamation points in the following post. Such was my level of excitement...

In my family of origin and in the Cuban home where I grew up, we always had a couple of items in the pantry:

1. Cans of leche condensada (sweetened condensed milk).
2. Bars of guava paste.

I'm guessing that the way we used those two culinary (?) items might seem questionable to those outside of our culture, but they were staples in our home.

I'm also guessing that guava might be an acquired taste.

This doesn't, however, diminish my love for guava in any form, particularly when it comes to desserts.

Exhibit A - Pastelito de Guayaba from the nearest Portos Cuban Bakery:

The following exchange started when a fan of MBFCF posted the following photo on my Facebook fan page. (By the way, if you don't follow MyBigFatCubanFamily on Facebook, you really should. But that's not important right now.)

"Look!" My friend, Maria Prieto, tagged me in a photo:

They look like Fig Newtons, but made with guava?

GUAT?!!

I decided that I Must. Have. These. Sadly, this guavaliciousness is only to be found 3,ooo miles away... in Miami.

Then another friend posted this ad from Sedanos. Which I'm pretty sure only exists in Miami, which, again, is 3,000 miles away from me.

(I'm starting to take this personally...)

They're even on sale! Why, oh why, do I live 3,000 miles away from this guavaliciousness?

At almost the same time, I got an email from Reader Grace with the following photo:

And another from Geraldine raving about the guavalicious goodness of these forbidden treats. (3,000 miles away, people!)

And then this one from the lovely Christina Flores-Pina. Her blog is called La Cocina de Christina, and you want to go check it out. Trust me. (She can probably even tell you how many Weight Watchers points in these, because she knows stuff and is cool that way.)

The taunts photos were coming from everywhere. *heavy sigh*

But then, because MBFCF readers are fabulous that way....the offers started coming in, too....

My friend, Maria, who happens to live in Miami and near a place that sells the forbidden fruit bites, offered to send me some.

Umm....YES!

{Special NOTE: Maria is the fabulous artist, Maria Soto Robbins - here's a link to her artsy blog, who made the beautiful pendants that my daughters and I love and wear most all the time. Please check out her wonderful ETSY shop, art by msr, and give her some love.}

And another from Reader Gladys in New Jersey. (New Jersey, you might have noticed, is still 3,000 miles away from me. Just sayin.')

So now, I've got quite the stash of the fabulously amazing Conchita Guava Bites! (<--That exclamation point is actually part of their logo, but that's not important right now.)

And while we're on the subject, to the Conchita Guava Bites! (<--again) People, I'd just like to say that I'd really love a lifetime supply of these beauties for all this free press I'm giving you and also because the nearest store that carries these is 3,000 miles away. Just consider it, please. That is all.  ;-)

And to those of you who have so generously offered to help me maintain my guava habit, muchisimos besos!

And for those of you who would like to join in on the relajo that is MBFCF fan page, please "like" us on El Feisbu. Even if you're 3,ooo miles away. =D