Guava and Cream Cheese Twists Recipe (2024)

In Cuba we used to slice a serving from a bar of guava paste (called Guayaba) and top it with an equal slice of cream cheese. An easy and tasty dessert. The guava is very sweet, so the cream cheese is necessary to make it less sweet. We also used to do the same with a bar of quince paste (called Membrillo)

A note of caution. The dough is very hard to work with. Softens almost immediately when rolling. Difficult to peel off the countertop. Next time I’ll add alittle more flour or almond flour. And next time I’ll place the rolled out dough in the freezer for a few mins before shaping around the guava sticks. My cookies are ugly but tasty.

How would one use raspberry or other jam instead of guava paste?

It would be quite difficult, as guava paste is extremely thick - more like a solid jelly. You can literally slice it. Perhaps you could dehydrate the jam a bit in the oven spread out? Like starting a thick layer of fruit leather and changing your mind halfway through?

I make these all the time using frozen puff pastry dough because life is short.

Why does this recipe call these "Puerto Rican pastries" when the article you link to correctly identifies them as Cuban?

There are other pastes out there, like quince for instance but it has to be thick and ideally something you can cut.

My go-to immediate gratification sweet creamy treat is white toast with a thick smear of mascarpone + guave paste. Delish! Try it. I am sure this pastry is fabulous but if you have a more time sensitive need in the same vein, then it more than works.

Guava paste and Manchego cheese.

If you've tried the real thing, you wouldn't subsititute for the guava paste. It's EVERYTHING.

Mine came in a round can and was more than I needed. It was about 3/4 of an inch thick. I cut a 4 x 4 square out of the circle, then cut that into two 2 x 4 pieces. I cut each of those into eight pieces that were 2 by 1/2. Since it was about 3/4 of an inch thick, I was able to cut them into three pieces so I ended up with 48 pieces that were 2 x 1/2 x 1/4. I cut the other two pieces out of the remaining guava paste.

This is not the first recipe by Genevieve with dubious results, and a mountain of unfavourable reviews. It really makes me question whether her recipes are properly tested at all. Based on personal experience, I’m weary of trying any of her recipes tbh

Any way these freeze well?

Second year making these for Christmas. Chilled the dough overnight and rolled carefully with lots of flour. A bench scraper makes easier work of trimming and cutting. I love love love the rich dough with the tart-sweet guava paste and do NOT recommend using any other product to fill. I will keep going back to these.

Knowing that the dough would soften quickly, I aimed for speed. So I wasn’t at all precise in cutting the rectangles, and I pinched the dough just a little to make sure it would stay closed. I divided the dough in two, keeping one refrigerated, which meant I had to bake each batch separately. Also, I didn’t fill them as full as the recipe called for, but they came out looking gorgeous and they were a huge success at a tapas party. Everyone asked me to make them again!

I am allergic to dairy so I was pleasantly surprised when the dough held together using vegan butter and cream cheese substitutes. Yes the dough is soft but a little extra flour and a heavily floured surface with quick work did the trick. I also refrigerated the bars before baking.

Delicious but too intricate for me. All that measuring etc. Can get the same taste without the twisting frustration. Not trying to be a caterer just love guava paste.

Definitely obnoxious to make, but the flavor is excellent. I saw someone had made a comment about just using rugelach dough, and I thought that was brilliant. So I followed this recipe but left out the egg yolk and increased the flour to 150g. I also used salted butter to make the dough slightly more savory. Chilled for quite a while. Made 30 cookies 3inx2in. Egg washed and sprinkled with Demerara sugar. Chilled for over an hour. Baked for 16 minutes. Patience required :) I'd make them again.

Loved the flavor of these cookies, and the video was really helpful. They looked gorgeous until we tried to roll them into their swaddles, despite being as delicate as possible. I think I’d actually make these more like a reverse linzer cookie next time, where the dough is just one big circle or square and I’d cut the guava paste with little cookie cutters and put on top. Super tasty, but not the prettiest in the shape that the recipe recommends

I followed the suggestions and added an extra 1/4 cup of flour & rolled between parchment, chilled dough before and after shaping, and even turned the cookies face down to firm up the shape while chilling. Almost every one unrolled in the oven, but they were utterly delicious

I'm not a baker by any means, but a summary of tips1) add extra 1/4 cup flour (dough much stabler)2) chill dough overnight (if possible)3) measurements don't need to be exact - I figured I just need to put guava inside, so rolled the dough to 1/8in thick then cut into as even squares as I could. Some were smaller. Some larger.4) cut guava on wax paper into even pieces to fit most squares. Some guava I cut in half for smaller pieces (or added an extra half to larger ones)

These were OK, i bake every single day and these didn’t live up to the hype in my opinion. I used quince paste purchased at Amazon. I’ve made much much tastier cookies without the hassle, plus they’re so small, i rather spend my time making actual pastelillos which I’m sure taste way better than this. The paste is overly sweet, i think it needs to be balanced out

These are pretty but I hesitate to make recipes with no nutritionals. I want to know these things or I figure they are too deluxe with the calories...

Delicious! Adding 1-2 tablespoon flour to dough and was very easy to roll out. Chlled the twists on sheet pans with silicon mats (ie put in cold porch) for a little while before brushing and putting on sparkling sugar then baking. Didn’t fall apart, though tough to make pretty. But still tasty!

Many of the notes prepared me. I worked quickly with my chilled dough. When I was careful my cookie looked like the pic. Either way they were delicious! Guava paste was magic. It stood up to the baking. They were so good I did not share. We slooowly ate each one. What a treat!

I had similar problems that others had where the cookies opened up like a book. That said the flavor was good but IMHO making these were too fussy for the end result. It didn't wow me. (It didn't help that earlier in the day I baked up a batch of NYT Snickerdoodles which are my go-to.) These cookies are probably best enjoyed fresh baked from a Latin bakery - so I'm on the hunt for one now in my city.