This dessert goes by different names (pasteles de guayaba, pastelitos de guayaba y queso, guava and cheese strudel) depending on who you ask. I don't see why it wouldn't be more popular among bakers. It is an easy recipe that doesn't involve working with filo dough. Mine came out lighter in color because I don't use egg washes when baking. The recipe comes from the cookbook, In a Cuban Kitchen
by Alex Garcia. I "halved" the recipe because this was a first run, and while I like experimental cooking, I don't like to waste ingredients. It is possible that it's not a popular dessert because the dough requires a chilling step before it is rolled out, then cut into squares.
When I went shopping for guava paste at Vallarta's, I couldn't find any that didn't have red food coloring in it. I picked up a seemingly harmless brick of guava paste. When these bricks are packaged and shipped, the sugar in the paste crystalizes and forms a crusty outer edge around the brick. I sliced off the crystalized sugar part and am saving it for other uses.
I have a third of my "half" dough mixture leftover which I will combine with a new batch tonight. This batch (minus that third) made 11 pastries, 7 cheese pocket-shaped (take a square, put paste in the center, take the corners of two of the opposing edges and fold them to the center) and 4 rugelach shaped (need a rectangle, put guava paste in the center, fold over the edges so that it looks like a small bundle, crimp edges). Tonight I'll make them turnover-shaped (take a square, fill it with guava paste, fold it in half diagonally, and crimp the edges). Finished product looked like this: pic1 and pic2.
Ingredients
8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 c. unbleached white flour
2 sticks butter, softened
guava paste
Directions
1. Blend cream cheese, flour, and butter together. Wrap it in plastic (or put it into a lidded pot) and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes).
2. After the dough has been chilled, roll it out once. This keeps the gluten in the flour from being all worked up.
3. Add 1 tsp or so of guava paste to a random danish pastry shape.
4. If the pastry shape requires edge crimping, use fork tines to do this or squeeze the edges together with the back edge of a knife.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes, or until lightly browned.
The guava paste didn't melt like all the pictures that I've seen of this dessert. I may have to work with the brick to see if I can reconstitute it into a jam-like consistency. The dough came out quite nice, flaky enough to be crisp and has a little bit of weight because as the dough starts to sweat (need to roll it out while it is very cold), it became rather hard to get it rolled out to the 1/4-inch thickness that the pastry shell requires.
Since it is just a pastry method, I expect that both savory and sweet fillings can be used.
This is the second time I've made this dish, and it tastes pretty good. The portions of spices are whatever you feel comfortable eating. :)
Ingredients
juice of 1/2 lime
1 tsp smoked chipotle sauce
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1-2 tsp peeled ginger, thinly sliced
1/4 tsp sugar
2 tbsp olive oil, for frying
1/2 lb raw shrimp, cleaned (with shells on)
1. In a small bowl, combine lime juice, smoked chipotle sauce, and sugar. Set aside.
2. Heat oil in a skillet, add garlic and ginger. Stir until the garlic is lightly browned.
3. Add shrimp and sauté until shrimp curls and turns a light orange color, or well, that color shrimp turns when it is cooked
4. Add lime juice mix and stir around until the shrimp is coated.
5. Remove from heat and serve.
Looks a lot like this.. (click for pic)
My small town certainly has a lot of ethnic grocery stores within walking distance. I found a fairly larger grocery store right up the next block last weekend. The store carries the same assortment of packaged spices, like ground sumac and seven-spice blend, as the Burbank shop I buy my spices from. One of the freezer aisle items were packages of khinkali. It looked like it was worth a try.
As it turns out, the Russian/Georgian pastry was much saltier than expected. The filling was tough, but edible. I don't think any amount of boiling or steaming could make tender. It closely resembles the Chinese xiaolóngbao, but by appearances only. Unless I can get my hands on a sampling of freshly-made khinkalis, I think I'll have to stay away from this freezer item.
I did find a recipe, but I don't have any mindshare on what a good khinkali tastes like.
This recipe isn't my own, but it is very good. I've used all types of dark chocolate in this recipe and sometimes I add chunks of milk chocolate into it. You could always just use a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips but what's the fun in that? I prefer hacking apart the Ghirardelli chocolate wedges with a hammer and chisel. It's very relaxing. If I wanted the chunks to look pretty, I'd use a santoku.
Anyhow, the original recipe. And, have I ever mentioned how wrong it is to put nuts into desserts, especially cookies? If I wanted texture, I'd add more chocolate.. Here's my version, and a pic of the 5/17/07 batch:
Ingredients
1 c. unsalted butter, softened but not melted
1 c. light brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 c. unbleached cane sugar
1 egg
Blend these together until creamy in bowl #1.
1 1/2 c. unbleached white flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 c. cocoa powder
Sift these together in bowl #2 before blending them with bowl #1. Don't over mix. Blend until just combined.
Refrigerate the cookie dough for 1+ hours, or overnight.
Preheat yer oven to 350 degrees. Bake as usual.
So, last night I tried the JoC recipe for making dark chocolate truffles. Except, here's the thing. The book told me to chill the ganache for 3-4 hours then use a melon baller or pastry bag to pipe out the truffles. Uhh. After an hour in my fridge the ganache was rock hard and I couldn't even spoon it out.
Ingredients:
8 oz dark chocolate, chopped
1/2 c. heavy cream
1/4 c. - 1/2 c. lightly toasted pistachios, whole or chopped
JoC ganache directions:
1. In a small saucepan, scald the cream.
2. Put the chopped choclate in a heatproof bowl. Pour the cream onto the chocolate and stir until the chocolate has melted (glossy and shiny) and the cream is entirely encorporated.
3. Let cool to room temperature, then cover with plastic wrap.
I'd say that if you're going to make truffles, don't refrigerate the ganache. But, you won't be able to make truffles while the ganache is still liquidy. Yeah, I suppose I could always read what other people have done when making this confection but what'd be the point of experimenting? The universe would be a really boring place if everything came pre-explained.
Let's say that you managed to not follow the JoC instuctions through the refrigeration stage and you have a bowl of warm ganache.
Chocolate bark directions:
Line a baking sheet with parchment (or silpat, if you prefer) and pour the ganache onto the parchment. If you don't have an off-set spatula, use the back of a spoon to smooth out the surface so that the chocolate is evenly distributed.
Next, add your whole or chopped nuts. I used pistachios because I had them on hand and you really don't see chocolate pistachio bark at the store. Just about any type of nut can be used, raw or lightly toasted.
Now you can refrigerate the chocolate bark so that it sets in a few hours. The confection is done once the parchment paper peels off cleanly from the bark. Chop it into squares, trianges, or other shapes, or break it apart roughly.
In the ganache step 1, if you wanted add a unique flavor to the chocolate, you can add spices to this step. Just strain out the hard bits before you add the cream to the chopped chocolate.
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