Recipe

Giant New York-Style Guava and Cream Cheese Cookies

Name: Giant New York-Style Guava and Cream Cheese Cookies
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 38 min
Total time: 150 min
Ingredients: 170 g unsalted butter; 120 g light brown sugar; 80 g white sugar; 1 large egg; 1 egg yolk; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 320 g all-purpose wheat flour; 12 g cornstarch; 1 level teaspoon baking soda (4 g); ½ teaspoon baking powder (2 g); ½ level teaspoon fine salt (3 g); 150 g full-fat cream cheese, firm and cold; 20 g powdered sugar; 150 g guava paste in bar form; ¼ teaspoon vanilla (optional)

Thick New York-style cookies, golden on the outside and tender on the inside, filled with guava paste and cream cheese. A nod to the Cuban pastelito.

CiberCubaNovember 6, 2026

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Preparation30 min
Cooking38 min
Total time2 h 30 min
Servings10 large cookies
DifficultyMedium

Few combinations are as ours as guava with cheese. It is the flavor of the neighborhood bakery pastelito, of the sweet coffee for afternoon snacks, and of the Miami ventanitas, where the diaspora keeps it alive every morning.

These cookies are not a traditional Cuban recipe: they are a modern adaptation of the famous thick New York cookies, with a golden exterior and a tender heart. Inside, they hide two well-defined layers, white cream cheese and red guava paste, which appear when you break them in half.

It is not a cream cheese frosting nor a puff pastry pastelito. It is a large cookie, about 100-110 g, perfect for a special snack, a birthday, or as a gift.

Method

Filling

Mix the cold cream cheese with the powdered sugar and vanilla, if using, until you have a smooth cream. Divide into 10 equal portions (about 17 g each) on parchment paper and put them in the freezer for 30-40 minutes, until they are firm and hold their shape.
Cut the guava bar into 10 cubes of 15 g and reserve them in the fridge. Do not use marmalade or jam: it would leak when baking.
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Dough

In a large bowl, beat the soft butter with the brown sugar and white sugar for 2-3 minutes, until creamy, without melting it.
Add the whole egg, the yolk, and the vanilla, and mix only until incorporated.
In another bowl, mix the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
Incorporate the dry ingredients into the butter mixture with a spatula, without overworking, just until no dry flour remains.
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Assembly and Baking

Divide all the dough into 10 portions of about 75-80 g each.
Flatten a portion into a thick disc. Place a frozen ball of cream cheese in the center and a cube of guava on top.
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Wrap the filling completely with the dough and pinch all seams well. Shape it into a tall, thick ball; no cheese or guava should be visible. Repeat with the rest.
Place the filled balls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes so they do not spread in the oven.
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Preheat the oven to 185 °C, top and bottom heat, without fan. Keep the waiting batches in the fridge.
Bake only 4-5 cookies per tray, spaced 7-8 cm apart and without flattening them, for 16-19 minutes, until the edges are lightly golden and the surface has settled. They should be cooked but tender inside; do not overbake. Repeat with the next batch.
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Let them rest on the tray for 15-20 minutes to settle, then transfer them to a wire rack.
When they are warm, break one in half to see the contrast of the golden dough, the white cream cheese, and the red guava. Caution: freshly baked guava burns.