Guava and Manchego cheese pastry bites are bite-sized pastry pouches bursting with melty cheese and sweet-tart guava paste. You can use any jam and cheese combination you like best! These adorable appetizers can be assembled ahead of time, so you don't have to stress before your guests arrive - just pop them in the oven right before serving!Adapted from Just a Bite.
Put flour in a medium mixing bowl and add butter. Cut in using a fork, pastry cutter, or your fingertips, until mixture resembles damp sand. A few larger pea-sized pieces are okay.
Add Parmesan cheese, cayenne, and mustard and combine.
Add half a beaten egg and 1 tbsp ice water and mix with a wooden spoon. If dough will not hold together and crumbles, add a little more water 1 tsp at a time until it holds together.
Knead gently, then flatten into a disk.
You can refrigerate or freeze the dough at this point to use later, or keep going.
Roll out dough very thinly and cut out 20 three-inch squares.
Top each square with a thin 1-inch square slice of guava paste or small dollop of your favorite jam and a cube of Manchego cheese. Brush the edges with beaten egg and fold in the corners to form a sealed pouch. (Make sure it is sealed or the cheese will melt out during baking)
You can refrigerate the assembled pastry bites for several days at this point before baking, or keep going.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brush the tops of the pastry bites with the rest of the beaten egg, and bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Serve immediately.
Notes
You can make the dough in advance or assemble the entire pastry bites in advance. Then you can just pop them in the oven before serving!