Quesitos, is a Puerto Rico Cheese Puff Pastry which can be found in every bakery in the region. It is a very simple recipe made with puff pastry sheets, mildly sweetened cream cheese and sometimes have fruits added in them. They are amazingly easy to make with just few ingredients and I find the store bought puff pastry sheets a big blessing.
I saw that Guava paste and cream cheese filled quesitos are quite popular in the region and that is when I read that we can use any tropical fruit that can hold up to baking. Pineapples are something my kids love and I always have Dole pineapples in hand. This Pineapple Quesitos, is a best recipe to use fresh pineapples if you have or you could use the pineapple chunks in cans like I did. One of the favorite fruits to take as a snack to school is pineapples in my house and it is not possible to have fresh pineapples available all the time. Recently I have started buying the Dole 4 pack pineapple chunks in its own juice hat comes in cute little plastic jars at Sam's club. This way I always have the boys favorite fruit available for them to enjoy.
I further chopped the fruit into smaller pieces and sautéed them in butter and brown sugar to give it a caramelized flavor. the fruits went on top of the mildly sweetened cream cheese and then baked until the pastries are golden brown. The Quesitos are mildly sweet and if preferred can be dusted with some powdered sugar before serving.
I had made this right before the boys came home from school and they really enjoyed it as an after school snack. My youngest thought that I had apples inside the Quesitos and that gave me an idea to try that next time. When using apples, I might use a little bit more spices to give it an apple pie flavor.
My other bakes in the A – Z Baking around the World Marathon –
A for Almond cookies from China
B for Bretzel Rolls from Germany
C for Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting from USA
D for Danish Cookies from Denmark
E for Empanada from Argentina
F for Franzbrötchen from Germany
G for Grissini from Italy
H for Hot Cross Buns from England
I for Irish Freckle Bread from Ireland
J for Jan Hagel Cookies from Netherlands
K for Kiffles / Kiflis from Hungary
L for Lagana Bread from Greece
M for Monkey Bread from USA
N for Nazook / Nazouk from Armenia
O for Obi Non from Uzbekistan
P for Peyniril Poğaça from Turkey
Preparation time - 10 minutes
Baking time - 15 to 18 minutes
Difficulty level - easy
Recipe adapted from - Zoe bakes
Ingredients to make Pineapple Quesitos - Makes 9
- Puff pastry sheet - 1 sheet (thawed)
- Pineapple - 1 cup (chopped or sliced)
- Brown sugar - 2 tbsp
- Butter - 1 tbsp
- Cream cheese - ½ cup (4 Oz, softened and at room temperature)
- Sugar - 2 tbsp + 2 tbsp
- Vanilla extract - ½ tsp
- Cream / milk - for brushing the pastry
- Powdered sugar - to dust over the pastry
Procedure -
- Thaw the puff pastry sheet according to the package directions. Preheat the oven to 400 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a pan, add the butter and let it melt. Add the chopped/sliced pineapples along with the brown sugar and let it simmer until the juices evaporate and the fruit mixture thickens and caramelizes a little. Let it cool down to room temperature.
- In a bowl, whisk the cream cheese, 2 tbsp of sugar and the vanilla extract until smooth and creamy.
- Roll the puff pastry sheet to about a 12 x 12 square and cut the sheet into 9 squares, each measuring about 4 inches.
- Place about 2 tsp of cream cheese filling in the middle of the square and then place few pineapple pieces on top.
- Fold one corner over the filling and press down to seal. Now fold the other corner over this one and pinch the edge to seal. Also tuck the sharp edges under itself so they puff up and keep the fillings inside.
- Place the prepared pastries on the baking sheet and repeat the same with the rest.
- Brush the pastries with cream/milk mixture and sprinkle some sugar over them.
- Bake the Pineapple Quesitos for 15 to 18 minutes or until the top is golden brown and pastries are all puffed up.
- Remove the Pineapple Quesitos from the oven and let them cool.
- Dust with powdered sugar before serving.
You can pin the recipe below to save it for later -
Shobana Vijay says
Interesting. Will surely try it and let you know. Awesome pictures dear.
Shoba's Delight
Leslie says
Girl, this looks AMAZING! I love a good puff pastry! This has my name written all over it! Can't wait to try!
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
Thanks Leslie!
Danielle says
Great way to start the day, that's for sure. And judging from your instructions, it is quite an easy recipe to pull off, so I am really keen to try it out!
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
Thanks Danielle! It is a quick to make pastry.
Cheese Curd In Paradise says
These sound so delicious! I just love pineapple, and I know my kiddos would love these. We have traveled to Puerto Rico a bit, and I remember these from the bakeries!
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
I am so looking forward to trying them from bakeries. Puerto Rico is in our bucket list!
Choclette says
I think I shall be off to the shops tomorrow to buy myself some puff pastry. These look delicious and just the sort of thing that everyone will love.
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
Thanks! It is a quick to make recipe and so delicious!
Ramona says
Oh my goodnesss, you've hit me hard with this recipe - pastry and pineapple two of the most irresistible things. I do have a weakness for pastry so bring this on! I have to make this super quick - kids will be delighted to help with making it too. Thank you for sharing!
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
Thanks Ramona! Love the ease of the recipe as well. Quick to make for sweet tooth craving.
Sharmila - The Happie Friends Potpourri Corner says
Awesome clicks and the Quesitos are so tempting and delicious..
Pavani says
These look like little danishes. Love that pineapple fillings.
Sapna says
Questios looks mouth watering with those pineapple chunks.
Srivalli Jetti says
OMG Sandhya, this is really such a fantastic choice!..wish we get puff pastry sheets here..
Harini says
OMG! these cute quesitos look amazing and tempting.
Srividhya Gopalakrishnan says
I too love dole pineapple chunks. For my upside down cake, I used dole pineapple slices only. This quesito is really great. I love pineapples. So obviously I got to try this. 🙂 Bookmarked.
Sowmya says
Caramelised pineapple with puff pastry sounds like heaven. Have to eat this asap!
Namratha says
Carmelized pineapple... yum! Drooling here.. with creme cheese that's a fantastic combination! Very nice bake.
Vaishali Sabnani says
Omg ! Sandhya , kudos on the recipe choice . I was drooling while reading the intro , pineapple being caramelised ! Seriously I had to quickly scroll down to see the recipe . Fantastic one !
Priya Suresh says
Cant wait to bake these quesitos, and pineapple quesitos tempts me a lot, so flaky and dangerously addictive.