A vegan take on the cuban pastelito we grew up enjoying in Miami

If you’ve ever been to Miami you know how prominent the Cuban culture is there. We guarantee you the best Cuban food is in Miami. Whether in a restaurant or an abuela’s house, Cuban food is a staple to Miami’s culture.

Although we no longer live in Miami, we are just 230 miles away and often go back for family and friends, it will always be our home. This recipe is one we use to scratch that itch for a delicious Cuban pastelito. This one in particular is savory and sweet, filled with ground beef (we will be using a vegan substitute) and topped with a coating of simple syrup. These pastries are called cangrejitos. You can find our recipe for guava and cheese filled ones here!

Also, this is a great recipe to use up any leftover from the Cuban picadillo recipe.

How to Make the Filling

The filling for these pastries is literally picadillo. This is one of those great recipes to use when you have a little left over. They don’t take much more than a table spoon to fill and one sheet of pastry dough will get you about 6 pastries. If you want to make a larger batch buy another pack of pastry dough.

What Dough to Use?

As some of you might know, we aren’t big on making dough from scratch, especially for sweet treats we don’t commonly eat. For us, we keep these little indulgences to a minimum, and treat ourselves to the nostalgia of these on very rare occasions. Fortunately, we happen to have found an affordable pastry dough that’s vegan at Walmart!

How to Make Vegan Pastelitos de Carne

What to Do With the Scrap Pastry Dough?

If you decided to cut these into circles you’ll be left with some scrap dough. Simply cut the scraps to be these little abstract shapes that you can quickly bake in the oven. Coat them in a little oil and toss with some powdered sugar. You can dip these in chocolate, or coat them in spices such as cinnamon. Use whatever you enjoy – these make a fun little treat.

Cuban Pastry with Vegan Be’f

A vegan take on the cuban pastelito de carne we grew up enjoying in Miami.

Course: Appetizer, Snack

Cuisine: Cuban

Prep Time: 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes minutes

Servings: 6 pastries

Print Recipe

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 pack vegan pastry dough
• ▢ oil (for baking)

Simple Syrup

• ▢ 2 Tbsp organic white sugar
• ▢ 2 Tbsp water

Vegan Picadillo Filling (with less ingredients)

• ▢ 1 cup gardein ground be'f (or other vegan options)
• ▢ ½ Tbsp olive oil
• ▢ ½ tsp onion powder
• ▢ ½ tsp garlic powder
• ▢ ⅓ cup tomato sauce
• ▢ ½ tsp ground cumin
• ▢ ½ tsp paprika
• ▢ salt and pepper (to taste)

Instructions

• Heat oil on medium-high. Toss in the ground be'f, and cook until it de-freezes a bit (if cooking from a frozen package).
• Add in the other spices and ingredients. Cook for a few minutes to allow the vegan meat to absorb the flavors.
• Preheat the oven according to pastry package directions.
• Lay out the dough on a sheet pan and use a cookie cutter or cup to cut out circles (if you want to use that shape).
• Separating half of the dough you cut, use a spoon to scoop up the vegan be'f and fill the center. Make sure to leave about ½ inch border.
• Top the circles with the remaining pieces and gently press the border to seal.
• Brush a bit of olive oil on top and bake.
• Combine equal parts boiling water and sugar to make a simple syrup. You can microwave it for a few seconds at a time, mixing in between until all the sugar has dissolved.
• Once the pastries are out of the oven, top with the simple syrup mixture and enjoy!

Notes

This is a great recipe to use left over picadillo. We simplified the filling in this recipe for those who are only interested in making these quick pastries.

Gardein Groud Be’f