INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound ground beef
• Puff pastry, thawed
• Half a large white onion, minced
• 2-3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1-2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1-2 teaspoons onion powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• Salt and pepper
• 1 egg, whisked
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup filtered water

DIRECTIONS

• To make the meat filling, heat up a sauce pan with some oil
• Add onions and cook until translucent
• Add beef and cook well, making sure to ground the meat finely
• Add spices, tomato paste, salt and pepper, all to taste
• In a separate sauce pan, add equal parts water and sugar, bring to a boil, and then simmer for 5 minutes to make a simple syrup, put aside to cool
• Preheat oven to 400F degrees
• Roll out puff pastry and cut out medium sized circles using a cookie cutter or cup
• Place 6-9 circles on a lined baking sheet
• Add 1 1/2 or 2 tablespoons of meat mixture to each pastry circle
• Place an additional pastry circle on top and lightly pinch sides to seal
• Using a knife, cut a venting slice into each pastry
• Brush pastries with egg wash
• Bake until golden brown, roughly 15-20 minutes depending on your oven
• Remove from oven, brush each pastry with simple syrup
• Enjoy!

Note: Cuban pastries taste great the same day, but they taste even better the next day too! Also, you will have some remaining ground beef if only using one package of puff pastry. I also tried to add some polka dots to some (see below)–they turned out cute and subtle 🥰