CREAMY VEGAN CHEESECAKES IN A JAR

The pastel trend took over Instagram about two years ago. I started making all kinds of pastel yogurt / pudding / smoothie parfaits for my children, too. I used healthy ingredients to color the food, and that’s what I’ve used in these creamy vegan cheesecakes in a jar, which would be perfect little treats for Easter.

Coloring food naturally

Yellow: I’ve always loved turmeric! I started using turmeric for my headaches when I was younger and it helped! I still use turmeric almost daily in pasta sauces, in yogurt, smoothies, lemon-turmeric tea and of course to color snacks and desserts beautifully yellow.

Green: my go to coloring for green is spirulina powder. You don’t need a lot, so the health benefits won’t be mentionable, but of course it’s still much better than artificial colors. I love the mint green color from spirulina, but also avocado, herbs or spinach work. You just need a good blender to blend the leaves so that you get a smooth result. And you have to adjust the taste: add more sweetener and / or lemon if needed.

Pink: raspberries, either fresh, powder or freeze dried work really well! I love the baby pink color, and the flavor is also super delicious. Another pink ingredient I love is beets. I sometimes just grate raw organic beet (or use the juice) but beet powder is more convenient. Beet powder is not as delicious in treats as raspberries, so some adjustment to flavor is recommended 🙂

Orange: carrots, sweet potato, pumpkin. I first cut raw carrots and sweet potatoes in very small pieces, then I steam them for about 10 min (or less, depending on the size of the pieces) and let them chill. Then I blend a small amount with frosting / yogurt or whatever I’m making. I find the flavor really lovely, naturally sweet.

Purple: wild blueberries, blackberries, black currants. These are my go to berries (also berry powders work well) when I want a beautiful purple color. Again you need a very good blender to get smooth results, but if you don’t mind some berry spots on your treat, then you could just smash the berries and mix it with the parfait / yogurt / frosting.

Blue: now I would probably use blue spirulina to make blue food, but I’ve also experimented with purple cabbage 🙂 You can read more about my experiment here (it was a success!).

Pastel cakes in a jar

I started making cakes in a jar a few years ago when I wanted a wholesome yummy treat, and I wanted it fast 🙂 I usually have small leftover pieces of cake / muffins / brownies in the freezer and they are just perfect for treats like this!

If you don’t have any sweet treats in the freezer, rawnola / granola or crumbled cookies work equally well. If you don’t have any of these, I would do a quick treat: cook crushed nuts and rolled oats in a pan with coconut oil, maple syrup and pinch of salt. Add cocoa powder if you want a chocolate flavor, or any spices you like (Ceylon cinnamon, ground cardamom, vanilla..). Let this quick treat chill a while before you make the parfaits.

To make a cheesecake flavor I usually use cashews. I blend them with coconut cream, plant-based milk or yogurt until I have a creamy texture. But this time I wanted to make a more simple treat and used store bought vegan cream cheese.

I divided the cream cheese mixture into three parts and colored the parts with turmeric, raspberry powder and spirulina. I used lemon and sweetener to cover up any weird flavor.

This was ready in about 10 minutes (or even less). The jars look cute like this, but you can always add any toppings you like.

Here’s the simple recipe, I hope you like it ♥