Beetroot! Doesn’t it taste delicious & unique? But wait, why am I writing about beets in a sweet recipe post?! Let me explain: with these yummy vegan gluten-free lingonberry cheesecake tarts I’m going to show you the sweet side of beets 🙂 And at the same time I’m hoping to convince you that beets are a fun and tasty addition to baked goods.
For the love of beets and berries
Beetroot pairs so well with not only chocolate but also with creamy cashews and tangy berries. Bright red lingonberry jewels from the forest and fuschia pink beets are a pretty combination – to me these tarts look like something magical from a fairytale land.
Inspiration for these cheesecake tarts comes very close. In fact from one of the most popular recipes on this blog: blueberry cheesecake bars. Blueberry cheesecake is a classic, and these lingonberry tarts are a classic, too.
A classic Finnish berry tart
In Finland we make rahkapiirakka tart from either wild blueberries, lingonberries or both together. The idea is to combine a yummy soft crust with a yogurt like filling and lots of berries. A classic version of the rahkapiirakka tart is made from eggs, curd, butter, white sugar and wheat flour. I’m choosing plant-based vegan ingredients instead ♥
Cheese in a vegan cheesecake?
If you’re wondering about the “cheese” part of these cheesecake tarts, here’s a little tip: combining soaked cashews with plant-based yogurt makes a lovely “cream cheese” consistency. With just a bit of lemon juice and sweetener this “cheese” is perfect for vegan tarts and pies. For this particular recipe, I used my lemon cashew yogurt with beets as the base recipe because to be honest I just love the color so much!
If my blueberry cheesecake bars are a summer recipe (although perfectly okay to make them in winter time too!), these lingonberry cheesecake tarts look like autumn. You can try this with cranberries too or make it super sweet with raspberries! Whatever you do, please do add beetroot in the cream “cheese” as it’s just so beautiful, and I guarantee the color (and flavor!) will make you smile 🙂
- Crust
- Dry ingredients
- ¼ cups gluten-free rolled oats
- ¼ cups gluten-free oat flour
- ¼ cups white rice flour
- 3 tbsp coconut sugar
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp Ceylon cinnamon
- ¼ tsp salt
- Wet ingredients
- 3 tbsp (room temperature, scoopable) coconut oil
- 2 tbsp almond butter (or other nut butter of choice)
- 1-2 tbsp cold water (depending on how "liquid" the nut butter is)
- Beet-cashew cream "cheese"
- 1 cup soaked cashews (a little bit less than 1 cups before soaking)
- ⅓ cup unsweetened plant-based yogurt (I use oat yogurt)
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 tbsp grated beetroot
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- ¼ tsp vanilla bean powder
- pinch of salt
- Toppings
- ½ cup lingonberries (or ½ - 1 cup other berries of choice)
- ½ tsp coconut sugar
- Preparations: Soak cashews in warm water and ½ tsp salt overnight or a minimum of 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 360 F / 180 C
- Crust: Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Add coconut oil and almond butter to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly (with hands if needed). The consistency should resemble coarse sand. Add cold water 1 tbsp at a time until the dough can be easily formed into a ball. I used 1 tbsp of water as my almond butter was quite liquid.
- If you're using 4 small tart pans, divide the big dough ball into 4 small pieces and flatten each ball into the pan.
- Bake tart crust in the oven for ~8 minutes until the crust starts to get golden and firm.
- Beet-cashew cream "cheese": Drain and rinse soaked cashews well.
- Grate half of a small beetroot.
- Add cashews, grated beet and all other ingredients in a high-speed blender and blend until completely smooth and creamy.
- Pour beet cashew cream cheese on top of the crust. Add lingonberries and sprinkle coconut sugar on top.
- Bake in the oven for another 15 minutes.
- Let chill. These tarts taste delicious straight out of the oven, but the flavors intensify and the "cheese" becomes more firm) when chilled in the fridge well covered for a few hours or overnight.
- Enjoy these bright colored tarts 🙂
ps Thank YOU all for your lovely wishes on Instagram about my due date and hopefully soon arriving baby 🙂 I really hope my baby will come tomorrow on Oct 17th as it’s the Birthday of my oldest and dearest Instagram friend Blossombudandfruit 🙂
These are absolutely gorgeous!! And I just love that background.
Thank you so much Aimee <3 The background really is one of my fav too, made by my dad 🙂 Wishing you a wonderful day!
Delicious!
Thank you, must admit it really is 😉
I love it when you break out those mini tart pans! As if your recipes need extra cuteness factor from the mini form 🙂 I never would’ve guessed from the top down photo on IG that there was so much pink hiding inside, so that was a fun surprise. I have been very obsessed with beets lately, just for eating, but every time I am making them and inevitably getting pink juice everywhere I think of you and all your gorgeous pink treats. I can rarely find lingonberries here, but I bet they would be delicious with blueberries too!
Hi Natalie!! Thank you for thinking of me when you eat beets 😉 These tarts really work perfectly with blueberries (hehe I’ve tried!) Lingonberries were cuter in the pic though, especially with the pink beet. It’s been such a long offline period for me – I feel like I’ve missed tons of your creative playful recipes. Will take a good look at them soon! A flood of comments might be coming too… 🙂 Hope you’ve had a lovely autumn so far! HUGS <3
Wow Tiina! These beautiful mini tarts really do look like something magical from a fairytale land! Love the beautiful colors from the beets and berries. Such a gorgeous blog you have!
Thank you so much for your kind comment Mitra 🙂 Warms my heart <3 Wishing you a wonderful day!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE these Tiina! They ard totally pink undercover;) And you know that pink food always tastes better;) right?!
Sending love!
Maja
Hey LOVELY Maja! They really are TOTALLY pink :)!! Just the way I like it, and I know you love it too 😉 Thank you so much for stopping by! Sending you big hugs & love too <3