My whole family is totally in love with these vegan gluten-free blueberry cheesecake bars, which were born when I happily combined two recipes I’ve been testing this summer: the perfect blueberry pie and cheesecake bars. Some of you may have noticed I use cashews a lot in my recipes. Well, they are one of the stars of this recipe too, as they once again impress me with their creaminess. Then of course there are the wild blueberries from Finnish forests, which add a slight tanginess to the sweet cheese cake-y creaminess. I have a feeling these two recipes will stay happily married for a long time!
Bake or no bake?
There are many raw vegan cheesecake versions online, and I do love raw cheesecake. But I’m still more of a baked treat kinda girl. My mom was an avid baker when I was a little girl, and I have the fondest memories of her fresh baked cinnamon rolls, buttermilk cake and berry tarts.
She used to make a heavenly blueberry tart containing quark. It was a tart very similar to blueberry cheesecake and we call this tart mustikkarahkapiirakka. Yes, seriously. Finnish words are quite funny.
Now the tables have turned: it’s my turn to bake (a lot!) and my mom is an avid taste tester. She really loves my vegan gluten-free blueberry cheesecake bars – kind of like a modernized version of mustikkarahkapiirakka 🙂
Baked vegan gluten-free cheesecakes
I’ve been a bit obsessed with baked vegan gluten-free cheesecakes. Baked cheesecake is my favorite treat to have with afternoon coffee, because it’s so creamy and just the right kind of sweet and tangy at the same time.
I have several baked cheesecake recipes on the blog. These are all vegan and gluten-free:
Lingonberry cheesecake tarts – you can use cranberries too!
Christmas tree cheesecake pops
Before baking
Please note that this recipe requires some prep time: a minimum of 2 hours (but preferably at least 4 hours or overnight) soaking time for cashews. If you really don’t have the time, you can do a shortcut: soak cashews in hot (boiled) water for about 15 minutes. This will soften them up a bit.
And if you can resist I advise you to keep the baked cheesecake in the fridge overnight for the best flavor. It’s also easier to cut the chilled cake into perfect bars!
Otherwise this is a super simple, quick-to-make creamy berry treat with a crust that melts in your mouth. I’ll be baking these (and many more healthy vegan & gluten-free treats and meals) before baby number 3 arrives in October. I’ll just pop them in the freezer and take out a piece (or two) at a time for the perfect baby nap time coffee moment. If you start soaking cashews n-o-w, you’ll have these goodies for your next coffee / tea break, too 🙂
- Crust
- Dry ingredients
- ⅓ cups gluten-free oat flour
- ¼ cups white rice flour
- ¼ cups almond flour
- 4 tbsp coconut sugar
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp Ceylon cinnamon
- ¼ tsp salt
- Wet ingredients
- 3 tbsp melted coconut oil
- 2 tbsp almond butter
- 1-2 tbsp cold water (depending on how thick the almond butter is)
- Cashew cream cheese filling
- 1 cup soaked cashews
- ¼ cups unsweetened plant-based yogurt (I used oat yogurt)
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp water
- 1,5 tbsp maple syrup
- ¼ tsp vanilla bean powder
- ⅛ tsp salt
- + 1 tbsp almond flour
- Berry topping
- 1 cup of frozen blueberries (or other berries)
- 1,5 tbsp potato starch
- 1 tbsp coconut sugar
- Preparations: Soak ~1 cup of cashews a minimum of 2 hours (preferably at least 4 hours or overnight) in warm water + ½ tsp sea salt.
- Crust: Preheat oven to 375F / 190 C.
- Combine dry ingredients together. Add melted coconut oil and almond butter to the dry ingredients. You might need your hands to mix the batter properly. It should look like wet coarse sand. Add cold water 1 tbsp at a time and mix with a spoon until the batter is firm and can be easily rolled into a ball.
- Line a small baking pan (I used a rectangle shaped: 22 x 16 cm ~9 x 6 inches, but this recipe would also work in a spring form cake pan) with parchment paper. Flatten the batter in the pan with your fingers until it is even. Bake in 375F / 190C for 10 minutes.
- While the crust is in the oven, prepare the cashew cream cheese filling: drain and rinse soaked cashews. Add all filling ingredients except almond flour to a high-speed blender or food processor and blend until the cashew cream is completely smooth. Add 1 tbsp almond flour and mix with a spoon.
- Berry topping: mix frozen blueberries and potato starch + coconut sugar. Coat all the berries in potato starch.
- Pour cashew cream on top of baked crust. Add blueberries on top of cashew cream and press the berries gently.
- Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until blueberries have melted into a jelly like consistency.
- Let the blueberry cheesecake cool down in the baking pan. Cut into bars OR keep overnight in the fridge and cut into bars after chilling the cake.
- Enjoy this creamy berry delight!
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I’m not sure what I love more here, the scrumptious thought of tangy, creamy, purple, blueberry bars, or these magical photos! Both, definitely both. If I could just eat one while staring at the magical photos of his brothers that would be perfect 🙂 Blueberries (especially Finish forest blueberries) make for the best color scheme, don’t you think? And I really love it with the blue backdrop. I like raw treats for simplicity, but I agree it’s hard to beat the baked goodies for nostalgia’s sake. Although I can’t say I have any childhood memories of mustikkarahkapiirakka…weird? Now I want a video just to hear you say that word? Pinning and craving–they look perfect Tiina! xx
Heheh that word is seriously a weird one, I know. But that’s the Finnish language 🙂 Thank You so much for the lovely comment about the photos. I had a strong vision about the blue background with blueberries! I wanted something that reminds me of Finland, forests and blue skies. And I think i got what I wanted (love it when that happens!!). I hope you’re having a beautiful weekend <3
This looks absolutely amazing! Definitely gonna try this recipe once I get home from my holiday 🙂
Thank you so much Lena! Yayy! This is the perfect after holiday’s treat 🙂 Hope you’ll like them! Have a lovely day!
Would it be possible to substitute the yoghurt with double cream? My son has amine allergies and cannot have yoghurt
Looks amazing
Thank you so much Nik! Sorry for late reply! I think it would work, but I would add a bit more lemon juice to the mixture, just to make a more yogurt like taste. But of course it’s not necessary. If you try this with double cream, would love to know how it worked. Have a lovely weekend 🙂
Thank you so much for this amazing recipe! I just tried it and you are so right, it looks and tastes like the traditional mustikkarahkapiirakka ? Kiitos paljon, tästä tuli kertaheitolla yksi suosikeistani! Ja aivan ihania ovat myös muutkin reseptisi.. ?
Oi kiitos niin paljon ihanasta palautteestasi 🙂 Ja kiva kun pääsit blogiini, minulla on ollut blogin kanssa teknisiä ongelmia viime viikkoina ja tänne pääsy on ollut rajoitettua. Teknisten ongelmien vuoksi pidän pienen tauon bloggailusta (blogi jää kyllä auki), mutta jaan joitakin reseptejäni instan puolella. Ja palaan loppukesällä uudistetun (ja toivottavasti hyvin toimivan) blogin kanssa. Alan kirjoittaa myös suomeksi 🙂 Ihanaa päivää!
Turned out delicious! The crust is soo yummy!
Thanks so much for making these! Wishing you a happy day 🙂