vegan blueberry spice crumb bars

(VEGAN) BLUEBERRY SPICE CRUMB BARS

This recipe is every-so-slightly modified from Vegan Cookings Invade Your Cookie Jar; their recipe calls for spelt flour, only vegetable shortening, and not quite as much of the spices. I'm sure their version is great, this is just what I had on hand, and I like lots of spices, and I'm in no way claiming their recipe as my own. I baked these bars Tuesday afternoon and now I get to enjoy them for breakfast with my morning tea.

For the crust and topping:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
4 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable shortening at room temperature
1/2 cup vegan margarine at room temperature
3 to 4 tablespoons nondairy milk

For the blueberry filling:
16 oz frozen blueberries
3/4 cup sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons cold water
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

preheat oven to 350F. lightly grease a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.

in a medium-size mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, spices, and salt. add the shortening by the spoonful, cutting it into the flour with a pastry cutter or two knives held together. once the dough becomes crumbly, add the nondairy milk by the tablespoon. use your fingers to stir the milk in after each addition until pea-size crumbs form.

in a separate bowl, stir together the blueberries, sugar, cornstarch, water, and vanilla.

scoop 3 cups of the dough into the prepared baking pan. firmly press it in to form the base of the bars. spread the blueberry mixture over the base and then sprinkle the rest of the crumbly dough over the blueberries.

bake for about 45 minutes. when ready, the blueberries should be nice and bubbly. cool completely before cutting into bars and eating.