Vegan Almost Raw Blueberry Dessert Bars

For my husbands birthday last week a friend made him some blueberry streusel bars. They were delish! I ate them for breakfast, snacks & dessert until sadly, they were gone. Craving more I decide to make a batch myself but wanted to cut down on the sugar and make them healthier to alleviate some of my guilt. The results were amazing! A friend of mine even gave them the “best dessert EVER” award!

Even though there are 3 parts to the recipe, the crust, filling & topping, it’s actually pretty easy to make! The recipe uses nuts in the crust & the topping and although it’s a healthy fat, you may opt to cut down on some of the fat by replacing some of the nuts in the streusel topping with oats. Enjoy!

CRUST:
2 cups walnuts
1 cup pitted dates
1 tsp vanilla

Add crust ingredients to food processor and process until crumbly. Pat down into bottom of pan.

FILLING:
4 cups blueberries
1/2 cup sugar or 1/2 cup pitted dates (processed until fine)
4 teaspoons potato starch or corn starch
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tbsp water.

Put all filling ingredients in saucepan. Lightly mash blueberries leaving them chunky & cook on low until desired consistency. spread over crust.

STREUSEL TOPPING:
1 cup raw pecans
1 cup unsweet coconut
2 cups dates
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg.

Process streusel ingredients until crumbly and sprinkle on top of blueberry filling. Chill until crust sets, about an hour. Eat. Yum!

Variations:

– Substitute blueberries with mixed berries

– Substitute blueberries with diced apples