BHA & BHT Free Honey-Nutmeg Apple Crumble Bars
Warm spiced apples, golden crumble, and a drizzle of honey make these bars the kind of treat that disappears fast from any dessert table. The filling leans on honey instead of refined syrups or packaged sweeteners, which means you're skipping the synthetic preservatives that sneak into so many store-bought baked goods and pre-made fillings. Ground nutmeg brings a gentle, aromatic warmth that pairs beautifully with tender apple slices, and tapioca starch keeps everything bound together without any mystery additives. The crust and crumble are built from rolled oats, rice flour, and cold butter — straightforward pantry staples with nothing hidden in the ingredient list. Pressing two-thirds of the mixture into the pan and scattering the rest on top gives you that satisfying contrast of a firm base and a rough, craggy topping that bakes to a deep golden finish. Letting the bars cool completely is the one step worth being patient about — the filling sets up beautifully and makes for clean, neat cuts. These are the kind of bars you can feel genuinely good about baking and sharing.
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Learn more →Ingredients
9 servings
For the crust and crumble
- 1 cup rolled oats
- ¾ cup rice flour
- ¼ cup tapioca starch
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ tsp fine sea salt
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold and cut into ½-inch cubes
For the apple filling
- 3 medium apples (about 1 ½ lb), peeled, cored, and cut into ¼-inch slices
- 3 tbsp honey
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tbsp tapioca starch
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
Instructions
- 1
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line a 9×9-inch baking pan with parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on two opposite sides to use as handles for lifting the bars out later.
- 2
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the rolled oats, rice flour, tapioca starch (the crust-and-crumble portion), granulated sugar, and fine sea salt until evenly combined. Add the cold butter cubes and work them in with a pastry cutter or your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse, clumpy crumbs with some pea-sized pieces of butter remaining — do not overwork it into a smooth dough.
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