Black Pepper Free Honey-Nutmeg Apple Crumble Bars
Warm spiced apples, a golden oat crumble, and a drizzle of honey make these bars the kind of treat that disappears fast from any dessert table. The filling gets its cozy depth from ground nutmeg alone, so there's no black pepper or any sneaky spice blends to worry about — just clean, simple ingredients you can feel confident about. Rice flour and tapioca starch give the crust a tender, slightly crisp bite that holds together beautifully when you slice into the slab. Cold butter worked into the oat mixture creates those irresistible clumpy, golden crumbles on top that bake up perfectly without any fuss. Honey sweetens the apple filling in a way that feels a little more interesting than plain sugar, playing off the nutmeg in the best possible way. Once the bars cool and set, they lift right out of the pan with the parchment handles and cut cleanly into nine generous portions — great for lunchboxes, afternoon snacking, or a casual dessert you can actually feel good about serving.
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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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