Carrageenan Free Honey-Nutmeg Apple Crumble Bars
Warm spiced apples, golden crumble, and a drizzle of honey — these bars hit every note you want from a fall-inspired bake. The filling leans on honey and nutmeg instead of processed syrups or spice blends, so the flavor is clean and genuinely fragrant. A rice flour and tapioca starch base keeps the crust tender and slightly crisp without relying on any of the thickeners or stabilizers that sneak into so many packaged desserts and store-bought fruit fillings. Carrageenan is a surprisingly common additive in dairy alternatives and processed foods, but every ingredient here is straightforward and easy to verify. The double-duty crumble — pressed into the bottom as a crust and scattered over the top — gives you that satisfying contrast of jammy filling and buttery, oat-studded topping in every single bite. Letting them cool completely is the one step you really cannot rush, since the tapioca starch needs time to set the filling into neat, sliceable bars. Cut into nine generous squares and serve as-is, or pair with a scoop of your favorite ice cream for something a little more indulgent.
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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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