High Fructose Corn Syrup Free Honey-Nutmeg Apple Crumble Bars
These bars are the kind of cozy, fruit-forward bake that makes your kitchen smell like the best version of autumn. The apple filling gets its sweetness entirely from honey and the natural sugars in the fruit, so there's no corn syrup hiding anywhere in the recipe — a real win when so many packaged desserts and even store-bought fruit fillings sneak it in. Tapioca starch does double duty here, keeping the crust crumbly and giving the filling that perfectly glossy, jammy texture without any processed thickeners. Cold butter worked into rolled oats and rice flour creates a base and topping that bakes up golden and satisfying, with just enough crunch to contrast the tender spiced apples underneath. A whisper of nutmeg ties everything together and gives the filling a warmth that feels intentional rather than generic. Once cooled and sliced into nine neat bars, they hold their shape beautifully — easy to pack, easy to share, and genuinely hard to stop eating.
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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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