Rye Free Honey-Nutmeg Apple Crumble Bars

Total time1 hr 30 min

Prep time20 min

Cook time40 min

Rye Free Honey-Nutmeg Apple Crumble Bars

These bars are everything you want in a fall dessert — tender spiced apples, a buttery golden crumble, and just enough honey to make the whole thing feel a little special. The base and topping come together from a single bowl using rolled oats, rice flour, and tapioca starch, which means the texture is satisfyingly crisp without relying on any wheat or grain-based flours that could be a problem. For anyone navigating grain sensitivities, finding baked goods that don't quietly sneak in problematic flours can be genuinely exhausting — this one keeps it clean from the start. The apple filling gets its warmth from ground nutmeg and a drizzle of honey rather than a heavy spice blend, so the fruit really shines through. Cold butter worked into the dry ingredients creates those irresistible clumpy, crumbly bits that bake up deep golden and slightly crisp on top. Letting the bars cool completely is worth the patience — the filling sets up beautifully and each bar holds its shape when you cut it. They're the kind of thing you'll want to make on a Sunday afternoon and then quietly eat for breakfast all week.

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Ingredients

9 servings

For the crust and crumble

1 cup rolled oats
Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Old Fashioned Whole Grain Rolled Oats Bobs Red Mill Rolled Oats Organic Old Fashioned - 16 Oz Bobs Red Mill Rolled Oats Gluten Free Organic Extra Thick - 32 Oz One Degree Organic Foods Gluten Free Sprouted Rolled Oats - 24 Oz Nature's Path Organic Whole Grain Old Fashioned Rolled Oats - 18 Oz
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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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