Tree Nut 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 base and topping come together from a single crumble mixture made with rolled oats, rice flour, and tapioca starch, so there's no fussy separate dough to wrestle with. Cold butter worked in by hand creates those irresistible clumpy, golden pockets that shatter just slightly when you bite in. The apple filling gets its depth from ground nutmeg and honey rather than refined syrups or spice blends that can sometimes hide unexpected additives, keeping everything clean and straightforward. Tapioca starch pulls double duty — once in the crumble and once in the filling — thickening those bubbling apple juices into a jammy, cohesive layer that holds each bar together beautifully once cooled. Letting them rest fully before slicing is the one step worth being patient about, because the payoff is a clean-cut bar that's tender in the middle and crisp on top. These are the kind of treat you'll want to wrap up and bring somewhere, though getting them out of the house before snacking through the pan is the real challenge.
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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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