Xanthan Gum 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 bowl using rolled oats, rice flour, and tapioca starch, which means no specialty binders are needed to hold everything in place. Cold butter worked into that dry mixture creates the kind of crumbly, slightly crisp texture that makes these bars genuinely satisfying rather than gummy or dense. Tapioca starch does double duty here — lending structure to the crust and thickening the apple filling so it sets up cleanly when cooled. Honey and nutmeg keep the flavor warm and natural without leaning on any processed flavor packets or additives that might sneak in unwanted ingredients. Letting the bars cool completely before cutting is the one step worth being patient about, since the filling needs that time to firm up into neat, sliceable layers. Whether you serve them as a weeknight dessert or pack them as a snack, they deliver serious bakery energy with a surprisingly short ingredient list.
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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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