Cinnamon Free Honey-Pear Crumble Bars
These bars are the kind of thing you pull out of the oven and immediately want to eat straight from the pan — golden, crumbly on top, and filled with a glossy, honey-kissed pear filling that smells absolutely incredible. The filling gets cooked down on the stovetop first with honey, a touch of nutmeg, and a splash of apple cider vinegar, which gives it a jammy, almost caramel-like depth without relying on any warming spices that could be a problem. For anyone navigating a sensitivity to cinnamon, baked fruit desserts can feel like a minefield since that spice shows up in nearly every crumble, crisp, or bar recipe out there — this one skips it entirely without sacrificing any of the cozy factor. The crust and crumble are built from rolled oats, rice flour, and tapioca starch, which also makes this a naturally gluten-free-friendly base that holds together beautifully once cooled. Cold butter gets worked into the dry mixture until clumpy and rough, which is exactly what gives you those satisfying, craggy crumble pieces on top. Let them cool fully before slicing — the filling sets up into clean, neat bars that are just as good the next day.
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Learn more →Ingredients
9 servings
For the crust and crumble
- 1 ½ cups rolled oats
- ¾ cup rice flour
- ¼ cup tapioca starch
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ tsp fine sea salt
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold and cut into ½-inch cubes
For the pear filling
- 3 medium ripe pears (about 1 ½ lb), peeled, cored, and cut into ½-inch dice
- 3 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp tapioca starch
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
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. Scatter the cold butter cubes over the dry mixture 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 work it until smooth.
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