High Fructose Corn Syrup Free Honey-Pear Crumble Bars
These bars hit that perfect sweet spot between a rustic fruit crumble and a handheld dessert you can actually pack in a lunchbox. Ripe pears get cooked down with honey, a touch of nutmeg, and a splash of apple cider vinegar until they turn glossy and jammy — the kind of filling that smells incredible the moment it hits the pan. The base and topping are the same buttery oat-and-rice-flour mixture, so you get a sturdy crust underneath and a golden, crumbly crown on top without any fuss. Sweetened entirely with granulated sugar and real honey, there's no corn syrup hiding anywhere in the ingredient list, which makes these a genuinely clean alternative to store-bought fruit bars that often sneak in processed sweeteners. Tapioca starch does double duty here — it binds the crumble and thickens the filling — so the texture is spot-on without any unusual swaps. Letting them cool completely before cutting is the one step you really don't want to rush, because it's what takes them from delicious mess to clean, sliceable bars worth showing off.
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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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