Artificial Food Coloring Free Maple-Ginger Pear Crumble Bars
Warm spiced pears, earthy maple sweetness, and a buttery oat crumble — these bars hit every note you want from a cozy baked treat without a single synthetic dye or artificial color in sight. Every ingredient here is exactly what it says it is: real pears, pure maple syrup, fresh ginger, and simple pantry staples that you can read and recognize at a glance. That matters more than people realize, because plenty of packaged bars and fruit-filled baked goods sneak in caramel color, dyed fruit fillings, or artificially tinted glazes that have no business being there. Here, the golden hue on that crumble topping comes entirely from the oven and the maple syrup doing their thing. The filling gets cooked down on the stovetop with fresh ginger and a touch of tapioca starch until it turns glossy and jammy, which means you get that luscious, fruit-forward layer without any artificial thickeners or color additives. Rice flour and tapioca starch keep the crust tender and slightly crisp at the edges, and the whole thing slices into clean, satisfying bars once it cools. Whether you're baking for someone with a sensitivity or just trying to keep things clean and real, this is the kind of recipe that makes the effort feel completely worth it.
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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
- ⅓ cup pure maple syrup
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup 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 pure maple syrup
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger, finely grated
- 1 tbsp tapioca starch
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter
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 1/4 cup amount), baking powder, and salt. 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. Drizzle in the 1/3 cup maple syrup and stir with a fork until the mixture just comes together into a crumbly, slightly sticky dough.
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