Gluten Free Maple-Ginger Pear Crumble Bars
These bars are everything you want in a fall-inspired treat — jammy spiced pears, a buttery crumble topping, and a satisfying snap when you bite through the golden crust. The filling comes together on the stovetop with fresh ginger, ripe pears, and pure maple syrup, then thickens into a glossy, almost jam-like layer that stays perfectly in place when you slice. What makes the base and crumble so clever is the combination of rolled oats, rice flour, and tapioca starch — no wheat flour in sight, yet the texture is tender, crumbly, and completely crave-worthy. Tapioca starch pulls double duty here, both binding the crust and thickening the pear filling, so every component works together without any specialty blends or hard-to-find substitutes. The same dough that forms the pressed crust gets scattered over the top as the crumble, which means less prep and more payoff. They bake up beautifully golden in under 35 minutes and slice into clean, sturdy bars once fully cooled. Whether you're baking for a crowd or just treating yourself, these are the kind of bars that disappear fast — and nobody will miss the gluten for even a second.
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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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