Beef Free Pear Crumble Bars with Cinnamon and Cardamom
Warm spiced pears tucked between a buttery oat crust and a golden crumble topping — these bars are the kind of bake that makes your whole kitchen smell like autumn. Ripe pears are cooked down with coconut sugar, Ceylon cinnamon, and cardamom until they turn glossy and jam-like, then layered over a pressed oat base made with rice flour and maple syrup. The tapioca starch does quiet, clever work here, thickening the fruit juices into a filling that slices cleanly once cooled. Since every ingredient in this recipe is naturally plant- and grain-based with the exception of butter, there's nothing to swap out or second-guess — no meat-derived gelatin, no hidden animal proteins, just straightforward pantry staples. The double-duty crumble mixture forms both the base and the topping, which keeps prep simple and the texture satisfyingly layered. Let them cool fully before slicing and you'll get neat, bakery-worthy bars that hold together beautifully. They're equally at home on a dessert plate or wrapped up for a lunchbox treat.
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Learn more →Ingredients
9 servings
For the crust and crumble
- 1 ½ cups rolled oats
- ¾ cup rice flour
- ⅓ cup coconut sugar
- ½ tsp ground ceylon cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground cardamom
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter, cold and cut into small cubes
- 2 tbsp pure maple syrup
For the pear filling
- 4 medium ripe pears (about 1 ½ lbs), peeled, cored, and cut into ½-inch dice
- 3 tbsp coconut sugar
- 1 tsp ground ceylon cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground cardamom
- 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, stir together the rolled oats, rice flour, coconut sugar, Ceylon cinnamon, cardamom, and 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. Drizzle in the maple syrup and toss with a fork until the mixture just holds together when pressed.
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