Legume Free Pear Crumble Bars with Cinnamon and Cardamom
Warm spiced pears tucked between a buttery oat crust and a golden crumble topping — this is the kind of bake that makes your whole kitchen smell like autumn. The filling gets cooked down on the stovetop with coconut sugar, Ceylon cinnamon, and cardamom before it ever hits the oven, so every bite is glossy, jammy, and deeply fragrant. Tapioca starch does the thickening work here, keeping everything cohesive without any legume-derived ingredients sneaking in. The crust and crumble pull double duty — pressed down as a base, then scattered on top — which means less fuss and more of that irresistible crunchy texture in every square. Rice flour and rolled oats keep the whole thing naturally free of bean or pulse-based flours, so there's no need to scrutinize labels or make substitutions. Once the bars cool completely, the filling sets into clean, sliceable layers that hold together beautifully. These are equally at home on a dessert plate with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or wrapped up and tucked into a lunchbox.
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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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