Nutmeg Free Pear Crumble Bars with Cinnamon and Cardamom
Warm, jammy pears tucked between a buttery oat crust and a golden crumble topping — these bars are the kind of thing that disappears fast at any gathering. The filling gets cooked down on the stovetop with coconut sugar, Ceylon cinnamon, and cardamom until it turns glossy and thick, so every bite is intensely fragrant without a single trace of nutmeg. That matters more than it sounds, because so many spiced baked goods lean on nutmeg as a default, and it can be genuinely tricky to find desserts that skip it without sacrificing depth of flavor. Here, the cardamom and cinnamon do all the heavy lifting, and the result is aromatic, complex, and completely satisfying. The base and topping are made from the same oat-and-rice-flour mixture, which keeps things simple and gives the bars a pleasantly rustic, crumbly texture. Tapioca starch thickens the pear filling to a jam-like consistency that holds its shape once cooled, so you get clean slices rather than a soggy mess. These are 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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