Red Meat Allergy Friendly 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 a cozy autumn afternoon. The filling is cooked down on the stovetop with coconut sugar, Ceylon cinnamon, and cardamom until it turns glossy and jam-like, so every bite is deeply fragrant and satisfying. Tapioca starch does the quiet work of pulling the juices together into a set, sliceable layer that holds its shape beautifully once cooled. The base and crumble are built from rolled oats, rice flour, maple syrup, and cold butter — straightforward pantry ingredients with no red meat or meat-derived components anywhere in the recipe. For anyone managing a red meat allergy, desserts can sometimes be a minefield of hidden gelatin or other animal-derived thickeners, but this one sidesteps all of that entirely through plant-based and dairy baking staples. The bars slice cleanly into nine generous squares and are just as good at room temperature as they are slightly warm, making them an easy option for sharing or meal-prepping ahead.
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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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