Walnut 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 thing that makes your kitchen smell like a proper autumn bakery. 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 quiet work of pulling those pear juices into a thick, set filling that slices cleanly once cooled. Rice flour keeps the crust tender and slightly crisp without any of the heaviness you sometimes get from all-purpose, and the maple syrup helps the crumble clump into those satisfying golden clusters on top. The whole thing is built from straightforward pantry ingredients — no tree nuts anywhere in the recipe, so you can bake and share without second-guessing the ingredient list. Let the bars cool completely before slicing and you'll be rewarded with neat, sturdy squares that hold together beautifully on a plate or packed 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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