Wheat Free Pear Crumble Bars with Cinnamon and Cardamom
Warm spiced pears, a buttery golden crumble, and the kind of fragrant kitchen smell that makes everyone wander in asking what's baking — these bars deliver all of that in one tidy, sliceable square. Rice flour and rolled oats stand in for any wheat-based ingredients, so the crust and crumble come together beautifully without sacrificing that satisfying, slightly crisp texture you want in a bar cookie. The pear filling gets cooked down on the stovetop with coconut sugar, Ceylon cinnamon, and cardamom before it ever hits the oven, which means the fruit turns jammy and glossy rather than watery or underdone. Tapioca starch does the thickening work here, pulling the juices into a luscious, set filling that holds its shape when you slice. Coconut sugar and maple syrup keep things naturally sweet without any refined sugar, and cold butter worked into the oat mixture creates those irresistible clumpy, golden bits on top. Letting the bars cool completely is the one step worth being patient about — the filling firms up as it rests, and you'll get clean, bakery-worthy slices rather than a crumbly mess. These are the kind of bars that disappear fast at a gathering, and nobody needs to know how straightforward they were to pull off.
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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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