19 Best Apple Dessert Recipes To Sweeten Up Your Fall

While pumpkin seems to become all the rage once the leaves start turning colors, there's another produce item that deserves some credit in the fall, and we're talking about good old apples. As a snack, apples are a year-round favorite, but once fall strikes, warm and spiced apple desserts suddenly seem like quite the seasonal delicacy. And, believe it or not, there's an entire world of apple desserts out there — ones that go far beyond classic apple pie, delicious as it may be. 

If you're looking to impress at your holiday gathering or seasonal party, then these fall desserts will certainly deliver on that end. That said, there are also plenty of options that are perfectly fit for a quiet evening with your family. You can't go wrong with a classic apple crisp to follow up a hearty fall dinner, but you might also be inspired to make an Italian crostata or French clafoutis. No matter the occasion and no matter your level of baking skill, our best apple desserts will satisfy your sweet tooth and add a warming touch to the chilly season.

This isn't your grandma's apple pie — unless, of course, you're grandma is Dutch, in which case this pie is probably pretty familiar. Unlike most Dutch apple pies that feature a crumbly topping, this apple pie features a sugar cookie-like crust both on the bottom and top. This pie also differs from American-style apple pie that might feature thin-sliced apples and a lattice top; it's a unique take on apple pie and a gourmet one at that.

If you're looking to impress this holiday season, this pie will do the trick. This isn't the easiest recipe to execute and will require some time spent in the kitchen, but if you're willing to make the crust and filling entirely from scratch, then the labor will be well worth the results.

Recipe: Dutch Apple Pie (with a Sugar Cookie Crust) 

This apple crumb recipe is similar to a crisp recipe, but instead of making a topping filled with oats, you'll make one that consists of brown sugar, flour, and butter. When combined, those ingredients create a crumb-like garnish that works oh-so well atop a baking dish full of spiced apples.

While many apple-forward recipes use cinnamon as the source of warmth and spice, this recipe puts apple pie spice to good use to help amp up those fall flavors. This is a great dessert for those who want the taste and feel of a freshly baked apple pie without the fuss. 

Recipe: Spiced Baked Apple Crumb

There are plenty of apple recipes that call for using sliced or cubed apples, but why not keep the whole apple intact? That's exactly what this white wine-baked apple recipe does — instead of slicing and dicing, you'll bake the apples whole, or at least mostly whole.

You will make a small indent at the top of the apple, which doubles in functionality to remove the stem and seeds and also create a pocket for a spiced sugar mixture. Then you'll bake the apples in white wine and apple juice mixture, and by the time they come out of the oven, your apples will be perfectly softened and infused with decadent flavor. Top off your elegant treat with a scoop of ice cream and perhaps even a drizzle of honey.

Recipe: White Wine-Baked Apples

Clafoutis is a classic French dessert that looks somewhat like a tart, but instead of assembling fruit in a crust, you'll pour a sweet batter over the fruit itself. In this case, the fruit in question is of course apples, and you'll build the clafoutis in a cast-iron pan to make for optimal counter-to-stovetop-to-oven-to-serving ease.

If you've never made a clafoutis before then you may worry that it's a difficult dessert to master, seeing that it does have quite an elegant look to it. Luckily, making a clafoutis is pretty straightforward, and for this recipe, you'll start by preparing the buttery, cinnamony apples, then you'll layer those into the skillet along with the eggy batter. From there, it's just a matter of letting the oven do its thing, and then voila — a beautiful French dessert that only looks like it took hours to make.

Recipe: Apple Clafoutis

It's pretty hard to resist a good cobbler, and though peach or blueberry may be more commonly used fruits for such a dessert, apples get their rightful time to shine thanks to this recipe. If you're the type of person who likes to make everything from scratch but ultimately leans more on the no-frills side of baking, then this classic apple cobbler combines the best of both worlds. 

The cobbler aspect of this dessert comes in the form of a biscuit-like dough, which helps add to the overall ease of this recipe. Anyone who has made biscuits knows that they aren't hard to make nor do they require a plethora of ingredients — but once all is said and done and your apple cobbler is on the dinner table, you can still claim bragging rights for making an entirely from scratch dessert. 

Recipe: Classic Apple Cobbler

You could incorporate apples into just about any dessert under the sun — cakes, pies, cobblers, or crisps — but sometimes the best apple-themed desserts highlight the fruit alone. Take these Southern fried apples, for example — the ingredients list is incredibly minimal, and the apples themselves are the star of the show.

Of course, the apples don't stand entirely alone in this dessert. Spices like cinnamon and nutmeg add warmth to the dish, whereas both brown and white sugars add plenty of sweetness. Best of all, the entire dessert comes together after just 15 minutes of stovetop simmering, so if you're in need of a warming dessert right away, these fried apples will do the trick.

Recipe: Warm Spiced Southern Fried Apples

It's hard to beat a classic cinnamon roll, but these apple pie cinnamon rolls prove to be worthy competition. In fact, one bite of a warm, gooey apple pie cinnamon roll may have you wondering why you weren't incorporating apples into the mix all along.

The distinction between regular cinnamon rolls and this apple pie variation comes by way of the filling. Whereas classic rolls get a hearty dose of butter, sugar, and cinnamon, you'll make a from-scratch caramelized apple filling with this recipe. Of course, your rolls will still have plenty of sweet, cinnamony, buttery goodness, but that added edge of warm apples is pretty hard to beat, especially when you top off the whole roll with a fresh drizzle of honey-infused glaze.

Recipe: Apple Pie Cinnamon Rolls

There are many reasons to love classic, lattice-topped apple pie, but its capacity for being handheld or an on-the-go treat is not one of them. If you want all of the goodness of apple pie but in a compact, self-contained format, then these fried apple hand pies may be just what you're looking for.

As the name suggests, you'll be frying these hand pies instead of baking them, which not only adds to their decadence but also ensures that the crust on these pies will be unbelievably crispy. As for the filling, two popular types of apples (Granny Smith and Honeycrisp) come together along with raisins and plenty of cinnamon to help create that classic apple pie taste and feel that we all know and love.

Recipe: Fried Apple Hand Pies

It's hard to resist a good fritter, and this apple fritter recipe comes with the added bonus of fried decadence. You'll start by making a simple fritter batter — with the special inclusion of Pink Lady apples, of course — then you'll dollop spoonfuls of said batter into oil until they're golden and perfectly crispy.

The best part of this recipe is that it's one of the quickest options on this list; if you want a sweet treat in less than 20 minutes, then these fritters are just the dessert for you. While they're perfectly delicious enough on their own, you might opt to drizzle the fritters with a simple glaze to really hone in on the sweetness. 

Recipe: Best Apple Fritters