26 Fall Dessert Recipes To Make Your Day Sweeter
Across the United States, fall blows through in varied hues and tones. While the Midwest revels in a kaleidoscope of leaves, prepping for the oncoming snow, New England buzzes with excitement, awaiting tourists eager to capture the stunning brilliance of autumn. Regardless of the backdrop, the timeless allure of fall flavors makes their yearly return.
Embracing seasonal offerings isn't confined to just our wardrobes or vistas; it's something we integrate into our dining tables too. For many of us, curating a seasonal menu is a cherished ritual. Navigating the realm of seasonal fruits and vegetables might be straightforward, but desserts? They play in a league of their own. It's not about simply picking what's available, but about evoking the warmth, comfort, and nostalgia of the season. Think rich spices, luscious pumpkin treats, and tantalizing apple delights. From the soft crunch of cookies to the moist decadence of coffee cake, and the myriad variations of pies, fall desserts are crafted not just to satiate our sweet cravings, but to resonate with the very essence of the season. Whether it's a grand family gathering or a quiet evening curled up at home, there's a fall-inspired dessert waiting to complete the experience.
1. Autumn-Spiced Pomegranate Upside Down Cake
When it comes to dessert, you, of course, want it to be delicious. This upside-down cake not only tastes delightful but also boasts an incredibly beautiful jeweled topping. It's not too complicated to make, either.
The magic starts with the first layer in the pan with a mixture of butter and sugar, followed by a generous layer of pomegranate seeds. The cake itself contains the usual ingredients and is spiced with the warm flavors of fall — cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, and nutmeg.
2. Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes
For those who love the comforting taste of a seasonal pumpkin spice latte but prefer to skip the coffee, Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes are the perfect autumn dessert. Topped with a creamy cream cheese frosting, they're irresistibly delicious.
These cupcakes incorporate pumpkin puree, ensuring a moist bite every time. The slight tartness of the cream cheese frosting complements the pumpkin and its spices beautifully. And their rich, autumnal hue is the cherry on top.
Recipe: Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes
3. Maple Apple Crostata
Among fall desserts, few things warm our hearts like pie. But sometimes, you just don't have time for pie. A crostata offers a simpler version, and this particular one, packed with fruit and maple flavor, is bound to be a favorite.
While pies might sometimes be tricky to perfect, crafting a crostata is straightforward. For a delightful pairing, serve it a la mode with a scoop of ice cream. While any apple variety can be used for the crostata, we believe Granny Smith apples work best with their mix of tart and sweet.
Recipe: Maple Apple Crostata
4. Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake
If you've ever tasted gooey butter cake, you'll understand our obsession. By infusing this already delicious recipe with autumn vibes, you get the Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake — a perfect treat to savor as leaves start to fall.
Like other butter cake variations, this recipe takes advantage of the convenience of a yellow cake mix, simplifying the baking process. It also features real pumpkin purée, delivering an authentic pumpkin flavor you'll be proud and excited to serve throughout the season.
Recipe: Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake
5. Spiced Baked Apple Crumb
For a dessert that delivers all the scrumptiousness of pie filling without the hassle of kneading, rolling, and shaping a pie crust, this apple crumb is the answer. The blend of warm spices and tender apples crafts this delectable delight.
To achieve a fabulous texture, you can cube up those apples pretty small for little, sweet bites. Since there's no crust, there's no stress over cutting the perfect slice. Just scoop it into a bowl and dollop it with whipped cream for a genuinely comforting treat.
Recipe: Spiced Baked Apple Crumb
6. Pumpkin Streusel Muffin
Muffins for breakfast are an indulgent treat akin to enjoying a cupcake without that uber-sweet frosting. With these pumpkin streusel muffins, you won't miss the creamy topping.
Instead, these muffins are crowned with a delightful streusel that bakes to a slight crumble, adding a wonderful contrast to the soft muffin beneath. A light glaze on top strikes the perfect note of sweetness without making the flavor too overpowering, like a sweet cupcake.
Recipe: Pumpkin Streusel Muffin
7. Classic Apple Crisp
This dish is a flavorful way to savor the essence of autumnal apples. With components like walnuts and rolled oats, it feels slightly more wholesome than the crumb variation.
Similar to the crumb, an apple crisp also forgoes a crust. Yet, it's uniquely characterized by sliced apples and a granola-like topping. These sliced apples add a different texture that is quite dissimilar from crumb, and given the granola component here, it's perfectly fitting for a fall brunch.
Recipe: Classic Apple Crisp
8. Trick-Or-Treat Apple Dip
For autumnal get-togethers, it might seem routine to roll out the usual dip assortment. This year, switch things up with this delightful apple dip. It pairs beautifully with various dippables, but we enjoy preparing little apple skewers with cubed apples. We call it Trick-Or-Treat Apple Dip because it's a great gathering offering while serving those persistent trick-or-treaters.
For this dessert, the ingredients are uncomplicated: cream cheese, coconut sugar, vanilla, and apple pie spice. For added flair, sprinkle toffee bits or generously drizzle your preferred caramel on top.
Recipe: Trick-Or-Treat Apple Dip
9. Classic Pumpkin Cheesecake
As the first leaves descend, our cravings lean towards all things pumpkin, cheesecake included. One taste and you'll understand our affection for this dessert. It's an inventive twist on the traditional pumpkin pie that might just become a new family favorite.
The mixture of cream cheese and pumpkin brings a smooth, sweet, tart, and warm flavor. However, a note of caution: This recipe requires the cheesecake to cool in the oven with its door ajar. If you have curious kids around, it's best to prepare this when they're tucked in bed.
Recipe: Classic Pumpkin Cheesecake
10. Chocolate Chip & Pumpkin Streusel Muffins
There's not much better than a pumpkin streusel muffin with your pumpkin spice latte, but adding chocolate chips in there may very well do the trick. The addition of crunchy walnuts on top adds another layer of texture and flavor.
As with other pumpkin delights, this muffin features real pumpkin purée, topped with a playful streusel and a sweet drizzle. It's as if your beloved chocolate chip cookie and pumpkin muffin merged to forge the ultimate breakfast treat.
11. Classic Apple Cobbler
Close in essence to an apple pie, the apple cobbler is a step above apple crumble or apple crisp. What sets it apart is its biscuit topping, rather than a whole crust encasing the filling. This dessert makes it pretty easy to serve a sweet apple dessert to a crowd, a common need to the fall and winter season.
The ingredients here are precisely what one would anticipate: apples, brown sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, and all the essential ingredients for crafting delightful biscuits. If you're craving something pie-adjacent, this cobbler is your answer.
Recipe: Classic Apple Cobbler
12. Apple Cider Magic Cake
Between trick or treating and other festivals, there's already so much magic in the fall season. The apple cider magic cake seamlessly fits the season. The true marvel of this dessert is the way distinct layers form within, a phenomenon attributed to whipped egg whites.
Additionally, an apple cider reduction atop the whipped topping delivers an unrivaled autumnal experience. Patience is key; allow the apple cider to simmer until it acquires a honey-like consistency. Take your time, and don't rush the process.
Recipe: Apple Cider Magic Cake
13. Classic Pumpkin Pie
With its beautiful orange color and absolutely crave-worthy flavor, few pies encapsulate the essence of fall as exquisitely as pumpkin pie. While its taste profile is echoed in many fall desserts, nothing compares to the original, sweet, orangey pie.
To make your baking journey a tad simpler, consider using a frozen pie crust. Unless you're wholly committed to crafting a crust from scratch, this minor shortcut can save considerable time. For a fabulous trick, incorporate orange to accentuate the pumpkin's rich flavor even more.
Recipe: Classic Pumpkin Pie
14. Apple Dump Cake
There are moments when you might have time for an intricate cake, and there are other times when you need simplicity and speed. For those rapid dessert preparations, choose a dump cake. For this apple one, all you really need to do is prepare the apples, layer in the other needed ingredients, and pop it in the oven.
It might feel overly straightforward, even looking a tad unconventional heading into the oven, but the result is pure delight. A dollop of whipped cream on top enhances its sweetness and texture.
Recipe: Apple Dump Cake
15. 5-Ingredient Pumpkin Cookies
As the brisk autumn breeze sets in, there are often moments when we need desserts on the fly. Cookies are a classic choice, and with just five ingredients, these are even more enticing.
Not to mention, if you bake frequently during the fall, there's a good chance that you have an extra can of pumpkin purée hanging about your pantry, so you're probably already prepped to make these super simple cookies. That said, this list of ingredients may be short, but these cookies still pack in the flavor.
Recipe: 5-Ingredient Pumpkin Cookies
16. Vegan Pumpkin Bars
Holidays brimming with dairy-laden desserts and meat-centric dishes can pose a challenge for vegans. Offering a vegan dessert during your gatherings isn't just thoughtful — it's a genuinely scrumptious choice, especially with these pumpkin bars. This dessert is proof that you don't have to sacrifice flavor to cater to dietary preferences.
For those new to vegan baking, ensure you allot extra time for unique steps, such as softening cashews in water. While it may seem unfamiliar, the mouthwatering outcome is worth the effort.
Recipe: Vegan Pumpkin Bars
17. Pumpkin Banana Bread
If you're anything like us, you always seem to have a batch of bananas becoming browner by the day on your kitchen counter. Put those bananas to work by creating some banana nut bread with a fall flare.
The inclusion of pumpkin and pumpkin spices in your typical banana bread is going to take this humble sweet bread to new heights. We love this one for fall breakfasts and for gifting to neighbors or even hosts.
Recipe: Pumpkin Banana Bread
18. Classic Pecan Pie
Pecan pie is another beloved fall staple. Given its popularity, it might seem challenging to craft, but it's actually quite straightforward. To simplify the process further, consider using a store-bought frozen crust like we enjoy doing with other pies.
The filling consists of butter, sugar, syrups, egg, and vanilla. Mix the pecans into the filling, pour into the crust, bake, and soon enough, you'll be enjoying the classic pecan pie you adore. We really love this pie with ice cream because it has a smoothness next to the pecan crunch.
Recipe: Classic Pecan Pie
19. No-Cook Pumpkin Tiramisu
While tiramisu isn't necessarily complicated to make, it can be somewhat intimidating for first-timers. To allow all the flavors ample time to meld, it's best to prepare this dish in advance to give those ingredients time to do their magic.
Once all of your tiramisu parts are ready, the process is as simple as layering espresso-soaked ladyfingers with a pumpkin cream mixture. The final dessert tastes like a delightful cross between a traditional tiramisu from your favorite Italian restaurant and a classic pumpkin spice latte.
Recipe: No-Cook Pumpkin Tiramisu
20. Nutty Coffee Cake
If you happen to be having a fall gathering during breakfast time, serving a coffee cake would be the perfect breakfast sweet to include. It has all the warmth of the nuttiness with several seasonal flavors we enjoy.
It all comes together pretty quickly and in a straightforward manner. In between the moist cake of the coffee cake itself and the delicious crumbled topping, you'll certainly have your guests looking to recreate this recipe for their own morning coffee. For a little bit of intrigue, we use a couple of kinds of flour.
Recipe: Nutty Coffee Cake
21. Dutch Apple Pie
Sometimes, you can skip making the crust from scratch and buy a store-bought one instead; at other times, the crust is as much a star as the pie's filling. That's certainly the case here with a Dutch apple pie loaded in a sugar cookie crust.
This one is two desserts in one, but don't let the crust intimidate you because there's a pretty simple ingredients list with this one that will make for one simple, delicious, perfectly fall pie. Pair with vanilla pie for a dreamy fall dessert.
Recipe: Dutch Apple Pie
22. Homemade Cinnamon Rolls
There are not many more things in the world more comforting than the smell of freshly baked cinnamon rolls. When preparing your home for the fall and winter holiday seasons, this is a perfect way to wake up your family or welcome guests to your home.
When choosing to take the homemade route, be sure to set aside plenty of time to allow the dough to rise and create the perfect bed for that ooey gooey filling. Pair with your favorite cream cheese frosting spread to perfectly top these out.
Recipe: Homemade Cinnamon Rolls
23. Chocolate Chess Pie
While chocolate may not be the first ingredient that comes to mind for a fall dessert, the smooth texture of this one resembles the fall coziness we love in every way. Chess pie is simply a pie with a gooey center, and though the name is confusing, the flavor is not.
Prepare this one with a store-bought crust to save yourself a bit of time. Once it's done cooking, be sure to serve it with whipped cream or even a dusting of powdered sugar, but it's also delicious on its own.
Recipe: Chocolate Chess Pie
24. Traditional Snickerdoodles
Having an assortment of cookies readily available in your family cookie jar is always delightful and welcome, especially when they resonate with the fall season. Snickerdoodles perfectly fit this criteria.
The dough for these fall-fabulous cookies incorporates butter, both brown and white sugars, eggs, flour, baking powder, a pinch of salt, and cinnamon. The result? Delectably soft cookies that are perfect for year-round enjoyment but are particularly cherished during fall.
Recipe: Traditional Snickerdoodles
25. Simple Sweet Potato Pie
Pumpkin pie isn't the only orange pie we love during the fall. We also adore sweet potato pie, and like most pies, you can feel free to simplify the whole dessert by using a premade crust so you don't use all of your time making a crust from scratch.
The filling will include sweet potato purée and many of the seasonings we love to warm up with in the fall. You'll also need to add sugar, eggs, milk, and butter to the mixture before popping it into the oven.
Recipe: Simple Sweet Potato Pie
26. Simple Churros
Churros are one of those foods that we love enjoying from a restaurant or even from a snack stand, but we also love making them at home. The good news is that they're actually much easier to make than you imagine.
Once the dough is prepared and shaped using a piping bag, it's promptly fried to golden perfection. The final touch is a generous dusting of sugar, making these churros an irresistible snack.
Recipe: Simple Churros