36 Fall Baking Recipes
Inside: a collection of all our favorite treats to bake when autumn arrives. Plenty of spice, pumpkin, apple, and more.
Frosted Pumpkin Bread
If you only bake one pumpkin thing all season, make it this one. The frosting is what sends it over. A plain slice of pumpkin bread is nice, but a slab with cream cheese on top is delectable!
Apple Cider Cookies
You simmer the cider down until it’s almost syrup, which gives the cookies their sweet cidery flavor. These travel well and hold up in a cookie tin for days.
Everyday Pumpkin Cake
The everyday sheet cake, no layers to fuss with, no cake stand required. Slice it straight from the pan for the school bake sale or a Wednesday after dinner.
Apple Crumble Pie
Apple pie for people who secretly like crisp better. The buttery crumble on top means you skip the top crust entirely.
Classic Pie Crust
The crust I come back to every fall. Butter for flavor, shortening for flake, and it rolls out like a dream. Save this one and you’ll never dread pie season again.
Sourdough Pumpkin Bread
A good way to use up discard when the mornings finally turn cool. The sourdough tang is SO good with the spice, and it keeps on the counter for days without drying out.
Sourdough Pumpkin Cake
Same flavors as the loaf, dressed up for company. Bake it in a 9×13 and you have dessert for a Sunday supper with almost no fuss.
Apple Spice Cake
Make this cake when you want to really impress people (and you WILL). The boiled caramel frosting sets up glossy and thick. Will remind you of a cake from an old church cookbook.
Caramel Apple Cobbler
It’s cookie dough baked on top of caramel apples, so it’s kind of a cobbler and kind of a cookie. Warm from the oven with vanilla ice cream is the only way.
Country Apple Quick Bread
A one-bowl loaf for the week you brought home too many apples. Slice it thick for lunchboxes or toast a piece with butter for a cold morning.
Molasses Cookies
This is the recipe I’ve had memorized for years. Crackly tops, soft middles, and they get better on day two.
Apple Butter Thumbprint Cookies
The kind of cookie that tastes like it came out of a farmhouse kitchen in October. A spoon of apple butter in the thumbprint does more work than any spice blend could.
Cranberry Orange Sourdough Quick Bread
The easiest way into cranberry season, no yeast, no waiting. Slice it thin for a Thanksgiving morning coffee tray.
Apple Cider Sourdough Bread
The loaf to bake on a Sunday afternoon when you want the whole house to smell like an orchard. Cider in the dough gives it a subtle sweetness.
Cinnamon Swirl Raisin Bread
Cinnamon sugar swirls through a soft loaf. Toast a slice with plenty of butter, and you’ll see why it’s special.
Pumpkin Apple Cake
Two fall staples doing the work of one cake. You get pumpkin’s softness and shredded apple’s little bits of texture in every bite.
Homemade Pear Cobbler
Pears don’t get their due in fall baking, and this cobbler is the fix. Soft fruit, a biscuit-y top, and just enough spice.
Apple Pie Bread
This is the showstopper for a lazy Saturday when you want the house to smell incredible for hours. Pulls apart in soft, cinnamon-sugar pieces and looks stunning on a brunch table.
Soft Applesauce Cookies
These are soft, cakey, and lightly spiced. VERY old-fashioned. The applesauce keeps them tender for days.
Homemade Caramelitas
Caramel, oats, chocolate, all in one pan you cut into squares. This is the fall bar to bring to the office when you want people to remember you brought something.
Soft Apple Cookies with Icing
Soft cookie, buttercream on top, easy to stack in a container for the car. These will be the ones that disappear first at a fall potluck.
Pecan Pie Cobbler
All the flavor of pecan pie without rolling out a crust or worrying about a soggy bottom. Scoop and serve, warm, with ice cream on top.
Sourdough Apple Cake
A sheet-pan apple cake with real chunks of apple and a thick layer of cream cheese frosting. The sourdough starter gives it depth without making it taste like sourdough.
Butterscotch Cookies
Butterscotch is one of those old-fashioned flavors that gets forgotten between pumpkin and gingerbread. Don’t skip it!
Apple Sourdough Coffee Cake
The one to bake the night before company comes so you can slice it with the coffee in the morning. Streusel on top, apples running through, and it holds well under a cake dome.
Sourdough Cinnamon Apple Muffins
These are perfect for cold school mornings when everyone is starving. They freeze well, so make a double batch and pull them out all week.
Soft Molasses Sandwich Cookies
It’s a molasses cookie with buttercream in the middle (yum). Wrap them individually and they travel to a book club or a bake sale without a scratch.
Cranberry Nut Bread
You stir it together at night, bake it in the morning, and it looks like something from a bakery window. The cranberries pop against the nuts and it makes gorgeous toast.
Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls
Mix the dough Saturday night, bake them Sunday morning. This is what to bake for the first truly cold weekend of the season.
Pecan Pie Croissants
It’s store-bought croissant dough with homemade almond cream and pecan pie filling. A GREAT shortcut, and it tastes like it came from a bakery. Assemble ahead and bake off the morning of.
Pumpkin Pie With Homemade Puree
Homemade puree from an actual pumpkin is one of those small projects that makes the whole afternoon feel like fall. The pie itself is exactly what you want on the Thanksgiving table.
Pumpkin Scones
Scones are the sneaky-easy fall bake. No mixer, no rising time, and on the table in under an hour. The maple icing is what makes these feel like something special instead of a quick breakfast.
Homemade Pumpkin Muffins
The muffin to have in your back pocket all season. One bowl, one can of pumpkin, done. Bake a batch on Sunday and breakfast is handled straight through Wednesday.
Rustic Apple Galette
A galette is what to make when a pie feels like too much and a crumble feels like too little. The rustic fold means no lattice, no crimping, and it looks beautiful on a wooden board.
Old-Fashioned Spice Cake
The old-fashioned spice cake with a praline frosting that sets up like candy on top. This is the perfect cake for the Thanksgiving dessert table when someone doesn’t want pie.
Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
Two soft pumpkin cakes with cinnamon cream cheese in the middle. Sort of a cookie, sort of a cake. Wrap them individually and they’re the best thing on the school bake sale table.
