Everyone here would agree that fall is THE baking season. Besides the cool weather that makes us crave warm, comforting food, it’s also when we get a bounty of produce to bake.
This year, you should up your baking game and prepare for the holidays in advance. Here are three fall baking recipes you’ll love!
1 – Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake Donuts
These chewy sugar-raised donuts highlight the best flavor combination – pumpkin spice and cream cheese, of course!
Ingredients
For the Donut:
- 1 ½ cups warm milk
- 3 tsp active dry yeast
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 5 ½ cups bread flour
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- ⅛ tsp mace
- 2 large eggs
- ⅓ cup pumpkin purée
- 5 tbsp butter, melted
- ½ tsp vanilla
- Pumpkin spice sugar for coating
For the Pumpkin Spice Sugar:
- 1 tbsp store-bought pumpkin spice mix
- ½ cup caster sugar
For the Cream Cheese Filling:
- 2 packs of cream cheese, room temperature
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ½ cup powdered sugar, sifted
- ½ tsp pumpkin spice mix
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
First, combine milk, yeast, and sugar. Allow the mixture to rest and bubble for ten minutes.
To make pumpkin spice sugar, combine all the ingredients and set it aside.
In a separate mixing bowl, sift together bread flour, salt, nutmeg, and mace. Form a well in the center, then pour in your eggs, pumpkin purée, butter, vanilla, and yeast mixture.
Stir the dough with a wooden spoon until it forms a ball. Afterward, turn it out on a floured surface.
Knead the dough for at least ten minutes. About ¼ cup of extra flour should be enough for kneading!
Let the dough rise for an hour, then punch it down. Use a rolling pin to flatten the dough to ⅓-inch thickness.
Next, cut the dough with a circular cookie cutter. Place the donuts on a floured tray and let them rise for another 30 minutes.
Fry the donuts at 365°F for one minute on each side. Strain them and immediately roll each donut in the pumpkin spice sugar.
Make the filling by whipping the cream cheese, heavy cream, sugar, vanilla, pumpkin spice, and salt together.
Finally, fill each with the cream cheese filling using a piping bag!
2 – Pumpkin Spice Snickerdoodle Cookies
Snickerdoodle cookies are super simple and affordable, making them perfect for giving away to friends. Plus, you can take them even further with a few dashes of pumpkin spice!
Ingredients
- 1 stick butter
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 1 egg yolk, room temperature
- ⅓ cup mashed pumpkin
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp pumpkin spice mix
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ cup sugar, combined with ½ tsp pumpkin spice, for rolling
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
In a saucepan, cook the butter over low heat until browned. Allow the butter to cool, then add brown sugar and egg yolk.
Cream the butter mixture, then stir in vanilla and mashed pumpkin.
Sift the flour, pumpkin spice, baking powder, and salt into the wet ingredients. Stir everything until well combined.
Using an ice cream scoop, spoon even balls of the cookie dough into the pumpkin spice sugar. Coat the cookie dough with sugar, then lay them two inches apart on a lined baking sheet.
Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes and enjoy!
3 – Apple Upside-Down Tart
This recipe is a warm and caramelly apple tart that only uses four ingredients!
Ingredients
- ½ cup sugar
- ¼ cup butter
- 6 to 7 Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced into quarters
- 1 sheet puff pastry
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375°F.
In a deep cast iron dish, melt sugar until lightly golden. Quickly drop in cold butter to stop the cooking process.
Stir in the apples and cook them for 20 minutes.
Next, rearrange the apples in a circular pattern, then cover the top with a sheet of puff pastry. Place the pan in the oven and bake for 45 minutes.
Once cooked, turn the whole dish over into a plate. Serve with ice cream and a sprinkling of cinnamon.
Final Thoughts
Baking in the fall is a truly special experience. As the weather turns cooler, I hope you make time to try one of these three fall baking recipes!
Sarah is the founder of Baking Kneads, LLC, a blog sharing guides, tips, and recipes for those learning how to bake. Growing up as the daughter of a baker, she spent much of her childhood learning the basics in a local bakery.