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The Ultimate Guide to Fall Baking: Delicious Desserts to Warm Up Your Kitchen (The Soul of your Home!)

Paige Gilmore

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Fall is finally here! Nothing (and I mean NOTHING) quite captures the feeling of the season like the comforting smell of baked goods filling your kitchen. 

Whether it's the sweet aroma of apple Crisp or the spicy notes of ginger cookies, these recipes will help make your fall cozy, comforting, and incredibly delicious. 

Get ready to warm up your kitchen with these irresistible fall treats!

Apple Crisp Stuffed Apples - A Twist on a Family Favorite

Nothing sings to my heart Fall like an apple crisp baked piping hot in the oven, eaten with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or some plain yogurt! 

The smell of it is mouth-watering and eating a bowl while snuggled under a warm blanket is where it’s at my friends.

I’ve added the step-by-step instructions below to make cute and delicious individual apple crisps. 

Ingredients:

  • 2 large red apples

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour

  • Pinch of salt

  • 2 tablespoons white sugar

  • 2 tablespoons soft brown sugar

  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

  • 1/3 cup butter, chilled & cubed

  • 3/4 cup warm water

  • 1 tablespoon vanilla essence

  • 4 tablespoons chopped walnuts

  • 1 tablespoon soft brown sugar

  • 1 tablespoon butter, cubed

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 F fan bake. Use a metal non-stick brownie pan.

  2. Cut apples in half, remove cores, and cut a shallow well into the apples. Leaving half an inch of flesh where possible. Place in the brownie pan.

  3. In a large bowl add flour, salt, white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Stir dry ingredients. Add butter and rub into the dry ingredients, until the texture is like chunky dry sand (some small lumps of butter is fine).

  4. Firmly pack the crumble stuffing into the apple wells, pilling on top any extras.

  5. In a small pouring bowl mix water and vanilla essence. Carefully pour 1/4 cup across the apples stuffed with crumble, and carefully pour the rest into the bottom of the pan.

  6. Press walnuts into the top of the apple filling, it’s okay if some fall into the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle with soft brown sugar and place a very small cube of butter onto the top of every stuffed apple.

  7. Place stuffed apples in the oven for 40 - 45 minutes, cooked when a knife easily goes through the apple flesh, the liquid is mostly cooked off and the tops are golden.

  8. Remove from oven. Serve hot with ice cream!

For making the perfect stuffed apple crisps, I always recommend non-stick bakeware where possible!

But if you’re like me you want to use bakeware and cookware that is non-toxic so I recommend Caraway and of course tried a testing Pyrex (so cheap and lasts a lifetime!) for your magical Fall baking.


Mini Pumpkin Pies - Maybe I’m a Little Obsessed with Cute Baking

Could you even call this a Fall baking guide without pumpkin pie?!?

These mini pumpkin pies are so aromatic with sweet spices and gorgeous homemade flakey pastry. 

Also, you’ll get my trick for using a non-toxic muffin pan to create the yummy beauties (cutting the pastry is key here and also letting go of perfection!).

I adore serving these with thickened whipped cream and I hope you love them as much as I do. Paige x

Ingredients

Pastry

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour

  • ½ teaspoon baking soda

  • ½ teaspoon nutmeg

  • Pinch of salt

  • 1 ½ cups unsalted butter, cold

  • 1 teaspoon white vinegar

Pumpkin Pie Filling

  • 1 cup pumpkin puree

  • ½ cup cream

  • 1 large egg, whisked

  • ½ cup sugar

  • 1 tablespoon flour

  • 2 teaspoons vanilla essence

  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon

  • ½ teaspoon nutmeg

  • ¼ teaspoon cloves

  • ¼ teaspoon ginger (dried powder)

  • Pinch of salt

Pastry

  1. In a medium bowl rub butter into the flour (fingertips, working quickly) until the texture resembles sand with some almond-sized lumps of butter.

  2. Add the vinegar, incorporating by hand. Press the pastry dough into a ball (it may crumble a little). Split the dough into two balls.

  3. Place a dough ball onto a large sheet of cling film. Press the dough into a flat disk. Tightly wrap in the cling film. Repeat for the remaining pastry dough.

  4. Place in the fridge for a minimum of an hour.

  5. Remove pastry dough from the refrigerator 30 - 40 minutes before you need to roll it out.

Pumpkin Pie Filling

  1. In a medium bowl mix pumpkin, cream, & eggs until well combined.

  2. Add sugar, flour, vanilla essence, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, and salt. Stir until smooth.

  3. Assembly

  4. Preheat your oven to 355 F fan bake. Lightly grease 2 x 12 cavity large muffin trays. Set aside.

  5. Place 1 of the pastry dough disks on a lightly floured surface, using a lightly floured rolling pin. Roll pastry out evenly, until you can cut roughly 12 - 14 x 3-inch circles (you may need to recombine scraps to get 2 - 4 x circles.

  6. Carefully press the pastry circles into the muffin trays. Place the muffin trays in the fridge. TIP: Cut a small ½-inch slit into the side of the pastry circle before pressing into the muffin trays, press the cut side back together once the pastry shell is in place.

  7. Line a flat baking tray with parchment/baking paper. Roll your other pastry dough onto the lined baking tray. Cut out 12 - 14 x pumpkin-shaped circles. Remove scraps.

  8. Using a sharp knife add detailing, including 3-4 curved slits to give the impression of a round pumpkin. Swap with your muffin tray in the refrigerator.

  9. Add 2 - 3 tablespoons of pumpkin pie filling to your pastry pie cups. Remove pumpkin tops from the refrigerator and carefully place a pumpkin on top of each pie.

  10. Place muffin trays in the oven for 30 - 40 minutes, turn the trays halfway through. Remove from the oven when the filling is set and the pastry is golden.

  11. Leave your pumpkin pies in the trays for 15 - 20 minutes. Carefully remove the pies and place on a cooling rack.

Serve warm, room temperature or cold with fresh whipped cream!


Making pastry for a pie can feel a little overwhelming and having the right tools for this recipe is a must but honestly, you don’t need a lot of gadgets!

Let’s keep it simple all you really need is:

Mixing Bowls - I recommend any non-toxic type you can find, non-toxic material can be glass (which tends to be very cheap), ceramic, and stainless steel. Here’s a couple of my favs:

Rolling Pin - I personally love using a wooden rolling pin, assuming there are made with food grade materials they are non-toxic but honestly when I have been on shooting days I have resorted to glass cups and they work perfectly fine. 

You can also get some lovely marble rolling pins that look beautiful as a stylized piece of functional decor for a kitchen countertop and they also make an elegant gift at Christmas time. 

Muffin Pan - If you're a muffin lover like me (raise your hand if you live for blueberry muffins, then you know just how darn difficult it can be if your muffins stick to the pan.

The same will go for these mini pumpkin pies!

You want a non-toxic non-stick muffin pan, it’s going to save you the tears! Non-stick bakeware gets a bad wrap but there are brands that specifically make non-toxic muffin pans:


Gingerbread Maple Cookies - The best Fall cookies when it comes to feeling the season change! 

Ginger cookies are a fall classic that offers just the right blend of spice and sweetness!

Of course I had to put my own easy twist on it by adding maple syrup and because I never have molasses in my pantry this recipe doesn’t need it, so you shouldn’t even need to run out to the grocery store!

Ingredients

  • 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

  • 1 teaspoon baking soda

  • 2 teaspoon ginger powder

  • 1 teaspoon nutmeg

  • 1 teaspoon cloves

  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

  • Pinch of salt

  • 1 cup, softened

  • 1/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

  • 1 egg, room temperature

  • 1/4 cup maple syrup

Instructions

  1. In a large add flour, baking soda, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, & salt. Mix with a rubber spatula until fully combine. Set aside.

  2. In a separate medium bowl cream butter & sugar for 30 - 60 seconds. Combine egg with the creamed butter. Stir through the maple syrup.

  3. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Fold together using the rubber spatula. Form a dough ball, wrap in cling film, & place in the fridge for 30ish minutes.

  4. Line two baking trays with parchment paper. Remove cookie dough from the fridge. Divide into two even pieces (just roughly).

  5. Roll out one of the pieces of dough between two large sections of parchment paper. Cut out cookies & place on one of the lined baking trays. Repeat for the second piece of dough.

  6. Place in fridge for approximately 15 minutes or until cold to touch.

  7. Preheat oven to 350 F Place both trays in the middle of the oven for 10 - 14 minutes or until cooked through and golden. Swap trays half way through the cook for evenly golden cookies.

  8. Cool on baking trays. Store in an airtight container for 5 - 7 days.

Making these gingerbread cookies is a cinch! If you really want to make this cookie batch your easiest and future baking simple then I suggest getting a few high quality tools for your kitchen:

Baking during Fall is so much more than delicious treats (although they are amazing!) it’s about bringing comfort and warmth into your home, while getting back into the school year and work year.

Make this season even more special by making these simple recipes at home, feel free to ask questions below it the comments or send a email through our contact page.

Paige x