Twelve fall bakes built around pumpkin, apples, maple and pecans. Three come with full recipes, and the rest give you the key bake cues.
What's in this list
- 12 treats: 4 pumpkin, 4 apple, and 4 maple, pecan or cinnamon bakes
- Full recipes: pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting, apple crisp, and maple pecan blondies
- Whole can of pumpkin: the pumpkin bars use all 15 ounces, and the cheesecake bars use about half
- Make ahead: which treats keep on the counter, which go in the fridge, and which freeze
The easiest fall sweet treats to bake are pan bars, a fruit crisp and one-bowl blondies. They need one pan, no mixer for most of them, and pantry staples you probably already have. This list has 12 of them, sorted by pumpkin, apple, and maple or pecan.
Three come with full ingredient lists and steps. The rest give you the key cues, like the oven temperature or the sign that they're done. Below the recipes, you'll find what to do with leftover pumpkin, how to swap pan sizes, and how far ahead you can bake for Thanksgiving.
Pumpkin treats that use up the can
Canned pumpkin is the backbone of fall baking, and it causes the most leftover headaches. A standard can holds 15 ounces, a little under 2 cups. Some recipes use all of it and some use half, so the four bakes below are matched to help you finish the can.
Full recipe
1. Pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting
These are soft, cakey bars with a thick layer of tangy frosting. The batter mixes in two bowls with a whisk, and the whole 15-ounce can goes in.
Ingredients for the pumpkin bars
Check off ingredients as you go. Cook mode keeps your screen awake.
For the bars
For the frosting
How to make it
- Heat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 10×15-inch rimmed pan or line it with parchment.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice in a bowl.
- In a second bowl, whisk the oil, eggs, brown sugar, granulated sugar, pumpkin and vanilla until smooth. Stir in the dry ingredients until no flour streaks remain.
- Spread the batter evenly in the pan. Bake 28 to 35 minutes, until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.
- Cool the bars completely in the pan. Frosting melts on warm bars.
- Beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in the powdered sugar, vanilla and salt, then spread over the cooled bars.
Swap: Only have a 9×13 pan? The bars bake up thicker and need more time. Start checking at 35 minutes (an estimate, so trust the toothpick).
Storage: Frosted bars keep in the fridge for up to 5 days.
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Lining the pan with parchment lets you lift the whole slab out and cut neat squares on a board. A flat-lying parchment paper roll (paid link) cuts cleanly to size and doesn't curl back up in the pan. It's rated to 425°F, so it isn't for broiling.
2. Pumpkin chocolate chip muffins
Use any pumpkin muffin batter and fold in a cup of chocolate chips at the end. Fill the liners about three-quarters full and bake at 350°F.
Start checking at 20 minutes, and pull them when a toothpick in the middle muffin comes out clean. Our pumpkin spice muffins are a good base.
Swap: Mini chips spread through the batter more evenly than regular chips.
3. Mini pumpkin loaves for giving
One batch of batter for a 9×5-inch loaf fills about four mini loaf pans. Bake at 350°F and start checking at 30 minutes, since mini loaves finish much sooner than a full loaf. Our easy homemade pumpkin bread uses the whole can and divides this way.
Swap: Wrap cooled loaves in plastic, then foil, and freeze them for gifting later.
4. Pumpkin cheesecake bars
A graham cracker crust, a cream cheese layer and a swirl of spiced pumpkin. These use about a cup of pumpkin, so they're the bake to pair with a half-used can.
Bake until the edges are set and the center still wobbles a little, then chill at least 4 hours before you slice.
Swap: Gingersnap crumbs in place of graham crackers add more spice.
Apple treats for the whole week
Once the pumpkin is used up, apples take over. They're cheap at the peak of the season, and they hold their shape in the oven better than most fruit. Firm, tart-sweet apples like Granny Smith, Honeycrisp or Braeburn work for every bake in this section.
Full recipe
5. Apple crisp
Tender spiced apples under a crunchy oat topping. This is the dessert to make when you want something warm and don't want to roll out dough.
Ingredients for the apple crisp
Check off ingredients as you go.
For the filling
For the topping
How to make it
- Heat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9×13-inch baking dish.
- Toss the apples with the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and vanilla. Spread them in the dish.
- For the topping, mix the flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. Work in the cold butter with a pastry blender or your fingertips until it looks like coarse crumbs, then stir in the oats.
- Scatter the topping over the apples. Don't press it down.
- Bake about 45 minutes, until the topping is golden and the juices bubble at the edges.
- Let it rest at least 15 minutes before serving so the juices thicken.
Swap: For a gluten-free crisp, use a cup-for-cup gluten-free flour blend and oats labeled gluten-free.
A watery crisp usually means soft apples or skipping the flour in the filling. A pale, soft topping usually means the butter was warm, so keep it cold until it goes in.
A deep 9×13 glass dish holds all 10 cups of apples without bubbling over, and the Pyrex Deep version comes with a lid, so you can assemble the crisp the night before and slide it straight into the fridge. Glass heats more slowly than metal, so give bars baked in it a few extra minutes.
- 9x13 INCH: Includes (1) 9x13x2.75 inch glass baking dish with BPA-free plastic lid. This deep baking dish...
- GO DEEPER: At up to 50% deeper than the Pyrex basics dishes you know and love, there’s more room to get...
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6. Caramel apple hand pies
Roll out a store-bought pie crust, cut it into circles, and fill each with a spoonful of cooked cinnamon apples and a drizzle of caramel. Fold, crimp with a fork, cut a small vent, and brush with beaten egg.
Bake at 400°F and start checking at 15 minutes. They're done when they're deep golden. Our homemade caramel works if you'd rather not buy a jar.
Swap: Apple butter in place of the cooked apples makes these even faster.
7. One-bowl apple cake
Stir diced apples into a simple cinnamon cake batter and bake it in a 9-inch square pan at 350°F. Start checking at 40 minutes. The top should spring back when you press it, and a toothpick should come out with no wet batter.
Swap: Pears work the same way, and the two mix well together.
8. Cinnamon baked apples
Core whole apples, leaving the bottom intact, and fill them with oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and a pat of butter. Add a splash of water to the dish and bake at 350°F until a knife slides in easily, usually 30 to 40 minutes.
Kids like filling their own. For more ideas, see our easy caramel apple recipes.
Swap: Chopped pecans or raisins in the filling add texture.
Maple, pecan and cinnamon treats
These four lean on brown sugar, maple and toasted nuts instead of fruit. They're the bakes to keep in a tin on the counter, and they travel well to a potluck or a school bake sale.
Full recipe
9. Maple pecan blondies
Chewy, butterscotch-y bars with a little maple and a lot of toasted pecans. One bowl, no mixer.
Ingredients for the maple pecan blondies
Check off ingredients as you go.
How to make it
- Heat the oven to 350°F. Line an 8×8-inch metal pan with parchment, leaving some hanging over the sides.
- Whisk the melted butter and brown sugar until glossy. Whisk in the egg, maple syrup and vanilla.
- Stir in the flour, baking powder and salt, then the pecans.
- Spread in the pan and bake 22 to 28 minutes, until the edges are golden and a toothpick in the center comes out with moist crumbs.
- Cool completely in the pan, then lift out by the parchment and cut into 16 squares.
Swap: Walnuts or chocolate chips work in place of the pecans.
An 8×8 pan keeps these blondies thick and chewy. The GoodCook MegaGrip pan has silicone grips that make it easier to pull out of the oven, but the nonstick coating means you should lift the bars out on parchment before cutting.
- 8 x 8-INCH SQUARE BAKING PAN: This 8x8 baking pan is made from heavy-gauge steel and ensures a perfect...
- NONSTICK COATING: This baking dish features a scratch-resistant nonstick coating for a mess-free release...
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10. Pecan pie bars
A buttery shortbread crust baked on its own first, then topped with a classic pecan pie filling and baked again until the center is set. You get pecan pie flavor without rolling out dough.
These have an egg filling, so they go in the fridge once they cool.
Swap: Swap half the pecans for chopped dark chocolate.
11. Maple oatmeal cookies
Add a couple of tablespoons of maple syrup and a pinch of cinnamon to your favorite oatmeal cookie dough, then glaze the cooled cookies with powdered sugar thinned with more maple.
Bake at 350°F and start checking at 10 minutes. Pull them when the edges are golden and the centers still look a little soft.
Swap: Dried cranberries in place of raisins give them a holiday look.
12. Cinnamon sugar donut muffins
A plain, nutmeg-scented muffin batter baked in a regular muffin tin. While they're still warm, brush the tops with melted butter and roll them in cinnamon sugar.
Bake at 350°F and start checking at 15 minutes. If you have a mini pan, our mini cinnamon sugar donuts are the bite-size version.
Swap: Pumpkin pie spice in the cinnamon sugar ties them to the rest of this list.
What to do with leftover pumpkin puree
With the recipes in hand, leftover pumpkin is the first practical problem most bakers hit. A half-used can keeps in a covered container in the fridge for a few days. For longer, freeze it in 1-cup portions in freezer bags, pressed flat so they thaw fast.
Pair the bakes on this list by how much pumpkin they use. The bars use the whole can. The cheesecake bars use about a cup, which leaves enough for a half batch of muffins.
Stir a spoonful of the rest into oatmeal or pancake batter. Homemade puree works in all of these, but it's usually wetter than canned. Let it drain in a fine strainer for 30 minutes or so before you measure it, or your bars and bread can turn out gummy.
Pan swaps and why bars sink
Pumpkin puree also explains the most common bar problem. A pumpkin batter is heavy and wet, so a center that looks set can still be raw underneath. If bars sink in the middle as they cool, they almost always needed a few more minutes.
Test the very center with a toothpick, not the edges. Pan size changes everything about timing. A 10×15 pan gives thin bars that bake fast.
A 9×13 pan holds the same batter about a third deeper, so it needs more time. Muffin tins are the fastest of all.
Glass dishes heat up more slowly than metal pans and hold the heat longer. If you bake bars in glass, check them a few minutes later than the recipe says and go by the toothpick.
How far ahead can you bake for Thanksgiving?
Pan size settled, timing is the last decision before the holiday. Thanksgiving falls on November 26 this year, and most of this list can be made a day or two ahead. The rule that matters is whether a treat has an egg-based custard filling.
Before you bake ahead
- Pumpkin pie, pecan pie and the cheesecake and pecan bars here have egg-based fillings. Don't leave them at room temperature more than 2 hours after baking, cooling time included, then refrigerate, per Iowa State University Extension.
- Those egg-filled bakes keep in the fridge up to 4 days, and pumpkin and pecan pies freeze well for up to 2 months, per University of Maine Cooperative Extension.
- Fruit crisps and fruit pies made with sugar and no eggs can sit covered on the counter up to 2 days, then go in the fridge.
- Frosted pumpkin bars belong in the fridge because of the cream cheese.
- Blondies, cookies and unfrosted loaves keep at room temperature in an airtight tin for a few days.
For apple crisp, you can assemble it, cover it and refrigerate it up to a day before baking, then bake it while dinner is on the table. A baked and cooled crisp also freezes for up to 3 months.
Pick one pumpkin bake and one apple bake
Twelve fall sweet treats is more than any one season needs, and that's the point of starting with the full recipes. Make the pumpkin bars this week to use a whole can, and the apple crisp next week while apples are cheap.
Whichever one your family finishes first goes on the Thanksgiving table.
Frequently asked questions
Can I freeze fall sweet treats like pumpkin bars and blondies?
Yes, most of them freeze well for up to 3 months. Freeze bars unfrosted, wrapped tightly in plastic and then foil, and frost them after they thaw in the fridge. Cream cheese frosting can turn grainy after freezing.
Can I use pumpkin pie filling instead of pumpkin puree?
Not as a straight swap. Pumpkin pie filling already has sugar and spices mixed in, so your bake will turn out too sweet and over-spiced. Check that the can label reads 100% pure pumpkin before you buy.
Which fall sweet treats are best for baking with kids?
Baked apples and blondies are the easiest. Kids can stuff the apples and stir the blondie batter, and neither needs a mixer or a knife beyond what an adult does first. Muffins are a good third choice because kids can fill the liners.
Why did my apple crisp topping come out pale?
It usually needed more time or a hotter spot in the oven. Bake on the center rack and wait until the juices bubble at the edges, not just in the middle. If the top browns too slowly, move the dish up one rack for the last 5 minutes.
Does pumpkin pie spice have pumpkin in it?
No. It's a blend of warm spices, usually cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves or allspice. You can make your own with what's in your cabinet and use it in any bake on this list.
Can I make these dairy-free?
Yes, most of them. Use plant-based butter sticks in the crisp topping and the blondies, and note that the pumpkin bars already use oil. For the frosting, a dairy-free cream cheese works but sets softer, so chill the bars before slicing.
What's the best pan for a first-time baker?
A light-colored metal 9×13 pan. It bakes evenly, it fits most bar, crisp and sheet cake recipes, and it doesn't brown the edges as fast as a dark pan. Add an 8×8 pan later for half batches and blondies.
Settle This: Pumpkin Bars or Apple Crisp for the First Fall Bake?
Pumpkin bars use up a whole can and travel well in a pan. Apple crisp comes out of the oven warm and needs a bowl and a spoon.
Pick your side.
Why did you vote that way? Drop your take in the comments.
