Fall Baking Bucket List

After a long summer season full of fruit pies and no-bake treats, the idea of diving into cozy fall desserts feels extra enticing. That’s why we made a fall baking bucket list, filled with all our favorite autumnal recipes. From warm chai cinnamon rolls to squash and sage focaccia, there are so many recipes we want to make that we had to start writing them all down!

Your Fall Baking Bingo Card

Ready to get in on the fun? All the recipes on our fall baking bucket list can be found on this bingo card. Bake five things in a row (horizontal, vertical or diagonal) to get a Bingo!

Fall Baking Recipes

Of all the fall baking recipes out there, here are 25 on our bucket list this year:

• Apple dessert: Anyone who loves toting home a bakery bag full of warm apple cider doughnuts will love this Bundt cake version. Every bite of Apple Cider Doughnut Cake is filled with brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, and there’s even a cinnamon-sugar coating that’s true to the apple orchard favorite.
• Pumpkin bread: The recipe on our baking bucket list every single year is the humble loaf of Pumpkin Spice Bread. Bake a batch in the morning and steal a slice all throughout the day. Our secret to the perfect loaf? Always use the best canned pumpkin.
• Fall pie: Good-quality bourbon adds a welcome twist to the classic sweet, gooey and nutty pecan pie. With notes of vanilla, caramel and fall spice, you’ll love how much more elevated our Bourbon Pecan Pie tastes, and all it requires is that one extra ingredient.
• Soft pretzels: Attending an Oktoberfest party? That’s the perfect excuse to whip up these Soft Giant Pretzels and check off a bingo slot in the process! Our recipe bakes a traditional batch of German pretzels, but we included ways to plus it up with garlic and Parmesan, everything bagel seasoning or a cinnamon-sugar coating.
• Maple syrup dessert: With real maple syrup, white chocolate chips and chopped pecans, Maple Cookies are a wonderful fall dessert for anyone who might be a little tired of apples or pumpkins by now.
• Cardamom-flavored bake: Save Swedish cardamom buns for a Saturday project and indulge on Sunday morning or at an afternoon Swedish fika.
• Salted caramel bars: An irresistible salted caramel and melted chocolate filling layer runs through the center of these tender Chocolate Salted Caramel Bars. Store-bought caramel candies make this recipe so easy, so there’s no tricky caramel-cooking or candy thermometers needed.
• Flavored focaccia: Anyone who’s a bit apprehensive about homemade bread should start with this simple, no-knead Squash Focaccia. The dough is basically foolproof, and thinly sliced squash and fresh sage leaves make this focaccia recipe undeniably fall-forward.
• Cranberry baked good: Cranberries are the ultimate palate cleanser, so I love serving these Cranberry Curd Bars after heavy fall meals. Plus, the bright pink hue adds such a cheerful pop of color!
• Small-batch bake: We scaled down a British favorite so there’s just enough for two. Sticky Toffee Pudding for 2 is perfect for a romantic date night in. The cinnamon and ginger-spiced date cake gets even more autumnal with a homemade toffee sauce poured on top, soaking into the spongy cake.
• Pumpkin snickerdoodles: We only had to add one ingredient (pumpkin!) to turn a classic batch of snickerdoodles into the perfect fall cookie. Cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger pair beautifully with the pumpkin puree, making these Pumpkin Snickerdoodles taste like fall itself.
• Muffins: If you’re only saving cranberries for winter, these Cranberry Muffins will change your mind. Tart, juicy cranberries bake with sweet cinnamon, warm nutmeg, zippy ginger, bright orange zest and crunchy pecans for a full-flavored but perfectly balanced batch of muffins that taste just like fall.
• Bakeable challenge: In place of the free space is our monthly Bakeable challenge. Each month, members of our Bakeable community bake a special recipe with us and share their photos in the Bakeable Facebook group. Come bake along with us!
• Sourdough bread: If you’ve always been a bit intimidated by the sourdough-making process, let’s rip the band-aid. Our Sourdough French Bread walks you through the technique of making the perfect loaf of sourdough, from creating and feeding a foamy starter to kneading and shaping a boulangerie-worthy loaf.
• Coffee-flavored treat: There’s so much to love about these Cappuccino Muffins. Each one is filled with cozy cinnamon, chocolate chips and buzzy coffee, but they become unexpectedly delicious with a smear of coffee cream cheese spread.
• Dutch oven bread: Our no-knead Dutch Oven Bread just needs a simple score and a quick bake. It takes eight hours to rise, so start it in the morning so it’s ready for dinner.
• Chai spice bake: Chai’s blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, ginger and cloves inherently lends itself to a plethora of fall recipes. We decided to mix it into a cinnamon roll’s brown sugar and cinnamon filling in these Chai Cinnamon Rolls. They’re similar to a dirty chai latte for a buzzy morning jolt.
• Coffee cake: If there was ever a way to welcome in a chilly autumn morning, it’s with this Apple Coffee Cake that’s heady with fall spices and chunks of tart apples. The secret ingredient (sour cream!) makes every bite exceptionally tender, and the brown sugar and spiced pecan topping adds a lot of nice crunch and warmth.
• No-bake dessert: Everyone’s talking about tiramisu lately, so we were inspired to create an elevated version of the classic. Earl Grey Tiramisu trades buzzy espresso for the namesake tea, imparting herbal and woodsy bergamot that’s unexpectedly fall.
• Biscuits: Warm, fresh Buttermilk Biscuits are hard to beat. With a flaky, buttery interior and slight outer crunch, they’re perfect as-is. During the fall season, though, I love using them as a raft for pumpkin or apple butter.
• Brown butter dessert: There’s so much to love about these unexpectedly autumnal Brown Butter Blondies with Speculoos Buttercream. From the softly spiced cookie butter frosting to the toasty browned butter blondies and the crunchy walnuts studded throughout, every bite has a perfect harmony of flavor.
• Olive oil cake: Apples get a lot of love during the fall season, but here, pears are the star. Our Pear Olive Oil Cake combines the fruit with warm cinnamon, good-quality olive oil and a bit of almond flour for a nutty flavor and toothsome bite.
• Something nutty: Baklava is a traditional dessert in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisines, where filling variations abound. Here, we follow the Greek version, filling the phyllo dough with walnuts, cinnamon and cloves and finishing the pastry with a sticky honey-citrus glaze.
• Morning buns: Have you ever wanted to learn how to make laminated dough from scratch? Morning Buns are the best project to perfect the skill. They’re filled with a cinnamon and orange zest filling and baked into buttery puffs of flaky pastry with a cinnamon-sugar coating.
• Apple bread: Pineapple upside-down cake inspired this autumnal bread version. Upside-Down Apple Bread steams and caramelizes sliced apples, concentrating their flavors and melding their tart taste with warm cinnamon and sweet brown sugar.

Bingo!

Did you bake five recipes in a row (horizontal, vertical or diagonal)? Great job! Fill out the form below before October 31 to receive a complimentary Christmas Cookies eBook in November. Limited to the first 100 participants; one prize per person.