No matter where people live when summer turns to fall, there is a change in the focus of food and especially desserts. Perhaps, it the groceries selling more fall fruits or the sight of mountains of pumpkins, bottles of apple cider or apple pies that turn our thoughts to mouth watering fall desserts.
Get Creative with Your Fall Desserts
Instead of the same old fall desserts, try a few new sweet treats. Be a little adventurous and experiment with desserts you’ve never tried before.
For example, try the ancient fruit, quince, in recipes for pies, tarts and bar cookies. This fruit is quite tart but can be sweetened by honey (substituted for sugar, if you have health concerns).
Fall is the time of year for harvesting of fruits like pomegranates, persimmons, grapes, oranges and pears. For a colorful treat, try steamed persimmon pudding or chocolate pear bread pudding. These can be made in a slow cooker.
The Best Fall Desserts for Tailgaters
Tailgating means finger food desserts. What is more fun and tasty than candy apples dipped first in chocolate and then in caramel and coated with crunchy nuts?
Speaking of nuts, fall is heralded by a wide range desserts that showcase walnuts and raisins. For tailgate parties, nothing says fall like oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips, walnuts and raisins.
Casual and Formal Fall Desserts
For casual fall dessert menus, create kabobs skewered with marshmallows, chunks of apple, pineapple and strawberries. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar.
Bar cookies needn’t be predictable. Make layered bar cookies by blending lemon pie filling with nuts, oatmeal and finely chopped dates.
A plain vanilla cookie dazzles the eye when the recipe includes dried cranberries and orange rind. For icing for these cookies, prepare cream cheese sweetened with a little powdered sugar. Garnish with glazed orange or lemon rind.
Apples and Pumpkin in Season
For those who love quick and easy apple desserts for fall, simply cut apples in half, scoop out the core and seeds. Mix together brown sugar, flour and butter. Place in the scooped out section of the apple. Drizzle with maple syrup and microwave until the apples are tender.
Today’s kitchens have air fryers and air frying ovens. These are handy gadgets to make fall desserts like apple fritters, pumpkin bread pudding and apple tarts.
You will need to line the bottom of air fryers and air fryer ovens with parchment so that fritter and pie dough do not stick. Check your air fryers instructions on the best type of bake ware you can use to make pumpkin bread pudding.
Speaking of steamed desserts, try steaming a melange of pumpkin with crumbled vanilla wafers, raisins and apple butter. Serve it warm with a drizzle of maple syrup.
Apples, Apples Everywhere
One traditional apple favorite that appears when leaves begin to fall are apple crisps. However, corn meal muffins can also become a fall dessert.
Save your day old corn meal muffins. Crumble them and layer them in a buttered baking dish with sliced apples, cinnamon, a beaten egg and enough apple cider to blend. Garnish with brown sugar and bake. Pierce with a wooden skewer in the center to test for doneness.
Fall Dessert Parfait
Purchase an 11-ounce can of pumpkin blended with maple syrup, cinnamon and enough flour to thicken. Cook over medium heat and pour into tall parfait glasses. Garnish with English Toffee bits. Serve warm with a dollop of whipped cream.
If you blend cornmeal, flour and molasses and bake, you have a traditional Indian Pudding. Serve with vanilla cream in parfait glasses.
Tri-Color Fall Parfaits
Fall is the best time to try several kinds of stewed fruits. Blend together stewed apples, cranberries, persimmons and lightly blanched green grapes. Place atop waffles or Belgian waffles and top with vanilla ice cream.
Formal Fall Desserts
When a formal dinner is planned, fall desserts can be a spectacular ending to a gracious meal. Crepes flambe always creates a formal dinner sensation. Crepes are quick and easy to make from flour, milk and eggs.
The trick to making perfect crepes is to pour a small amount into a well oiled pan and allow the liquid to spread around the pan. The other important tip is to avoid over cooking. The color of perfect crepes is pale brown on both sides.
Fill crepes with stewed persimmmon and toasted almonds. Roll the filled crepes. To flambe them, pour brandy into a small bowl and flame. This can also be done with crepes in the skillet at table-side or brandy can be poured onto each crepe and flamed with a kitchen torch.
A variation on these crepes is to fill with almond custard, laced with chocolate chips and rolled and drizzled with dark or white melted chocolate.
Formal Dinner Cornucopia Centerpiece
Presentation for formal dinners is important to tempt the palates of dinner guests. One way to do this is with a dessert centerpiece like a cornucopia. These can be made from prepared pie dough. Make the cornucopia form from a large piece of cardboard or poster board and shape.
To form the cornucopia centerpiece, place unbaked dough over the form and remove the form carefully. To keep its shape while baking, peel and core whole apples and pears, lightly blanch, dust with cinnamon sugar and place firmly inside the cornucopia.
Bake until the dough is lightly browned. To finish your dessert centerpiece, add sugared green and red grapes, nuts, dates and figs at the front of the opening.
While the cornucopia dough is still warm, glaze with apple jelly and garnish with crushed walnuts.
More Fall Desserts
Fall is the time of the year when desserts can be as warming as dinner entrees. Apple cake is always a favorite. Bake batter in a long rectangular pan with sliced apples studded in rows. Add a brown sugar streusel topping and serve with whipped cream or a dusting of powdered sugar.
Spice cakes speak fall in the minds of many individuals. These can be made from cake mix or from a homemade recipe. Decorate them with cream cheese and brandy flavored frosting or maple buttercream frosting.
The best fall desserts are the ones you, your family and guests enjoy most.
