These recipes use classic seasonal ingredients like apples, pears, and baking spices to make deliciously easy fall desserts that everyone will love.

Fall Dessert Recipes

There's little that's more inviting than the smell of baking spices on a crisp fall day, and although fall has become pumpkin spice everything time, we're honing in on the other wonderful flavor sensations that celebrate the season.

About Our Easy Fall Dessert Recipes

The easy fall dessert recipes listed below feature our personal favorites for the season; apples, pears and spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger.

We've included a classic apple Betty, a beautiful apple-topped coffee cake, a gingerbread upside-down cake, a galette filled with spiced pears, an apple pudding cake, and homemade chocolate truffles flavored with pumpkin pie spice and a splash of rum.

When choosing what pears or apples to use for baking, taste and texture matter most. With over 7,500 types of apples and 3,000 varieties of pears grown world-wide, we have some suggestions to get you started.

What are the best pears for baking?

  • Anjou pears are commonly found in grocery stores and available most of the year. Although they have a mild flavor, these bright green beauties’ firm texture holds up well in pies and tarts.
  • Bosc pears are dense and crisp. Often a favorite in cooking because they retain their shape, these pears also bring a sweet and woodsy flavor to fall dessert recipes.
  • French Butter pears are close relatives of the Anjou but have a sweet slightly lemon flavor. Be sure to let them ripen fully before using as they can have a tannic bite if even a little under-ripe.

TIP: To check pears for ripeness, press your thumb close to the stem, if it gives, the pear is ripe. Always refrigerate ripe pears if you're not going to use them right away.

What kind of apples are best for baking?

  • Braeburn apples are both sweet and tart. They keep their firm texture when baked in pies, but also contribute a wonderfully crisp tang to applesauce.
  • Honeycrisp apples are sweet and juicy, but their crisp firm flesh stays together in fall dessert recipes.
  • Golden Delicious apples are sweet and mellow with a rich apple flavor after baking.
  • Granny Smith apples are one of the most popular baking apples because it is crisp, tart, and tangy. To enhance the appley characteristics of a dish, mix Granny Smiths with sweeter apple varieties like Golden Delicious or Braeburn.

RELATED: Check out our Guide to Apple Varieties to discover the best uses for other common types of apples.

Easy Fall Dessert Recipes

Golden Delicious Coffee Cake

An easy-to-make, lightly-sweetened coffee cake topped with slices of Golden Delicious apple and cinnamon-sugar.

Cinnamon-Spiced Pear Galette

Made by folding a lightly-sweetened, buttery tart crust around a filling of cinnamon-spiced pears, this rustic fall dessert is very simple to prepare.

Apple Gingerbread Upside-Down Cake

This easy apple gingerbread upside-down cake is richly flavored with molasses, ginger, and cinnamon and topped with a layer of buttery, brown-sugar apples.

Autumn Spice Chocolate Truffles

These grown-up chocolate truffles are made with rum and pumpkin pie spice to create a delicious combination of fall-inspired flavors. We've included the info for a non-alcoholic version too.

Apple Brown Betty

Apple Brown Betty is an easy dessert of sliced apples layered with cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar and buttered panko crumbs.

Rum-Spiced Apple Pudding Cake

Tender apples, rum-soaked, golden raisins, and cinnamon are the primary flavors in this delicious, ultra-moist apple pudding cake.