The Fall Desserts I Cannot Wait to Make (as soon as it cools off)

Every August I start telling myself the same thing: This is the year I’ll be content with summer a little longer. I’ll savor the tomatoes, I’ll enjoy the long evenings, I won’t start daydreaming about pumpkins and cinnamon until at least October.

And then—without fail—I find myself scrolling through my old recipes the second the school buses start rolling and thinking, Okay, fall desserts… it’s your time to shine.

Over the last few years, I’ve baked (and taste-tested) quite a few fall recipes, but these six are the ones I keep coming back to—the greatest hits of my autumn kitchen, if you will.

Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

Listen, I know pumpkin bars get a lot of hype, but this recipe earns every ounce of it. These bars are soft, spiced, and topped with a cream cheese frosting that deserves its own fan club. I’ve made a lot of pumpkin desserts, but this is the one that gets requested again and again.

Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies

If fall had an official cookie, this would be it. Soft in the middle, sugared and crackly on the outside, they make the whole house smell like a Yankee Candle (only better, because you get to eat them).

Crispy Rice Krispies Cookies

This one feels a little unexpected on a fall list, but hear me out: the texture. These cookies are buttery, crisp, and just different enough to surprise people at the cookie platter. And honestly, I’ve never seen anyone complain about a cookie.

Dumpster Fire Cookies

The name might not scream “cozy fall bake,” but don’t let it fool you. These are everything-but-the-kitchen-sink cookies—salty, sweet, crunchy, and gooey. Fall is messy, schedules are full, and life can feel like a dumpster fire… but at least the cookies are good.

Biscoff Banana Pudding

Traditional banana pudding is good. But banana pudding with Biscoff cookies? Dangerous. The spiced cookie flavor is so right for fall—it’s basically autumn in a trifle dish. I made this once and immediately knew it was going on the “repeat every year” list.

Boursin Appetizer with Pistachios and Honey

Okay, okay, not technically a dessert. But fall gatherings need something easy and impressive to set out before dessert—and this is it. Boursin, honey, pistachios. Three ingredients, five minutes, and it makes you look like you really have it together.

So, there you have it: my lineup of fall recipes that I can’t wait to make again this year. Now we just need the weather to cooperate—because let’s be honest, baking pumpkin bars while it’s still 95° outside just feels wrong.