6 Autumnal Recipes to Fall For

On the top of every list of fall activities are apple picking, pumpkin carving, watching spooky movies, and cooking delicious treats. I’ve compiled a little cookbook of autumnal favorites to enjoy this season. In order of difficulty, you will find below some charming and cozy recipes that taste as good as it feels to step on a crunchy leaf! Happy cooking <3

Ponyo’s Warm Honey Milk

Ingredients

• 3 tsp of honey
• 1 tsp of ground cinnamon
• 3-4 drops of vanilla extract
• 1 pinch of ground nutmeg
• ½ cup boiling water
• ½ cup milk of your choice

Instructions

1. Add the honey, cinnamon, and vanilla to your favorite mug.
2. Fill half the mug with boiling water. Stir well.
3. Fill to the top with the milk. Stir well.
4. Garnish with a pinch of nutmeg, and imagine yourself in the relaxing landscape of Studio Ghibli!

Cinnamon Roll Mug Cake

Ingredients

• Base:
  • 6 tbsp flour
  • 3 tbsp white sugar
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • 60 ml warm water
  • 40 ml oil (or melted butter)
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract
• Cinnamon Syrup:
  • ½ tbsp melted butter
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
• Cinnamon Dust:
  • 1 tsp white sugar
  • ⅛ tsp ground cinnamon

Instructions

1. In a medium bowl, add your ingredients in the order listed above, whisk until smooth.
2. In a small bowl, melt your butter, then add the sugar and cinnamon. Mix until combined. To pipe, transfer the syrup into a plastic bag and cut off one of the corners.
3. Pour ½ the cake batter into a mug, swirl half the cinnamon mix. Pour over the rest of the batter. Smooth it out, and add the rest of the cinnamon swirl.
4. Mix the sugar and cinnamon to create a dust, then sprinkle it over the top.
5. Microwave until there’s no wet batter left (about 1 min 20 secs).
6. Watch your cake so it doesn’t overflow, and enjoy this super easy cinnamon roll mug cake! This simple recipe comes from Fitwaffle on TikTok.

Pumpkin Pizza Puffs

Ingredients

• Puff pastry
• Tomato purée
• Grated mozzarella cheese
• Egg wash (1 large egg whisked together with water until smooth)
• Water to stick the sides down

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Roll your puff pastry onto a separate sheet of parchment paper until roughly ¼ inch thick.
3. Shape puff pastry with pumpkin cookie cutters. For each pizza, you will need a front and back. Carve your pumpkin’s face on one piece, but leave the other piece as it is.
4. Add the tomato purée onto the center of the back piece, then sprinkle the cheese on top.
5. Dip your finger in the water and slide it around the edges in order to attach the face piece. Gently press the pieces together with a fork, outlining the pumpkin. Brush with egg wash.
6. Cut the parchment paper in squares around the pumpkin pizza puffs to transfer them to the baking sheet without ruining them. Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes until cooked and golden brown.
7. Allow the puffs to cool slightly and enjoy! This easy, delicious, and spooky recipe is from Lilly Assender on TikTok.

Mini Apple Pies

Ingredients

• Filling:
  • 2 medium-sized apples, peeled, cored, and diced
  • ⅓ cup brown sugar
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
  • ¼ tsp allspice
  • ¼ tsp ground ginger
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 1 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tbsp cornstarch slurry (about ½ tbsp cornstarch mixed with ⅔ tbsp water)
• Assembly and Baking:
  • 1 package of premade pie dough (typically contains 2 crusts)
  • ⅓ cup (roughly) all-purpose flour for dusting
  • 1 beaten egg for egg wash
  • 1 tbsp milk, cream, or water for egg wash
  • Additional coarse brown sugar for sprinkling

Instructions

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the diced apples, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, salt, vanilla extract and unsalted butter. Toss until the apples are evenly coated and cook for about 5 minutes or until the apples are slightly softened. Add the cornstarch slurry and gently stir to thicken the mixture. Remove from the heat and let it cool slightly.
2. Preheat the oven to 375°F or according to the instructions on the dough package. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. On a lightly floured surface, unroll the premade pie crust. Using a round cutter (or by tracing something circular with a knife), cut out circles from the pie dough. You may need to gather and re-roll the dough scraps to cut out more circles. Make sure you have an even number of circles as you will need one circle for the bottom and top layer of the pie.
4. Arrange half the dough circles on a lined baking sheet; these will be the bottom layer of the pie. Place about a tablespoon or more of the apple pie filling in the center of the dough circles (bottom layer). Then, use a knife to cut slits in the remaining dough circles, which will be the top layer.
5. Place the top layer dough circles on top of the filled bottom layer, then use the back of a fork to press and seal the edges.
6. In a small bowl, whisk together the beaten egg and 1 tablespoon of milk, cream or water to create an egg wash.
7. Brush the top of the hand pies with the egg wash. Sprinkle a bit of coarse sugar on top for a crunchy finish.
8. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until they are golden brown and the filling is bubbly.
9. Allow to cool before devouring these delicious mini apple pies! This recipe is from the fabulous Eat Well With Lex!

Pumpkin Spice Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

• Cookies:
  • 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground nutmeg
  • ½ tsp ground cloves
  • ½ tsp ground ginger
  • ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 ½ cups sugar
  • 1 cup canned pumpkin purée (not pumpkin pie filling)
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Frosting:
  • 1 cup softened cream cheese
  • ½ cup salted softened butter
  • 4 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp pumpkin spice mix
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract
  • ½ tsp ground cinnamon

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Mix dry ingredients: in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. Set aside.
3. Cream butter and sugar: in a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Add wet ingredients: mix in the pumpkin purée, egg, and vanilla until smooth.
5. Combine: gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Stir until just combined, and be careful not to overmix.
6. Scoop cookies: drop rounded tablespoons of dough onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing about 2 inches apart (the cookies will puff in the oven, and not spread much).
7. Bake: bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are set and the tops look slightly firm. Let cool on the pan for 2 minutes before transferring to a rack.
8. Frost: beat the cream cheese, vanilla extract, and butter together until smooth. Gradually add powdered sugar and pumpkin spice, mixing until fluffy and creamy. Use a spoon or knife to add the frosting to your cookies, and dust with cinnamon.
9. Enjoy! These cookies will have you falling in love at every bite <3

Pumpkin Chai Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients

• Chai Mixture:
  • ½ cup of your desired milk, unsweetened
  • 2-3 black tea bags (you can also use a chai tea bag and omit the spice blend, for greater ease)
  • 2 tbsp pure maple syrup
  • 1 tbsp chai spice
• Pumpkin Dough:
  • 5 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups bread flour
  • 2 ¼ tsp (1 packet) Rapid Rise Yeast
  • 1-2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • 1 tsp salt
  • ¼ cup WARM water
  • ½ cup + 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 ¼ cup milk, unsweetened + at room temp (you can also use heavy cream, if desired)
  • 1 cup pumpkin purée (not pumpkin pie filling)
  • 2 large eggs, room temp
  • 6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted + cooled until warm (make sure that it’s WARM, not hot!)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Filling:
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • ½ cup unsalted butter, softened at room temp
  • 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
• Chai Glaze:
  • 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
  • 4 oz (½ a pack) cream cheese, softened at room temp
  • 3-4 tbsp cooled chai mixture

Instructions

1. Dough

1. Combine yeast and 1 tbsp brown sugar in a bowl and slowly pour in warm water while stirring frequently. Allow 10 minutes for the mixture to sit and for the yeast to activate.
2. Add in the room temperature milk and warm melted butter to the yeast mixture and whisk until well combined. Add in the eggs (one at a time), pumpkin purée, and vanilla, whisking to incorporate.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, bread flour, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice and salt and add them to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed (if using an electric mixer) until well combined and everything begins to form into a dough-like consistency, about 2-3 minutes.
4. Knead dough for 5-10 minutes on high speed (if using an electric mixer) until the dough ball becomes smooth and elastic and the dough springs back when lightly pressed together with 2 fingers. Note: If dough is still too sticky, add 1 tablespoon of flour at a time until texture is achieved!
5. Lightly grease a large bowl with a small amount of olive oil and place the dough ball in the bowl, tossing it around until coated. Cover with plastic wrap (or a towel) and let sit for 1 hour, allowing the dough to rise and double in size.
6. In the meantime, you can work on the filling!

2. Filling

1. Add the softened butter (best if done at room temp so that it’s more “paste-like” in texture once smeared) in a bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl, combine the cinnamon (or pumpkin pie spice blend) and brown sugar, mixing them together. Set aside.
2. Once the dough has risen fully, preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and line a large 9×13 baking dish with parchment paper, allowing excess to hang from the sides.

3. Assembly

1. Add a bit of flour to a surface and place the dough onto it, lightly adding a bit of flour to the top. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough into a rectangular shape (approximately 9″x14″ and ½-inch thick), trimming the edges if needed. Note: Try not to make the dough too thin or else rolling it up will be hard to do!
2. Then, generously add ¾ of the softened butter atop the dough (spreading it out evenly with a spoon or knife), followed by the brown sugar-spice mixture, ensuring that the top is coated evenly.
3. Tightly roll dough (long-ways) and using a knife, cut dough into 1.5″ rolls, placing each roll (cut side down) into a large baking dish (lined with parchment paper!).
4. Then place plastic wrap over the baking dish with rolls, smear the tops with remaining softened butter and let them rise again (for another 20 minutes).

4. Bake

1. Once the rolls have doubled in size (once again!) or have gotten significantly larger, bake them for approximately 35-40 minutes in the preheated oven.
2. While all the baking magic is happening, make the chai mixture and glaze.

5. Chai Mixture

1. In a medium saucepan on medium-high heat, add the milk and bring to a boil for 1-2 minutes. Add the tea bags and let it boil for another 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and let everything steep for 5-6 minutes.
2. Once fully steeped, remove tea bags and whisk in the maple syrup and chai spice blend until dissolved and combined. Let it cool completely.

6. Chai Glaze

1. In a bowl, beat the softened cream cheese until creamy and smooth. Add the powdered sugar and chai mixture, beating everything together until the glaze becomes smooth and velvety. Note: Add additional chai mixture (1 tablespoon at a time) if the glaze is too thick or powdered sugar (1 tablespoon at a time) if too thin.
2. Spread the glaze atop the rolls using a rubber spatula evenly until generously covered.

7. Serve

1. To serve, cut out each roll desired and enjoy. Bon Appétit! This yummy recipe comes from Orchids + Sweet Tea, so check out their page for other crave-able cooks.

Conclusion

Hopefully I’ve compiled a sufficiently mouthwatering cookbook, and inspired you to get out there and make your own tasty treats! Again, shoutout to the authors of these fantastic recipes and to you for reading <3

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