If you’re like me, chances are that you have a sweet tooth that is fueled by a love for baking. I love taking a quiet moment to listen to music and make something delicious. With fall on the horizon, that means fall treats like snickerdoodle and pumpkin bread. I have found some recipes that I have tweaked to make them more in the fall season and simpler to make for those of us who love homemade treats but not all the extra work that goes into making them.
Pumpkin Bread
This one is a must have on any fall treat list. It’s supper easy to make and you can easily add other things to it like walnuts to make it more you. I found this recipe from @kyrasgoodeats over on Instagram. To make this, you will need:
- 2 cups of all purpose flour
- 1 cup of sugar, you can adjust based on your taste and experiment with what you like, but I think it tastes better especially if you use pure or unsweetened pumpkin puree
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- ½ teaspoon of salt or use a pinch if you use salted butter
- 1 can (about 15 oz) pumpkin puree
- 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
- ⅔ a cup of melted butter (about 151g) or you can use any oil you like if you don’t have a food scale
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons of cinnamon (I love cinnamon, so if you want to add a little more, I won’t tell anyone if you do)
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice. If you are like me and have every spice that has ever walked the Earth but pumpkin pie spice, I have a solution. Use ½ teaspoon each of ground ginger, nutmeg, and cummin.
Preheat your oven to 350 F and line or grease a 9-inch loaf pan. In a bowl, whisk the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder/soda, and spices) until it is all combined. Then, in a separate big bowl, combine the wet ingredients (pumpkin puree, eggs, vanilla, and butter or oil). Add your dry ingredients to your wet and mix until it is all combined and there are no flour clumps in the batter (trust me it not only does not look good but is not a good taste). Put your batter in your prepared loaf pan and bake for 50 to 60 minutes until a toothpick or a butter knife inserted in the middle comes out with crumbs and not batter. Then, cut out a slice once cooled or still a little warm and enjoy.
Snickerdoodles
These are some of my favorite cookies, and I hope they can become one of yours. This cookie takes a little more time but it is still super easy to do and turns out amazing. It’s always nice and warm, sweet, and fluffy. If you would like, here is the original recipe: Modern Honey the best snickerdoodle cookies
For the dough:
- 2 ¾ cups of all purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups of sugar
- 1.2 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
- 1 ½ teaspoons of cream of tartar
- 1 cup (two sticks) softened unsalted butter
- 2 eggs
For the coating:
- ¼ cup of brown sugar or regular sugar if you prefer (the brown sugar will give more flavor and stick to the dough better)
- 1 ½ tablespoons of cinnamon (you can add more or less depending on your taste)
Preheat your oven to 350 F. Pull out a cookie sheet and cover it with parchment paper or aluminum foil, whichever you have. In a bowl, whisk the butter and sugar together until white and fluffy. This will go a lot faster if you have an electric mixer, which will take about 3 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix in eggs and vanilla until combined. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients then add them to the bowl with the wet ingredients and mix until combined. Set the dough aside and in a separate small bowl mix the sugar and cinnamon together with a spoon. Keep that spoon in there, we will use it again in a minute. This is where it gets a little messy, but it will be worth it. Get out a regular spoon and scoop out some dough and roll it into a ball. Then place the ball into the coating. With the spoon we left in there, roll the ball around until completely covered. Then place it on the baking sheet, you will repeat this until the sheet is covered with cookies that are about an inch apart. Bake the cookies for 9 to 11 minutes, until it no longer looks doughy. Let them cool for about two minutes before moving them to cool completely on a plate. Or, have them warm, which is the best way to eat them. Keep following this process until all the dough has been coated and baked.
Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips
Banana bread was the first thing I baked on my own from the Betty Crockers’s 40th Anniversary Edition Cook Book, which is where this recipe is based off of. It would take some serious effort to make this taste bad. This is perfect if you want something warm, sweet, with just the right amount of chocolate. To make this, you will need:
- 1 ¼ cups of sugar
- ½ cup of softened butter
- 2 eggs
- 1 ½ cups mashed bananas (for the best texture and most flavor you are going to want to mash up 3 to 4 super ripe bananas the peel will be almost it not completely brown)
- ½ cup buttermilk (if you don’t have buttermilk regular milk works. If you have a lemon or lemon juice put about a teaspoon of it in a cup of milk and let it sit for a while and you have buttermilk)
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups of all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 cup of chocolate chips (this can be anything you want. You can replace the chips with walnuts or half it so half is chocolate and the other is walnuts. This can be any kind of chocolate you want)
Preheat your oven to 350 F. and grease the bottom of a 9-inch loaf pan. In a big bowl mix butter and sugar together until combined. Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix in the eggs. Then mix in the bananas, milk, and vanilla until combined. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients except for the chocolate chips then add them to the wet ingredients bowl and mix until combined. Add the chocolate chips and fold them into the batter. Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake in the oven for around an hour and fifteen minutes. You may have to adjust the time based on your oven. Take out the bread when a toothpick or a knife comes out clean or you can have it be a little doughy in the middle. Let it cool a little before taking it out of the pan and letting it cool more before cutting, otherwise your slice will crumble to a mess.
Chocolate and Butterscotch Chip Cookies
These are so good that you may want to make a double batch just so they will last longer. They are so easy to make, which only adds to their addictive quality. The original recipe that this is based off is off the back of Nesquik’s chocolate chip bag. To make them, you will need:
- 2 ¼ cups of all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 cup of softened butter (if it’s salted just use a pinch of salt instead of the teaspoon)
- ¾ cup of sugar
- ¾ cup of brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup butterscotch chips
Preheat the oven to 375 F. and get out one or two baking sheets and cover them in either parchment paper or aluminum foil, whichever you have. In a bowl combine the flour, salt, and baking soda. In another bowl whisk the sugars, butter, and vanilla (or use an electric mixer) until smooth and fluffy. Scrape the sides of the bowl, add eggs and beat until smooth. Mix in the dry ingredients. Add in the chips and beat them in. Using a spoon, scoop out the dough and roll them into balls and place them on the baking sheet about one inch from each other. Once the baking sheet is full, bake for 9 to 11 minutes until they are no longer doughy. Let them cool on the sheet for 2 minutes then move them to a plate to cool completely or eat them warm.
Mom’s Applesauce Cake
My grandma makes homemade applesauce and gave my mom a can and she added it to a box of cake mix and made the best fall cake ever. This cake is not only simple to make but so, so good. To make it, you will need:
For the cake:
- Your favorite yellow box cake mix
- Eggs
- Water
- 1 can or container of your favorite applesauce
For the frosting:
- You can make your own frosting but in the spirit of making this simple get 1 can of a frosting you like
- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon (you can add more or less based on your taste)
Start off by preheating the oven to the temperature directed to you on the cake’s box. Combine the cake mix and the water and eggs like normal. Instead of adding in the oil as directed, add in your applesauce, using the same measurements you would for oil. Once it’s all combined pour the batter into a greased cake pan (you can also use it in a casserole dish if that’s what you have, just make sure to look at the bake times on the box and to watch the oven). Bake the cake until a toothpick comes out with only some crumbs on it. Let the cake cool and then turn it out of the cake pan/tin and let cool completely. Once it is completely cool spread as much or as little frosting on as you want then take your cinnamon and sprinkle the teaspoon on. Then enjoy your applesauce cake.
Enjoy your easy and delicious fall treats.