Our Best Fall Baking Recipes

Brown butter, bourbon, almond and a hint of citrus perfume Vaughn Vreeland’s boozy apple crunch cake.Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini. Prop Stylist: Sophia Eleni Pappas.

The beginning of fall is a changing of the guard. The air conditioning is clocking out. It’s time for the oven to step in and the warming flavors of nutmeg, allspice, cardamom, apple, maple and citrus to fill the air.

Consider this list of 24 treats a way to welcome the season. Sticky buns, Bundt cakes and blondies, snacking cakes, cookies and cider doughnuts: Each invites you to slow down, to stop and smell the sweets. (Save them all on New York Times Cooking.)

As you stock up on all the canned pumpkin and fresh cranberries you can muster, we have some news.

We’re launching a baking newsletter and video series, called Bake Time.

Each week, I’ll send a batch of recipes, along with tips and tweaks for making things your own. And once a month, I’ll share a recipe we can all make together, along with a video where I go deep on just how to make it. So dig out the sweaters from under your bed, dust off those loaf pans and get ready. It’s bake time!

Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini. Prop Stylist: Sophia Eleni Pappas.

Is it really fall if you haven’t had an apple cider doughnut? This easy take from Erin Jeanne McDowell yields the classic flavors and textures at home (and will surely make your house smell incredible). No need to go out and buy a doughnut pan, if you don’t have one — this recipe can be baked off into muffins!

Recipe: Baked Apple Cider Doughnuts

Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini. Prop Stylist: Sophia Eleni Pappas.

My loaf cake amplifies the many joys of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Creamy peanut butter lends fat and nuttiness, making for a magnificently moist pound cake that’s ribboned with layers of jam. The cake is then topped with a gorgeous jammy glaze, along with roasted peanuts for texture and a necessary hit of salt in every bite.

Recipe: Peanut Butter and Jelly Pound Cake

Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini. Prop Stylist: Sophia Eleni Pappas.

Eric Kim swirls a mixture of gochujang, a spicy and fermented Korean red chile paste, and brown sugar, into a simple sugar cookie dough. What emerges from the oven is at once simple to make and beguiling to eat. Take it from Adam LeClair, a reader: “Please just make these. They’re amazing. Just … amazing!”

Recipe: Gochujang Caramel Cookies

Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini. Prop Stylist: Sophia Eleni Pappas.

Move over, carrot cake! Sweet potato cake is here to stay. Grated sweet potato, maple syrup and a whisper of spice make up the base of my easy recipe, but the brown butter-cream cheese frosting, which is tangy and nutty with notes of caramel, is the real star.

Recipe: Sweet Potato Cake With Brown Butter Cream Cheese

David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

“Like sugar cookies, only interesting,” as one reader astutely put it. For bold, floral flavor that doesn’t compromise on texture, Yossy Arefi steeps Earl Grey tea in melted butter, rather than incorporating the tea leaves into the dough of these five-star soft and chewy cookies.

Recipe: Chewy Earl Grey Sugar Cookies

Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini. Prop Stylist: Sophia Eleni Pappas.

These scones from Joanne Chang of Flour Bakery and Cafe in Boston, adapted by Dorie Greenspan, have a texture uniquely their own. Butter is incorporated in two stages, making them flaky like a traditional scone, yet they’re tender like a spongecake thanks to crème fraîche, buttermilk and egg yolk.

Recipe: Joanne Chang’s Maple-Blueberry Scones

Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini. Prop Stylist: Sophia Eleni Pappas.

A riff on German apfelkuchen, my apple-packed cake is sure to be a showstopper at any fall function. The robust batter is infused with brown butter, almond, bourbon and lemon, then topped with a mixture of slivered almonds and coarse turbinado sugar. It gets another soak of bourbon after it’s baked — for good measure.

Recipe: Boozy Apple Crunch Cake

Rachel Vanni for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Spencer Richards.

This recipe, which my colleague Margaux Laskey adapted from Everyday Annie, may appease just about anyone with strong opinions about which bite is best. White chocolate and butterscotch chips add sweetness, and a quick chill before cutting, if you have the time, ensures clean, even squares.

Recipe: Pumpkin Blondies

Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

Indulgent, not too sweet, molten in the center: This cake is made for cuffing season. Whether you’re trying to impress someone on the second date, surprise your partner after a long day of work or just treat yourself for submitting a project on time, Yossy Arefi delivers.

Recipe: Chocolate Lava Cake for Two

Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne. Prop Stylist: Megan Hedgpeth.

Banana bread is an anytime treat, equally welcome at breakfast, as a midday pick-me-up or a sneaky 1 a.m. nibble. Bryan Washington’s version makes it all the more irresistible, infusing it with miso, which adds a complex, salty bite that counters the sweetness of ripe bananas. Toasted pecans lend some satisfying texture and bolster the miso’s nutty notes.

Recipe: Miso Pecan Banana Bread

Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Eugene Jho.

Once you’ve enjoyed a dessert baked in a cast-iron skillet, huddled around a fire with loved ones, you’ve reached peak fall. The caramel sauce in this crisp from Yossy Arefi infuses the apple filling and yields enough to pour what’s left over vanilla ice cream.

Recipe: Skillet Caramel-Apple Crisp

David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Hadas Smirnoff

If there were a downside to fall baking, it would be a lack of bright, tart seasonal fruit. Dorie Greenspan studs this gorgeous Bundt with cranberries, the “It” Girl fall fruit, and surrounds them with soft, almost melt-in-your mouth citrus and spice cake, making each slice an exquisite balance of comfort and zing.

Recipe: Cranberry Spice Bundt Cake

Mark Weinberg for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Yossy Arefi.

Despite their cozy disposition, fall bakes can look as chic as the streets of Paris during fashion week. These stunning, high-contrast cookies from Yewande Komolafe combine some intense flavors — chocolate, toasted sesame, candied ginger, citrus, oh my! — in a symphony of swirls. They’re almost too pretty to eat. Almost.

Recipe: Spiced Chocolate Marble Shortbread

Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini. Prop Stylist: Sophia Eleni Pappas.

This eye-catching dessert, created by the chef Sam Yoo and adapted by Ligaya Mishan, is a marquee dish at Golden Diner in Manhattan, and rightfully so. Pleasantly bitter Thai tea infuses the three-milk soak, checking the sweetness while adding complexity and a deep orange hue. Topped with tangy whipped cream, lime zest and toasted coconut, this cake gets better the longer it soaks, a delicious lesson in patience.

Recipe: Thai Tea Tres Leches Cake

Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini. Prop Stylist: Sophia Eleni Pappas.

If you’re craving an elegant pumpkin dessert that goes beyond cinnamon and nutmeg, Samantha Seneviratne’s pumpkin roll fits the bill. The sponge itself is light and springy, and its slightly spiced, earthy pumpkin flavor pairs beautifully with the bold, bittersweet coffee-caramel cream cheese filling.

Recipe: Pumpkin Roll With Coffee-Caramel Cream

Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne.

Basque cheesecake, like this one from Marti Buckley, adapted by Tanya Sichynsky, is an ideal low-effort, high-reward dessert. The hallmark of this style of cheesecake, from the Basque region of northern Spain, is its deeply caramelized exterior and creamy, velvety interior (there’s also no crust!). While it bakes, it puffs up like a soufflé, then sinks into itself, forming an outer ridge and custardy center.

Recipe: Basque Cheesecake

Johnny Miller for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Rebecca Jurkevich.

Homemade sticky buns are always worth the effort, and more often than not, they’re also way better than anything you could buy. An ideal brunch centerpiece, these spiced treats from Yossy Arefi use buttermilk in the dough so they’re especially soft, tender and ready to cushion the sticky toasted pecan topping.

Recipe: Maple-Pecan Sticky Buns

Mark Weinberg for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini.

My 30-minute cookies are all the best parts of a brownie — chewy at the edges, fudgy in the middle — in cookie form. The hardest part? “Getting the batter off my forehead after licking the bowl clean,” wrote Debbie S., a reader. “BEST COOKIE EVER.”

Recipe: Chewy Brownie Cookies

David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

When you need a palate cleanser from spice-laden sweets, this baked lemon pudding from the Irish pastry chef JR Ryall, adapted by David Tanis, is sure to hit the spot. Though it’s prepared like a soufflé, it is neither that, nor is it a pudding, as its name suggests. It’s something altogether more special: While it bakes, the mixture separates into two distinct layers, custardy on the bottom and spongy on top.

Recipe: Baked Lemon Pudding

Johnny Miller for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Erin Jeanne McDowell. Smores Blondies

Sometimes, you want cozy campfire vibes without all the fuss. These blondies from Erin Jeanne McDowell capture the essence of an autumnal s’more, messy like the real thing but so good you just don’t care. The blondie base has all the malty notes of graham crackers fused with melty chocolate, and the marshmallows on top are impressively toasted without creating a fire hazard.

Recipe: S’mores Blondies

Johnny Miller for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Susan Spungen.

In these bars from Genevieve Ko, cranberry and lemon, two delightfully lip-puckering ingredients, complement each other incredibly well. Also, for something this lovely, they’re sneakily easy to make and will have your crowd asking for them time and time again.

Recipe: Cranberry Lemon Bars

Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini. Prop Stylist: Sophia Eleni Pappas.

You may have never had carrot cake like this before. Yewande Komolafe’s recipe for bolo de cenoura, a version often found in Portuguese and Brazilian bakeries, comes together in one blender or food processor. The chocolaty topping is a riff on brigadeiros, and Yewande’s frosting is made with coconut condensed milk, which gives it a subtle nuttiness.

Recipe: Bolo de Cenoura (Carrot Cake)

Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Yossy Arefi.

You can have all the goodness of a snickerdoodle cookie for breakfast, without any of the judgment. These snickerdoodle muffins from Sheela Prakash feature a double dose of cinnamon — in the batter and in the topping — while yogurt gives them that signature snickerdoodle tang without cream of tartar.

Recipe: Snickerdoodle Muffins

Joseph De Leo for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini.

If you’re in the mood for a fall baking project that pays dividends, look no further than this stunning centerpiece from Yossy Arefi. Tucked between layers of fluffy brown sugar buttermilk cake is a lively Swiss meringue buttercream, which gets its soft pink hue from cranberry jam. Keep any leftover jam for your morning yogurt (but the cake is also a great breakfast).

Recipe: Brown Sugar Layer Cake With Cranberry Buttercream

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